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BQ27410 toolchain issues and power mode selection.

Nathanael Portelli
Prodigy 20 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: EV2400, BQ27410-G1, BQEVSW, BQSTUDIO

I have a battery-powered product for which I am developing firmware, and the HW design team have designed this with a BQ27410 fuel gauge. I am having some issues with getting everything to run properly and would appreciate help from TI and the community.

1: I am having tool issues. Currently I use an "EV2400" hardware to connect to the fuel gauge over I2C, and "Gauge Studio 1.4.1" as PC side software. Unfortunately this does not allow me to do calibration of the gauge, and also some operations are not reliable (programming of firmware, importing .dmi and .gg files, writing of data memory parameters,  etc, fail more often than succeed). I have attempted to use "bq Evaluation Software 0.9.75" and it has similar issues, however it manages to write calibration data (the software reports that calibration failed, but the measured current after calibration matches the actual load current.).

What is the recommended tool combination from TI for working with this fuel gauge? 

2: What is the correct procedure to setup the gauge to go through the power states "normal -> sleep -> hibernate"? The "sleep" bit in "operation configuration" register is set (to enable sleep), load current is below the sleep current  and the MCU is writing the "set hibernate" command just before it itself shuts down. Still the gauge supply current stays around 100~110µA which is the "normal mode" current. Is there something clearly missing in this sequence?

I would appreciate any suggestions!

  • 0
    Genius 3970 points

    I myself haven't had any personal experience working with the bq27410-G1, but I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can.

    1. Both bqEVSW and GaugeStudio are slowly being phased out by TI. Their latest software, bqSTUDIO, is their latest software (still partly under construction). bqSTUDIO's file formats are a bit different (it uses .csv files for most of its data) but should be pretty trivial to convert.

    2. Looking at the bq27410's datasheet, the method of entering HIBERNATE mode is by sending the SET_HIBERNATE (0x0011) command. The gauge will enter hibernation after the load current has dropped below the Hibernate Current threshold, and after it has had a chance to take a valid open-circuit voltage (OCV) measurement, which could take some time if the cell was recently charged or discharged. Note that any I2C communication directly addressing the fuel gauge will take it out of hibernation mode.

  • 0 in reply to Jason Gin
    Prodigy 20 points

    Hi Jason, thanks for the reply!

    1: I have tried downloading the new bqSTUDIO and as you say it is still under construction, with the BQ27410-G1 not defined within it. Do you have any idea where to start to define the configuration file to recognize a new gauge? I will be looking into this today.

    2: Your interpretation of the datasheet matches mine, and in fact I am using the SET_HIBERNATE (0x0011) command, and I am stopping all I2C communications too. What is not clear to me is which timeframe would be relevant when saying "could take some time". Would the OCV reading be taken within a few seconds/minutes after current goes below the hibernate current threshold or would it require much longer (depending on the current tail at the end of CCCV charging for example).

  • 0 in reply to Nathanael Portelli
    TI__Genius 14985 points

    Hi Nathanael,

    1. We are focusing on adding bqStudio support for new products, and also working our way back to support older products over time.  However, it might be some time before we reach bq27410.

    2. First, the voltage must be very stable to get an OCV reading.  Sometimes power supplies even have too much ripple so it's best to use a battery (hopefully a relaxed one or you will have to wait for it to stabilize).  It could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 5 hours.  Relaxation time depends on many factors, including state of charge of the battery, temperature, and magnitude and duration of any recent current.