I have a project idea to use an old laptop and put a R-Pi in there along with an arduino and use the battery to supply the power to every thing. My problem is how do I go about finding a way to properly recharge the battery with the included AC adapter.
I have an old Toshiba Portege M200 with a new battery I just bought, may have jumped with out looking :doh:. I have measured voltages on all the pins but I am not at home and I forget the exact measurements, I will post them later tonight. I did take apart an old one to look at the circuit inside and only found out that one of the ics is a memory chip, again I will post pics later tonight.
Any suggestions on how to get this working or how to figure it out?
Laptops run off of ~19v. That’s a lot of difference to the RPi’s 3.3v.
I can always use a regulator to lower the voltage. Ok so here is the voltage in the pins with just the battery plugged into the board then battery and adapter and then just adapter separated by commas.
1—11.3,12.11,2.56
2—2.63,2.57, 4.89 I think this is a thermal resistor as it changes with temperature
3— 0.15,0.2, 2.35
4—4.82, 4.84, 4.83
5—4.91, 4.91, 4.91
6—4.91, 4.91, 4.91
7—Ground
8—4.83, 4.84, 4.83
9—Ground
10—Ground
So does anyone have any ideas about this? While I have time before I need to get it done the sooner the better. If this isn’t an option,which seems to be more and more likely, what kind of battery pack could I use to run a Rpi arduino and a touch screen for at least an hour would prefer 2-3. I would also want to set it up so that I can plug it in to charge and run from an ac adapter. Once that is figured out I can always use the connectors and casing I have. I would still prefer to use the manufactured battery but I am willing to do whatever it takes, well almost. :lol:
Check the current your project draws. You may be able to run an arduino, and RPi and a touch screen for an hour or more with normal batteries (AAs have about 1500 mAh IIRC, maybe more for different battery types). Also, I have a PNY portable phone charger that was about $30 and carries 5200 mAh, so if 5V and 1A is enough, you could use something similar.
Hooking it up to an adapter is a matter of using an adapter plug with a switch that interrupts one of the power lines from the battery when you connect an adapter.
According to the maintainence manual the PS section …
The power supply supplies 26 different voltages to the system board.
The power supply microcontroller has the following functions.
1. Judges that the DC power supply (AC adapter) is connected to the computer.
2. Detects DC output and circuit malfunctions.
3. Controls the battery icon, and DC IN icon.
4. Turns the battery charging system on and off and detects a fully charged battery.
5. Turns the power supply on and off.
6. Provides more accurate detection of a low battery.
7. Calculates the remaining battery capacity.
8. Controls the transmission of the status signal of the main battery.
It also has a list of voltages and names and functions you might find interesting.
http://203.56.127.6/site/open/partners/ … 00MMV2.pdf
Thanks for the replies that doc was interesting to read and means I have to search the motherboard for the charging microprocessor. The touch screen needs around 2 amps is the biggest problem. I was thinking about maybe just tearing the battery apart and using the cells to make my own battery pack but how would I make/get a charger on the slightly cheaper side, think around $25 or so. If you have any suggestions on how to keep the finished look of the battery I would love to hear them.
I use a functioning laptop to charge batteries with a hacked battery case. I soldered wires to the hacked battery terminals. I then connect various single batteries to the wires to charge and discharge. I use the laptop running Hiren’s boot cd to monitor the batteries. I then use the batteries for various applications, such as for my bicycle lighting and such.
Vic