Recommendation/Ideas on Battery Voltage Monitor

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hello folks
what would be a recommended method to monitor battery voltage. In my land roving robot, I will have separate power supplies for motors and (Arduino + other electronics). I am looking to monitor the batteries and display the strength on the display unit (and also Tx the data to the homebase upon request).

I heard that this chip does a good job - but, have not played w/ it myself.

http://www.solarbotics.com/assets/datasheets/max8212.pdf

If someone can recommend ideas, that is much appreciated.

thank you in advance

2

If you know the max voltage on your supplies why not use a potential divider?

3

If you dont know the voltage of the supply, or it fluctuates you could use this schmatic to sense the voltage. We use this to monitor battery voltage in a car (with alternator it can rise and fall).

http://www.4shared.com/photo/urJXq_7V/BatVoltSens.html

Hope this helps you or someone else.

4

thank you all for your recommendations. I will resort to the voltage divider option.

-n