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[on:]

Hello,

I have a 5V Pro Mini Arduino I intend to connect to a 3.7V Lipo battery trough a step-up board (http://dx.com/p/lm2577-dc-3-5-18v-to-dc-4-0-24v-voltage-step-up-boost-module-red-154906)

I would like a LED to be lit when the battery is getting empty. Can I connect the battery to an analog input of the Arduino trough a resistor and detect when the value decreases under a specific voltage threshold ? Or is there a better way to do it ?

Thank you in advance.

[Reply #1 on:]

Hello,

I have a 5V Pro Mini Arduino I intend to connect to a 3.7V Lipo battery trough a step-up board (http://dx.com/p/lm2577-dc-3-5-18v-to-dc-4-0-24v-voltage-step-up-boost-module-red-154906)

I would like a LED to be lit when the battery is getting empty. Can I connect the battery to an analog input of the Arduino trough a resistor and detect when the value decreases under a specific voltage threshold ? Or is there a better way to do it ?

Thank you in advance.

That should work, and there is no real reason to use a resistor as a analog input pin is high impedance and will not draw any significant current from the battery. A reading of 3.0vdc is a generally used common value to stop drawing current from the lipo cell to prevent cell damage.

Lefty

[Reply #2 on:]

Great. Thanks retrolefty !

[Reply #3 on:]

I'd include the resistor, something like 1k to 10k is fine, just to prevent the risk of accidental short(*) on the traces of the Arduino
grounding the LiPo - massive currents would then flow, vaporising pcb traces.  LiPo's can put out 50 to 100A or more if abused...

(*) Accidentally put the board down on top of something metal for instance.