BATTERIES

(Don't) Parallel Batteries!
A copy of the article submitted to the Summer 2008 Newsletter. A short essay on the perils of paralleling batteries, explaining why it is not a good idea - and ways of achieving the same results by better, safer means.

A Battery Eliminator Circuit (BEC)
A very simple project to implement a plug-in BEC module if you wish to liberate the space and/or weight taken by the usual 4AA cell receiver pack, or to maybe just to simplify your battery charging logistics.

Ideas for future projects

Listed below are further ideas I have for battery related projects. The purpose of declaring them is that your interest (or otherwise!) will dictate my priorities in developing the concepts and publishing them. Also, this way I can take on-board any of your suggestions to enhance the projects or better explain areas you may have difficulty with. Click here to rattle my cage!

Main Battery Tester
A no-load voltage check simply isn't good enough. You should see how well the voltage holds up as it delivers a couple of amps for several seconds. I have a bench prototype unit that does exactly that and uses a suppressed zero voltmeter to give a very sensitive and unambiguous status reading.

At present this unit is designed for the 7.2v packs that I use. It would be very easy to adapt for any other specified battery voltage, but some more thought would have to go into making a multi-voltage capable variant. Your feedback is required!

I also find the supressed zero voltmeter very useful in its own right to monitor the battery voltage during charging.

Field Charger
A quick, very cheap and extremely dirty way to field charge your NiXX batteries. Users must have a responsible adult to supervise them at all times and should operate it at arm's length with a gloved hand.

Low Battery Warning
An audio and/or visual alert when your propulsion battery voltage falls to a pre-set limit. Whilst applicable to NiXX cells, it is aimed at Li-Poly batteries, where irreversible damage occurs if they become too deeply discharged.

Battery Paralyser!
Revisiting the original newletter article (above) and attempting to parallel batteries in a near loss-less manner using current monitoring chips to control power FETs to behave like zero volt-drop diodes.