For a class project, I'm doing the circuitry for a wind turbine that can power a light. We have the turbine constantly charging a battery, which will power the light. The idea is that it cuts down on cost, not eliminate it. So I need a way to switch between the battery as the power source and the power grid. My idea is to use an Arduino Uno microcontroller to sense the voltage output from the battery. If the voltage is below 0.7 V, send out a current on another specified pin to flip a relay so that the battery is taken out of the circuit and the grid is put in. If the voltage is above 11.7 V, send out a current to switch the relay back.
Other posts I've read mention using a voltage divider to take voltage readings, but I don't know if that's what I need or not. This is also my first time coding with an Arduino product. Any ideas on how to accomplish this are appreciated. Thank you.
no i mean wouldn't the op amp be in danger of getting it's value changed if the device was hit
My group decided to use the Uno because one of our members already had one. Also, each member has to contribute to engineering a subsystem and programing counts, so we were intentionally adding some extra work.
I am familiar with most of the technical aspects involved with this but have trouble understanding how to actually implement them. Are there any good tutorials you've come across?