Pila IBC mod question

[Rees]

I was wondering if there was a way to add a voltage display for each bay, or if it would even be worth it?

[Ualnosaj]

Probably unless it goes near 10mA at any time, then the display would suck more juice than it would put into the battery. I did this for the Nano:




___________
Posted from my phone.

[Rees]

I saw your post with that display on it and didnt know if adding one to each back for the IBC would be worth doing or just stick to a DMM?

[Ualnosaj]

Well the display has a cool/neat factor. For $2 each and some soldering it's ok.


___________
Posted from my phone.

[Rees]

Could addding this to the charger replace checking voltage after charging?

[Ualnosaj]

That's a tricky question. The problem is the display draws about 10mA I believe. Maybe less. Depending on the charger, it may push past this and actually stop charging at 4.2v. The problem kicks in as the display drains power meaning it may never really stay near 4.2v. Depending on the charger again, it may kick back in to "top off" the battery back to 4.2v after a certain threshold dropped or it may not. I'm not sure how the Pila IBC works so I can't comment.


___________
Posted from my phone.

[Rees]

How about using a 3 wire external powered voltage display? It would just pull a reading and a 9V could power it for quite awhile i would imagine. Im just wondering if it would be practical or am I wasting my time and just my DMM to check after it comes off the charger?

[Norm]

Or if you want to observe Volts while charging, wire some connection points (banana sockets etc.) and use you DMM to check, that way you won't be loading your charger by drawing current to run an external display.

Norm

[Rees]

Well good news so far. just got charger and batteries in and charged up my aw2200 for my single cell lights to chew on and cell came in with 3.96 and got 4.20 fresh off the charger .

[Rees]

Well, I figured I would try for the sake of trying. I ordered 2 voltage displays with 3 wire for external power setup and a 9v battery box with on/off switch to not waste power. Ill try to keep ya posted, just hoping the displays are accurate.

[aimxplode]

Well, I figured I would try for the sake of trying. I ordered 2 voltage displays with 3 wire for external power setup and a 9v battery box with on/off switch to not waste power. Ill try to keep ya posted, just hoping the displays are accurate.

Did you get them from cottonpickers in the marketplace?

[Rees]

I got it from eBay. I've never bought from the marketplace.

[Rees]

Ok so ive got my voltage displays now. I did a search and did not find anything on how to disassemble a pila IBC. So i took upon my self, it has four screws under the little foam feet and the top left one on mine was stripped or some sort of security screw with a smooth concave head like some one stripped out a phillips screw head. I drilled that out and got it apart.

Inside the Pila IBC




Im not super electrical saavy, but im willing to try. I tested the voltage at the plug and it has 6v which was enought in a inital test to power the two displays. Only thing im not sure of is would drawing power before it gets kicked down would affect the charger at all?

Heres the display

[Ualnosaj]

Wow you got the big boys...


___________
Posted from my phone.

[Rees]

The displays were kinda bigger that i thought.

dry fitting


Powered by my temp battery box


Reading voltage from battery box powering it

[Rees]

Ok so now ive shared my idea, I just have a few questions that maybe some electrical gurus can answer.

-Will tapping into the 6v power at the power port on the unit effect the charger?

-If I did use power from the port, would i need to run the ground to the negative terminal of the battery or would the ground at the port work?

[tobrien]

awesome mod, Rees. I'm looking forward to hearing answers to your two questions

[18650flashlights]

This mod is interesting, but not a good idea. Test points, much better idea.

[Rees]

This mod is interesting, but not a good idea. Test points, much better idea.

you mean the sockets to use DMM?

[Rees]

Ok... so some changes have been made.

Got a different display


And I have it wired in right now.




I got it up and running, but the only problem I have found is that I cant get it to display the voltage for both cells. As far as im aware, its supposed to show you reading for more than one cell if you had a multiple li-ion setup or RC toys. At the least i have it working for one bay and I am running the first cell through right now as I type.

Anyone have any idea if I wired this wrong to show each cells voltage? As far as I know it should be able to display voltage for each cell but Im deffinetly not a electrician.

[Rees]

So alittle up date. Cell terminated as it was supposed to and is reading 4.20 off the charger.

[tobrien]

very nice!

[Rees]

Ok, after alittle more searching I may have found my mix-up. It will read more than one cell wired in series, so now i just need to get another display and change the plug to a 2 wire setup and I should be golden.

[Rees]

Wow, been longer then I thought, but I just found my pila charger in pieces in my electronic drawer. Totally forgot about finishing my mod lol. So I took and finished putting in the terminals so I can hook up and remove the display, as it will also double as a battery voltage checker.

Terminals drying


Display reading voltage on unplugged charger(only have 1 at the moment)

Display used to test voltage off charger and homemade magnet leads