Tag Archives: Battery Management

HDQ Utility version 0.96 now available!

Posted on by
2

Whew, I’ve been working on this version for quite a while. With the helpful feedback of many people that have tried my software, I’ve made a large number of improvements to the software; of course, there are plenty of features that aren’t implemented yet, but are being worked on.

More information about how this utility works can be found here.

Download HDQ Utility v0.96 here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pf0vszgfei7s8ly/HDQ%20Utility%200.96.zip?dl=0

Updates

  • (Major improvement!) Improved HDQ logging functionality (logs are now saved to a separate file instead of being overwritten).
    • Example: “HDQ Log (2015-10-26 at 19.02.50) – HDQ Utility v0.96.txt”
  • Improved HDQ communication (HDQ breaks no longer require the serial port to be opened more than once, and HDQ no-response timeouts are decreased from 0.5 to 0.3 seconds.
  • Reworded certain error messages for clarity.
    • Example: “Communication error: Cannot read byte from address 0x02 (No response from device).” 
  • Renamed file ‘config.txt’ to ‘Config – COM Port.txt’ for clarity.
  • Improved state-of-health warnings by making them non-modal (they do not require the user to dismiss the message).
  • Added more notifications for unidentified and uninitialized batteries. (Uninitialized batteries are determined by a FULL ACCESS security state, with Impedance Track disabled.)
  • Fixed invalid device name and maximum load current readings for v5.02/sn27545-A4 based batteries (e.g. iPhone 6, 6+…).
  • Added time-to-full readings (for firmware older than v2.24).
  • Improved error-checking for device identification (it will display a notice that the tool may need to be restarted).
  • Updated DingoLib UI library to auto-resize window to 0.9x display resolution for improved readability on larger monitors.

To-Do

  • Create a dedicated section on my blog for the HDQ Utility.
  • Create a user’s manual describing the parameters displayed by the program (in particular, the Advanced Battery Information section).
  • Improve data logging functionality by saving logs to a subdirectory instead of the program’s root to decrease file clutter.
  • Improve error-checking for commands (retry reads if one or more bytes are not received from the device).
  • Add error statistics indicating how many communication errors occurred during data collection.
  • Improve support for older (older than v1.25) firmware.
  • Improve support for v5.02/sn27545-A4 devices (make use of advanced commands available in this firmware version).
  • Add support for restarting of data collection without having to re-execute the program.
  • Add Data Flash memory functions to allow for readout of advanced configuration, serial number, lifetime/black-box data, etc.
  • Rewrite this program in something that’s not LabWindows/CVI… also, use of a GUI rather than a non-console text UI.
Advertisement

(Day 2 of 4) Mini-Ramble: Dallas! TI! Batteries!

Posted on by
Reply

Today was the first day of the actual Texas Instruments Battery Management Systems event. To my surprise, a couple hundred of people showed up from TI employees, a lot of customers (representatives from various companies like Bose, Google, and many others), and me as well. 🙂

The first day was a basic but still detailed introduction to the inner workings of Li-Ion technology as well as its limitations, failure modes (the gas coming from a Li-Po [lithium-ion polymer] cell contains carbon monoxide, hydrogen and a bunch of other gases), with this leading towards battery fuel gauges and why just measuring the voltage is not enough to accurately determine how full a battery is.

The day ended with a lab showcasing TI’s new Gauge Development Kit (GDK), which, in layman’s terms, is a “battery lab on a board”. It includes PC communication hardware, an adjustable charger, adjustable load and an on-board fuel gauge (but it’s set to use an external fuel gauge by default). I even got a chance to talk the TI battery management team, and even had a dinner with a few key TI guys including the one who made THE design for the GDK.

(Day 1 of 4) Mini-Ramble: Dallas! TI! Batteries!

Posted on by
Reply

Woohoo, travel time! Today marks the first day in Dallas attending Texas Instruments’ Battery Management Systems deep-dive seminar. Okay, technically it doesn’t start until tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean today was any less exciting.

The flight from Calgary to Dallas wasn’t too eventful, besides a controller fault that required going back to the terminal to resolve, but trying to grab a SIM card to put in my phone was a whole other ordeal. Fry’s carries the card but doesn’t carry the refill PINs, and my Canadian credit card would not work both online and on the phone; it was only when I went to Best Buy to purchase a refill card with cash that I was finally able to get cellular phone and data access.

I was also given a tour of the main TI facility, and boy it is HUGE! As much as I would have loved to share images, I signed an agreement explicitly stating I cannot do so. However, I was able to see a bunch of the lab rooms, offices and demo stands showcasing various TI technologies at work, such as the ARM processors in the Nest thermostat, the DLP chips in pocket projectors, and so on. I even got to see many of the people in the TI Battery Management team in person, but because of the seminar running from Tuesday to Thursday, they were visibly too busy with work to have a chat.

Tomorrow marks the first instalment of the Battery Management Deep-Dive Training sessions. There is preliminary word that I may have an opportunity to speak in public for a couple minutes about the TI forums and why I’m here.

