Asked — Edited

V4 - My Batteries Are Low, My Batteries Are Low

After whole weekend of working with the new V4 EZB I've been able to get two installed and working over my home network. It was a learning experience and had it's challenges but more on all that in another post, another time.

What I'd like to say here is this;

I'm powering the EZB with a power converter from wall voltage. I don't use batteries so I have a continuous power feed and can supply almost any voltage needed within EZB's power range of operation.

The data sheet for V4 says the voltage for the V4 is between 4.5 & 16vdc. This may be true but if the voltage gets below somewhere between 6 & 7 vdc the board will stop responding and I get a irritating voice loop saying ""My batteries are low, My batteries are low".......... This goes on and on till the voltage is raised and the board is power cycled.

So the bottom line is you cannot power EZB V4 with anything lower then 7vdc or it just stops and nags you for more power. Sounds like my 3rd wife, :P

This also means we cant power the V4 with less then 7 volts and get a lower output voltage on the digital I/O pins. We for sure need voltage regulators for devices needing lower voltages.


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Synthiam
#1  

You can adjust or disable the power warning in the Connection Control of ARC.

#2  

With all the comments regarding "read the manual" if I may inject a little humor at Daves expense but I know he will love the attention:D .......perhaps the voice should say......"read the manual, read the manual........" (will be waiting for payback Dave:) )

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Synthiam
#4  

lol, the reason it repeats the batteries are low is to annoy you - on purpose. This is because we sell and recommend LiPo batteries. If you kill a LiPo battery, they don't charge again and need to be thrown out. So having the EZ-B v4 repeat the warning is for your own good:)

However, the battery monitor can be disabled in the Connection Control Configuration - it's a checkbox. Otherwise you can specify the minimum voltage for the battery saver.

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Synthiam
#5  

I updated the Data Sheet to include information about the low battery warning. I also added the default minimum voltage to the voltage reference chart.

View Data Sheet

#6  

This is excellent news! Thanks so much! This makes things a lot EZ'er for me and others using power supplies.

#7  

Note that I am getting the "my batteries are low" repeated when the voltage is below 7.2 volts DC.

Quote:

DJ, you said, "Otherwise you can specify the minimum voltage for the battery saver."

Note that the Low Battery Warning only has two options of either Disabled or Enabled after clicking on the "Connection Control" button, with no settings for adjusting the voltage level. Just to be sure of the voltage actually present, I am measuring the voltage right at the back of the DC plug with load with a digital volt meter.

Is there now another place to adjust the low voltage level setting for when the message of low battery warning comes on?

User-inserted image

#8  

Yes there is, no need to do what you did... You can adjust the low voltage warning for your EZB4 in the Connection Control settings in ARC (the first control that you see on your desktop when you first open ARC)... It will set the Low voltage warnings for any or all of the 5 boards.. The TCP settings is also in there...

Your battery may be reading 7.2 (but that is probably without a load on it)... Your battery could still be low, however. As soon as you put a load on it like the EZB4 and servos it will quickly drag the voltage down to and below 6.6v.... This is the default low voltage setting for each of the 5 EZBs in the connection control.... Charge your battery...