On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 2:32 PM, Claudio Izzi <> wrote:
>
> That was my first solution, to use the TS-7260 with the phidget
> interface, I'm glad to hear they work well together. My concern would be
> power efficiency, does the phidget interface + voltage sensor use up a
> lot of watts?
I've been testing power use on my boat. Sadly the Phidgets are not
good in terms of resolution, so I can only measure with 50ma
resolution. Running only the TS-7260 it uses about 50ma. Turning on
USB with the Phidgets will cost about 50 - 100ma more. If this is the
only external sensor and you are really pressed for consumption I
would follow the advice above and wire in a sensor to the AD on the
TS-7260. If you need more sensors however I would probably bite the
bullet and use a Phidget.
Also, if you are interested in how much battery life you have left
voltage probably isn't that great. I use two current sensors to
measure the incoming current from the solar panels and outgoing
current to the consumers (SBC, Engine etc). I havn't yet factored in
battery efficiency, and I will be adding voltage sensor to provide a
fallback when power is really low.
I'm pretty paranoid about battery health because once on the water my
boat can't get "roadside servicing". I need to know it's battery
condition so I can make decisions about whether to bring it back in
before the battery dies. I have also been thinking about a sleep
option so I can put the whole kit to sleep for a few hours at a time
to conserve power at night. I would probably use a small PIC with a
timer of some kind.
I can already control the USB, turning it off and on which helps to
some extent, and so does slowing down the CPU; also possible at
runtime. But you are still using quite a bit of juice while in this
sleep mode. A sleep mode with virtually zero consumption would be
better.
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