Hardware design is confirmed.
Added one more component to make the primary regulator stable at such a low current draw.
Added an LC (inductor/capacitor) filter to the battery ADC input to make the battery voltage reading less noise sensitive.
Added a jumper to disable the regulation output during programming.
Added 2 additional pads. One for my use during diagnostics (but can be used to drive an LED if necessary), and another for future use (ON-OFF control, ADC for external temperature, etc).
For testing I set voltages of 8.0-12.0 (5 steps)
Accuracy was excellent (7.999V, 8.997V, 9.995V, 11.000V, 12.001V).
Even when I increased/decreased input voltage from 14V to 27V, Vout was always within 0.02V of target.
I've got software pretty much completed.
As it is coded right now, you get 5 levels, a Memory start feature (turns on to the last level in use before shutdown), Low voltage warning/shutdown, high temp (in the AVR only) warning/shutdown. These are standard configuration options.
Auxiliary PWM outputs (2) that can be used for warning LEDs or Fans, etc. There are 2 DIP switches onboard for future options, also there are 2 12V (actually 11.4V) connections available to power things like fans, LEDs, external digital displays. Current drawn from these 2 points CANNOT exceed 450mA.
The use of these auxiliary PWM outputs, ports, and switches is up to the user. But requires additional coding to implement. I won't be offering to write custom code for each regulator. There are sooooo many possibilities built into this board that each user's custom code would take hours to nail down requirements and implement/test. Perhaps in the future I may offer custom code, but it can't be free.
