Trying to find a sensor that will automatically start a small 4 stroke ATV engine.the signal will be coming from the drop of volts from a network of automobile batteries that are being charged by automobile alternators the voltage regulators on the alternator if im not mistaken is only for the sending unit to the gauges of the vehicle im not sure if that will help beings the alternators only being utilized as a charger for the battery banks I can't figure out how I'm going to start the small engines with a signal to the starter on the small engine when the batteries get low and need to be recharged and then kill the engine when they are fully charged and don't need the alternator to charge any more I'm thinking of a timer maybe just intergrade a timer to charge after figuring out how much the batteries put out before they need charged then set the timer to engage the starter on the engine then the timer will have to also kill the engine
You can feed the voltage through an appropriately dimensioned resistor divider into the ADC input on a microcontroller. That would be a flexible way of handling it.
Alternatively you could build a circuit involving a comparator and some kind of hysteresis or time delay circuit if you don't want to use a microcontroller.
The microcontroller circuit will be the more flexible, easy and cheap way these days.
What are the specifications of the starter and how is it used currently?
The regular way of starting an engine in e.g. a car is a starter relay switches the current to the starter motor until the motor runs and then disengages. You could make something like that fairly easily with a suitable relay or power MOSFET. What you need depends on the specifics of the starter.
You could for instance monitor the charge current and use that to determine when to stop charging. Have a look at the charging profile of the batteries and use that as a starting point to determine how/when to cut out charging.
PS: in future posts, consider using interpunction. It makes the text a lot easier to digest and you'll get more and better help if you offer information in a legible fashion.
I apologize for my horrible grammar, and lack of punctuation. The cdi box from the ATV a starter solenoid with relay through the ignition I suppose will be getting the signal from the microprocessor thingy that one fella mentioned .
I'm not good at these forums
I will definitely look into those items do the research on how they function and process . Then attempt to apply them to the project
Simply put, you want to monitor the battery voltage and when it gets to low, start a generator to charge the batteries and then stop the generator when the batteries are charged.
Correct so far?
Post a sketch of how this is accomplished. This will have a big impact on my answer as the network of batteries complicates it a lot or is it batteries only in series and only one alternator.
I suppose considering the generator will be composed of several automobile alternators and side shaft engines belt driven charging as a generator I don't want to use generator heads to charge the batteries they use a lot more fuel than a simple alternator from an automobile while only load on the alternator will be the batteries that are interlinked together
Well you need to measure the battery voltage and current.
To check if the batteries need charging, you need to connect a load and measure the voltage. If the voltage is to low, then they need charging. You can use a relay to start your motor
To check if they are charged, you need to measure the current. For example if the current drops to less than 200mA you can consider the battery charged.
How you do all this will depend on your physical set-up.
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