What is a battery monitor?
I bought this inexpensive one on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300696028021?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
It shows voltage and current flowing out of the battery or power out and watt-hours out since last reset. I figured the latter would effectively show the state of charge. Unfortunately it is not aware of current flowing into the battery, so does not take charging into account. That makes it useless for me as a state of charge monitor anyway. I might turn it around to indicate charging current and voltage.
It strikes me that tracking the energy is not going to work anyway because much of it can be lost as heat. Integrating current over time to keep a running total count of the charge on the battery might be effective. I see some electronics hobbyists on the Sparkfun forum are doing something like that using a micro controller.
Are there battery monitors available in stores that show state of charge?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300696028021?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
It shows voltage and current flowing out of the battery or power out and watt-hours out since last reset. I figured the latter would effectively show the state of charge. Unfortunately it is not aware of current flowing into the battery, so does not take charging into account. That makes it useless for me as a state of charge monitor anyway. I might turn it around to indicate charging current and voltage.
It strikes me that tracking the energy is not going to work anyway because much of it can be lost as heat. Integrating current over time to keep a running total count of the charge on the battery might be effective. I see some electronics hobbyists on the Sparkfun forum are doing something like that using a micro controller.
Are there battery monitors available in stores that show state of charge?
