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I wanted to know if it is possible to monitor a battery that is driving the Arduino and check its voltage. When the voltage drops below a certain level (i.E below 3.0V) it should shutdown and disconnect itself from the battery by using a relay or something. When the battery is full enough again it should power up again. Is that possible without any external sensors just by using the Arduino's inputs?

qwertz
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3 Answers3

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It is not entirely beyond possible, in fact quite possible in theory.

I think the saying 'in theory, theory and reality are the same, but in reality they are not' is appropriate here.

So to monitor voltage, a simple voltage divider circuit can be used, and the Arduino can monitor that, and release a relay controlling the power line. The same relay could be wired to also reconnect when voltage reaches a threshold. I think the circuit actually requires 2 (or more) relays, and technically is it a kind of sensor, but since you indicated a relay was ok, it could work. So given those requirements, do you really need someone to draw it out, or were you just curious?

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Simple battery monitoring from http://arduinotronics.blogspot.com/2012/04/voltage-monitor.html

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Have a look here http://wp.josh.com/2014/11/06/battery-fuel-guage-with-zero-parts-and-zero-pins-on-avr/ It is for bare metal Atmel chip, but applicable to Arduino as well probably. Step one in getting longer battery life is to move to a bare metal Atmel chip, choose ATMEGA or ATTINY depending on how many pins you need. Also see my answer here What are (or how do I use) the power saving options of the Arduino to extend battery life?

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maarten
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I'm assuming Arduino is powered directly by the battery, and not via a voltage regulator. In that case you van measure VCC by first measuring the internal 1.1v voltage reference (in relation to Vcc). Since the internal 1.1v is constant and VCC will lower over time, the reading (0-1023) will increase.

See this article: http://jeelabs.org/2012/05/04/measuring-vcc-via-the-bandgap/

Gerben
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