USB Voltmeter?
 

Hey,
New to the board, as recommended by a user here. I currently just accepted a project to create a GUI to monitor two things: voltage across twelve batteries of an electric car, and to monitor the overall voltage of an electric car. Ideally, I want to create a Java GUI that reads an input from several voltmeters. Any suggestions?

The Arduino platform can be set up as a multiple battery voltmeter, and it can spit out its data stream via USB. Not sure if that's what you're after though. (There are probably better solutions, but when the only tool you have is a hammer....)

Can I monitor each battery independently? I need to monitor a minimum of twelve batteries, and the whole circuit (13), and it would be a plus if I could monitor two auxiliary batters. It's for a research project, so money isn't much of a factor. Grants will (hopefully) be paying for it.

The Arduino platform has six analog inputs, 0 to 5V range from ground.
You need voltage dividers for above 5V measuring, and three Avrduino's will have up to 18 analog input.

Commercial products look very expensive, such as following for 8 channel.
8 Channel Voltage Data Logger

Ken@Japan

You can also use something like a 4051 to "multiplex" your analog inputs. They can turn one analog pin into 8:
Arduino playground - 4051

They are like $0.47 from mouser. And you have 6 analog pins on the typical arduino. So you will want a couple 4051s.

HCF4051BEY

If your usb can power the voltage monitor, I would say get an iDuino kit for $18. iDuino : Fundamental Logic WebStore, Electronic Kits and Components

so with one *duino and two 4051s (and a bunch of carefully selected resistors) you should be able to build something that can monitor up to 20 voltages
and send a data stream to a laptop, for about $25 all told.

One of the tricks here is that voltage is measured to ground, and you have to select different voltage dividers for each battery connection as you want to limit the voltage to max 5 volts per probe.

I would also suggest using old phone/network cable for the hookup to the batteries.

Something simple like an iDuino with USB support is a good plan, but i would recommend sourcing an ADC that can handle higher voltage. Voltage dividers = leakage current, and referencing to ground is not really an option, you want to reference across the battery. Granted, you can reference each node of the network of battereis to ground and do the math, but you're better off with two wires per battery leading to an adc that can handle it. They, too would be cheap. Check out Digi-Key Corporation - USA Home Page

Sorry to bust your chops here matt, but you have not given any specifics (i.e. a chip #). I don't know how one can make an assertion about betterness without discussing the specifics here.

I would agree it is another option, at best, but would probably be more work due to lack of previous arduino examples and lack of specifics from its suggester.

the divider leakage current can be accomodated with large resistors and a common ground under cpu control if sleep mode is desired.

Did you have a specific ADC in mind? What is it's leakage current and how much support circuitry does it need, and do you have to buy one for every battery, and is there prior open source work that the OP can build off of (schematics, code, etc)?

Wow, i just got seriously chewed out for some suggestions...

OP didn't say he was incapable of working with electronics and he didn't say he wanted an open source option. I work with this stuff every day and that's what I would have said to someone in a meeting room if they asked the same question. If he wants details and likes where i'm going, then he can ask me another question.

No, i did not select specific part numbers for him because I assumed that he was capable of doing so using the very simple parametric search on digi key. I don't know what his system voltage is, what the processor voltage is, what the space constraints and budget are, if he is capable of using SMT, what busses he may have available, etc.

I don't like voltage dividers because of the leakage current as well as the tuning required for every single one due to resistor tolerance, and I like the idea of 2 wires per battery so that he is always reading in the same range of voltage (which allows selection of an ADC best suited to that voltage range). One wire at each battery would mean that he is measuring 12v at the first one, 24 at the second, 36, 48, etc. This requires a variety of ADC's. There MAY also be complications to connecting the pc ground to the car ground, which are avoided with 2-wire. I currently have two projects on the go that are acting little sketchy because the customers are connecting my digital grounds to their pc and analog grounds.

You were being presumptuous. You said your solution was better but refuse to back it up with a specific example. All you have to do to back it up is cough up a schematic and some part numbers.

My guess is that it will be, and I've been wrong before:
more complicated
more costly
more difficult to implement

and there's no way to tell if it will leak enough less to matter, if indeed it does leak less (need to look at the adc datasheet).

So can you please produce a schematic for my edification?

It is worth noting that if you get a 0 volt battery, then you will get some strange readings from the other batteries if you have to "do the math"