Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BQ34Z100,
Please excuse the length of this post but it is necessary to grasp a full understanding of our situation
History -
We were using the bq34z100 fuel gauge using the EVSW tool starting in 2014. Now we are using the bq34z100-g1 fuel gauge with Battery Management Studio and I just updated to: v- 1.3.86 (was 1.3.54) and updated Chem file to 791 (was 643) a little over a week ago. This whole process got dumped in My lap about 2 weeks ago when customers of ours (multiple Military) were having problems with the fuel gauges reporting to a GUI through a SNMP card. The GUI was Indicating battery pack "CHARGED" but still showing 80-100% (even 60-80%) state of charge on the screen The % state of charge is coming from the shift register and our circuit is very similar to your Evaluation Board except we are using 0-20%, 20-40%, 40-60%, 60-80%, 80-100% and 100% outputs from the shift register to the SNMP card reading these on the ports. These fuel gauges this time had a "Golden Image" programed in them (first time doing this) and I am 95% positive it was not :"learned" correctly after reviewing the Technical Reference Manual. The "Golden Image" file was programmed into the bq34z100-G1 fuel gauge which showed "100%" and "CHARGED" in the GUI through the SNMP card before they left here. However I found out no actual DISCHARGING and CHARGING. test were preformed on the battery pack. When the costumes did their own DISCHARGING and CHARGING testing, this is when the problems were found.
We have one of these units back from the customer and i was able to confirm the customers problem. In reviewing the Golden Image file loaded in the bq34z100-G1 using with the Battery Management Studio, I found mistakes in the Registers. I found out why the Registers were wrong when I selected the Data Memory tab and saw several mistakes with some of the configuration values. This was because we had to change the battery (16 in series) as the one we were using was no longer available. When I reviewed the *,gg,csv file that was uploaded to the bq34z100-G1 to make the Golden Image file, the battery information was for the old battery and not the new battery. I also found out they had used the old battery chemistry #0401 and not the new one which is #0440. Unfortunately, no one entered the correct parameters for the new battery. So as the saying goes: "Garbage In... Garbage Out."
I adjusted several values in the bq34z100-G1 (we do not SEAL the bq34z100-G1) for the "Configuration" and the "Gas Gauging" sections on the new battery, while still in Battery Management Studio. Next I up loaded the new battery chemistry #0440, then did a "Write All" and "Reset". I did not do "Calibration" as the values in the Calibration Data section did not change from averaging the data from 20 PCBs. I ran several DISCHARGING and CHARGING tests and everything seams to be functioning correctly with our unit. I again did a "Reset" to clear the Registers and then went back to Data Memory, selected "Export", and saved a New *,gg,csv file.
So I have some YES or NO questions:
1. Did I overwrite the original Golden Image in the bq34z100-G1 by changing the values in the Configuration and Gas Gauging sections?
2. Should I have done a new Calibration even though the values did not change from the 20 PCB averaging?
3. If "Yes" to #1 above, can I make a New Golden Image (using the proper "learning" format as described in the Technical Reference Manual (SLUUBW5), Appendix D) and overwrite the old Golden Image in the bq34z100-G1, in the other units with this New Golden Image?
4. Should we SEAL the bq34z100-G1 after the New Golden Image loaded into it (as i said we never did this before)?
5. If "No" to #3 above should I start with a new bq34z100-G1 and replace all the bq34z100-G1 in the other units?
Regards,
Gene
