MINIPROJECT

Battery Voltage
Guard
adjustable to any voltage
Design by A. Schilp

This month’s Mini Project may be used to guard any voltage ranging from
a minimum of 3 V to a maximum of 25 V. It can, therefore, be used to
keep a constant eye on the voltage of a car battery. But it can also be used
with the receiver batteries of a radio-controlled model, for example.

Even though this is an extremely simple elec-

tronic circuit, the voltage guard, equipped
with a 10-segment LED display, offers a num-
ber of distinct advantages. Firstly, this circuit
is very compact, it can therefore easily be
built into a suitable case — the circuit board
is no bigger than a matchbox and there will
generally be no problem to find some space
for it. Secondly, the circuit (especially when
in ‘dot-mode’) is very thrifty with current.
The third, and by no means the least impor-
tant advantage, is that the circuit can be
used in a large number of different applica-
tions, because the voltage range that can be
guarded can be varied over quite a wide
range. A voltage of 3 V is the minimum (the
circuit doesn’t work below that) and 25 V is
the maximum (it will break down above that
level). But within that range, the guard volt-
age can be freely chosen with the aid of two
potentiometers. As a consequence, the
application need not be limited to a voltage
guard for a car battery — the circuit may — we can safely assume — is famil- cuit contains hardly any more com-
also be used as an indicator for the batteries iar to Elektor Electronics readers. ponents than the LM3914 and the
used in radio-controlled models, battery- This IC by itself is actually a com- ten (high-efficiency) LEDs. The lower
powered drills and lawn mowers, etc. It may plete voltmeter circuit because it limit of the measuring range, at
also be used as a battery tester, but only was designed to indicate a varying which the first LED of the scale (D10)
with batteries having a terminal voltage of input voltage directly on an LED will light, is adjustable with P2. The
3 V or higher; testing of individual 1.5 V scale. Internally, the LM3914 con- upper limit is set with P1. Every LED
cells is not possible. tains 10 comparators with a current in the scale represents one tenth of
source output, plus a reference the measuring range. If the voltage
source and a ladder shaped voltage remains below the lower limit then
LM3914 divider that provides the necessary no LED will be on. When the voltage
The circuit has been designed around the reference voltages. is higher than the upper limit, D1
integrated display driver type LM3914, which Figure 1 illustrates that the cir- will remain on.

40 Elektor Electronics 1/2003

 MINIPROJECT
15V 8mA which therefore also acts as the power sup-
(25V 10mA)
ply for our circuit. A nice feature is that by
P1 JP1 C1
D1
making use of the reference voltage of 1.25 V
100n
on pin 7, the measurement value indicated
D2 by the LEDs always corresponds to the
13V 3
25k power supply voltage to be measured, with-
D3
1V35
9
MODE L10
10 out affecting the accuracy.
5 11
SIG L9 D4 Indeed, the brightness of the LEDs is not
IC1 12
L8
13
affected by the power supply voltage either
1V26 L7 D5
6
RHI L6
14 — a consequence of the above mentioned
7
REFOUT L5
15
D6 current source outputs. The load presented
16
0V83
4
LM3914 L4
17
by the parallel combination of R2 and P2 to
RLO L3 D7
18 pin 7 defines the operating point of these
L2
R1 R2
8
REFADJ L1
1
D8
current sources. When calculating the current
through the LEDs, you’ll find that this current
1k

10k

P2 2
D9 is about 10 times greater than the current
10k
D10
through R2 and P2. Because the voltage at
pin 7 is 1.25 V, the current for each LED
020282 - 11 amounts to 1.25/5000 = 2.5 mA. That is
exactly the current to suit a high-efficiency
Figure 1. All that is required for the battery guard is already present in the LED. If required, the current may be
LM3914. increased by lowering the value of R2.

