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Serial to USB converter with EV2400

Tom Walker38
Prodigy 40 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BQ30Z55-R1, EV2400, BQEVSW

Hello,

Please bear with me as I am new to the forum and the hardware...

I have a customer that is using a battery pack gas gauge made up of BQ30Z55-R1 devices.  The customer has requested that we use an Allen Bradley PLC to communicate with the battery pack over SMBus to confirm it's charge level.  Reviewing the tech data sheet, it looks like the 0x0E Absolute State of Charge query could be used to read the charge level information the customer is looking for.  If there is a better command for this, please let us know.

Since the customer would like to use a PLC to perform the communications, we are considering using an EV2400 evaluation board which can connect via USB and using a serial to USB converter to send ASCII command information from the PLC through the EV2400 to the battery pack gas gauge.  Can you tell me if this is feasible and whether or not has this been done before?  If this is not feasible, is there any other piece of COTS hardware that will allow an Allen Bradley PLC to communicate to the BQ30Z55-R1 devices and what protocol would be required?

Thanks in advance...

Tom

  • 0
    TI__Guru 73830 points
    We normally use RSOC (0x0D) to determine the SOC for a pack. RSOC is the RemCap/FCC where ASOC is RemCap / Design Capacity. Since the Design Capacity does not change as the pack ages, the ASOC will not always reach 100% at full charge.

    Customers can use the EV2300 or EV2400 to interface to a device. We have had users create their own tools to communicate through the adapter.
  • 0
    Prodigy 40 points
    Hi Tom,
    I have seen several posts of people asking for a link to the bqEVSW software. Can you please provide me the link to the download as well? tomw@microinst.com
    Thank You!
  • 0 in reply to Tom Walker38
    TI__Guru 73830 points
    Tom
    Which device are you trying to find the bqEVSW to support?
    Tom
  • 0 in reply to ThomasCosby
    Prodigy 40 points
    Hi Tom,
    We have an EV2400 that we ordered from a distributor (Digi-Key). We are trying to use it to communicate with the customer's product which has a battery pack gas gauge made up of bq30z55-r1 devices to determine the RSOC and possibly enable the battery output via SMBus. It is not clear whether or not software is required to use the EV2400 to interface the device. The EV2400 manual states that "In addition to this board, PC software is required to interpret the gas gauge data to complete the evaluation system". The manual does not list the PC software that is required.

    Doing a little reading, it seemed like the bqEVSW software might be a useful (required?) tool for doing this. It seemed like it was the right SW package for the series of device and was compatible with the EV2400. We are trying to figure out whether or not we have all of the required pieces for both hardware and software to perform this work and whether tools like the bqEVSW software or a different software tool are required or would make the integration easier to do. Eventually, we will be looking to automate the process using Labview. This could be sending the hex codes to the USB port the device is connected to and reading hex codes back and decoding them in Labview, but if there is a tool that will already do this or would be easier to integrate into the Labview application we would like to avoid re-creating the software interface.

    We have downloaded the EV2400 Firmware Updater Tool. We are not able to download the support components file. Each time we try we get a failed - network error. We submitted a request for the bqEVSW software twice from the website and have yet to receive a response.

    Can you please advise as to whether or not bqEVSW is required/recommended to use the EV2400 to do what we are trying to do? If it is, where do we download the software? If you have questions or would like to discuss, please let me know...
    Thanks in advance...
    Tom
  • 0 in reply to Tom Walker38
    TI__Guru 73830 points

    Tom

    The bq30z55-R1 is a custom device, so we cannot provide the bqEVSW program without getting some information. Please provide an email address and I will work with you off-line.


    Tom

  • 0 in reply to ThomasCosby
    Prodigy 40 points
    Hi Tom,
    My e-mail address is tomw@microinst.com.
    Regards,
    Tom