So Phone Me Maybe: A list of iPhone/iPad batteries with gas gauge functionality

Posted on by
43

Looking for my HDQ Utility to read out your own batteries? Click here!

UPDATE: Turns out the iPhone 3G and 3GS do have gas gauges! I will add them to my list as I find out more about them.

Each iPhone generation since the iPhone 4 iPhone 3G uses a TI gas gauge and uses the HDQ bus (iOS refers to this as the SWI [single-wire interface]) to communicate with the outside world. For more information about the HDQ protocol, click here.

I’ve noticed that many of the iPhone 5S and 5C batteries that can be purchased online are reusing iPhone 4 circuits, which will cause a significant decrease in gauge accuracy (proper parameters need to be programmed into the gas gauge, and that information is chemistry dependent), and the protection circuits in the iPhone 4 battery PCB will kick into overvoltage protection mode at 4.25 volts, less than the 4.3 volts that the iPhone 5 (and newer) batteries need to charge fully.

Because I have been unable to find a list of information of each battery generation, I’m making one myself. Because nobody else has dug this deep into the fuel gauges that the iPhone uses, I have to get this information experimentally (that is, by buying various batteries from online shops; the iPhone 5S battery has been very difficult to get, besides the fake ones I mentioned earlier).

So far I’m in need of an iPhone 3G (not the 3GS) battery, as well as all iPad batteries (or, if you have my program on hand, what model the battery is intended for, the fuel gauge device (eg. bq27541, bq27545), firmware version and designed capacity.

Model Gas Gauge Firmware Designed Capacity Default Unseal Key? Comments
iPhone 3G bq27541 ? ? Yes (0x36720414) Need to acquire one of these.
iPhone 3GS bq27541 1.17 1200 mAh Yes (0x36720414) Limited feature set. My utility will throw “No response” errors when reading this battery.
iPhone 4 bq27541 1.25 1420 mAh Yes (0x36720414)
iPhone 4S bq27541 1.35 1430 mAh Yes (0x36720414)
iPhone 5 bq27545 3.10 1430 mAh No (0x52695035) Many thanks to Yann B. for finding the unseal key!
iPhone 5S bq27545 3.10 1550 mAh No (0x84966864)
iPhone 5C bq27545 3.10 1500 mAh No (0x84966864)
iPhone 6 sn27545-A4 (note 4) 5.02 1751 mAh No (0x65441236)
iPhone 6 Plus sn27545-A4 (note 4) 5.02 2855 mAh No (0x18794977)
iPhone 6S sn27546-A5 (note 5) 6.01 1690 mAh No (0x90375994)
iPhone 6S Plus sn27546-A5 (note 5) 6.01 2725 mAh No (0x11022669)
iPhone SE Unrecognized (note 6, 7) (A1141/0x1141) 1.03 1560 mAh No (unknown) (See note 6)
Apple Watch (38mm) sn27545-A4 5.02 235 mAh No (0x09130978)
Apple Watch (42mm) sn27545-A4 5.02 245 mAh No (unknown) If anyone has one that reads “FULL ACCESS” in my program, please send it to me! 🙂
iPad (3rd gen) bq27541 1.35 11560 mAh Yes (0x36720414)

Notes:

  1. All known iPhone battery models use custom firmware, so not all of the features that the mainstream gas gauge models use are available. For example, none of these gauges will calculate the battery’s State of Health percentage (it is basically the percentage of the battery’s full charge capacity (it degrades with use) versus its designed capacity.
  2. The iPhone 5C’s battery label indicates a designed capacity of 1510 mAh, but the battery I’ve received indicates a capacity of 1550 mAh. As I have only been able to get one of these batteries that seem to be genuine, I will need to get more batteries of this type to confirm that this information is correct.
  3. The iPhone 5’s battery label indicates a designed capacity of 1440 mAh, but the fuel gauge reports 1430 mAh. The 5S battery reports 1550 mAh, but is labeled 1560 mAh. The 5C reports 1500 mAh, but is labeled 1510 mAh.
  4. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus use a special firmware that is identified in TI’s battery software (except the very latest releases where such data was removed), and it has a very extensive feature set, and a lot of data logging features.
  5. The iPhone 6S/6S Plus use a firmware version similar to the iPhone 6/6 Plus, but with a newer chip and some features trimmed out. I’m reasonably confident that the chip is an sn27546-A5 but have no idea if it’s the official part designator.
  6. The iPhone SE battery seems to have a unique custom chip, but has gone back to a DFN-based package (similar to bq27541) rather than a BGA like the bq27545/546. It is marked “A1141” and does not respond to my HDQ adapter, only the official TI EV2300/EV2400. I have only one in my possession, so I am not 100% sure whether this is true for this series of batteries.
  7. Come to think of it, I might have been ripped off with the battery I received, and it could very well be that I just have a counterfeit that uses a non-TI gauge.