Dot or bar
The LM3914 can operate in either
dot- or bar-mode. In the first case,
COMPONENTS LIST only one LED will be lit. In the sec-
ond case all the LEDs below the rel-
Resistors: evant LED will also be on. The selec-
R1 = 1kΩ tion between the two modes is made
R2 = 10kΩ using pin 9: if this is left open then
P1 = 25kΩ preset the IC operates in dot-mode. When
P2 = 10kΩ preset jumper JP1 is in place, bar mode is
selected. Keep in mind that the cur-
Capacitors: rent consumption and power dissi-
C1 = 100nF pation of the IC are considerably
higher in bar-mode. This is not much
Semiconductors: of an issue with voltages up to 15 V.
D1-D10 = high-efficiency LED However when the input voltage is
IC1 = LM3914N 25 V, the dissipation increases to
625 mW and at that level the
Miscellaneous:
LM3914 will become quite hot.
JP1 = jumper
The current consumption of the
circuit amounts to about 6 to 7 mA,
Construction
PCB layout also available from
www.elektor-electronics.co.uk to which the LED current has to be Figure 2 shows the layout for the small cir-
(Free Downloads) added. All current is obtained from cuit board designed for the voltage guard.
the voltage source to be guarded, This board is unfortunately not available
ready-made. As you can see, every compo-
nent has been given a suitable place on the
board, and because there are so few of them,
there is very little to say about the construc-
D10 D9 D8 D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1
tion. In practice it is handy to use LEDs of a
1-282020

020282-1

+
020282-1
IC1 few different colours, for example, red for volt-
0 R2 ages that are too low, green for correct and
R1
ROTKELE )C(

(C) ELEKTOR

C1 yellow for values that are too high. That way,

JP1
in one glance you can determine if there are
H1

H2

P2 P1 grounds for concern.

Another detail worth noting: on the circuit
Figure 2. The printed circuit board is so small that building it into a suitable case board near P1 and P2 there are a number of
should not present a problem. additional holes. The purpose of these is to

1/2003 Elektor Electronics 41

MINIPROJECT
allow the option of replacing the trimpots LED, the series becomes 15-14.5-14- order to obtain a sensible measure-
with fixed resistors, once the correct value 13.5-13-12.5-12-11.5-11-10.5. We now ment, it is always necessary to test
has been determined and does not have to be set the regulated power supply to the battery while it is connected to
adjusted any more. The advantage is that 10.5 V and turn P2 until the lowest its normal load.
fixed resistors are much more stable than LED is lit. Done! Connecting the indicator to a car
trimpots and are affected to a lesser extent by In exactly the same way it is pos- battery can be done very easily
dust and ageing. sible, of course, to make steps of only without touching any of the car’s
0.33 V or 0.25 V, or larger steps of 1 wiring. The cigarette lighter socket
V. Start by first turning P2 fully clock- is eminently suitable for this pur-
Adjustment wise, adjust the upper voltage with pose. The special plug is widely
P1 and P2 allow practically any desired mea- P1, followed by the lower voltage available, the outside springs are
suring range to be set. We will use a car bat- with P2. You will observe that with connected to the ‘negative’ of the
tery as an example. Because the charging very small steps, 1/10 V for exam- battery and the centre pin is con-
voltage is typically about 14.4 V, it is appro- ple, the LEDs will turn on and off nected to the ‘positive’.
priate to set the upper limit with P1 to about slowly; it is possible therefore, that A final closing remark: because
15 V, for example. This is easily done by tem- at a certain voltage two LEDs will be the power supply voltage of the bat-
porarily connecting the circuit to a regulated on at the same time. tery guard is equal to the value to be
power supply and turning P1 until D1 lights. measured, it is, in this case, not pos-
Make sure that during this adjustment P2 is sible to add a series diode to protect
turned fully clockwise, otherwise undesirable Measuring against reverse polarity. So, each
side effects may occur. Keep in mind that an unloaded bat- time when connecting the battery to
Next, we need to determine which voltage tery, even when nearly fully drained, be tested, make e sure the plus and
the lowest LED should indicate. If, for can still present a terminal voltage minus terminals are not reversed!
instance, we would like steps of 0.5 V per that is close to a full battery. So, in (020282-1)

42 Elektor Electronics 1/2003