So I finally had a bit of a breakthrough using an arduino and reading the battery data straight off the battery using the SMBus using the arduino's i2c port. I haven't decoded all parameters yet, but the main things I wanted was the battery manufacture date, the battery serial number (so I can track individual batteries easier) and the number of cycles the battery has been charged.
Here is the data off of 2 of my batteries:
Anyway, eventually, I want to build a multi-battery charging station that will also automatically track the battery SN as well as the number of charging cycles the battery has gone through to help predict longevity. I have about 10 of the male molex battery connectors on the way, but those are still a few weeks out. Those connectors are custom and not easy to get a hold of in quantities under 1,000 (Molex requires 1,000 minimum order). I wish 3dr went with something more standard - I bet we'd be seeing a lot more after market chargers (any?) if that were the case. If you were building a 4 port battery charger, that means you'd have to be able to sell 250 units in order to use up the 1,000 connectors. I'm not sure if the market is big enough for a 4 battery charger to sell that many to make it feasible.
Here is the data off of 2 of my batteries:
Manufacturer Name: BMTPOW
Device Name: MA03
Chemistry LIon
Design Capacity: 5200
Design Voltage: 14800
Manufacture Date (Y-M-D): 2015-7-8
Serial Number: 6456
Specification Info: 49
Cycle Count: 16
Voltage: 16.51
Full Charge Capacity: 5200
Remaining Capacity: 4514
Relative Charge(%): 87
Absolute Charge(%): 87
Minutes remaining for full charge: -1
Cell 1 Voltage: 4127
Cell 2 Voltage: 4132
Cell 3 Voltage: 4132
Cell 4 Voltage: 4121
State of Health: 18
Battery Mode (BIN): 0b0
Battery Status (BIN): 0b11000000
Charging Current: 4000
Charging Voltage: 16800
Temp: 23.25
Current (mA): 0
Manufacturer Name: BMTPOW
Device Name: MA03
Chemistry LIon
Design Capacity: 5200
Design Voltage: 14800
Manufacture Date (Y-M-D): 2015-7-8
Serial Number: 6113
Specification Info: 49
Cycle Count: 21
Voltage: 16.06
Full Charge Capacity: 5153
Remaining Capacity: 3873
Relative Charge(%): 75
Absolute Charge(%): 74
Minutes remaining for full charge: -1
Cell 1 Voltage: 4013
Cell 2 Voltage: 4015
Cell 3 Voltage: 4015
Cell 4 Voltage: 4014
State of Health: 18
Battery Mode (BIN): 0b0
Battery Status (BIN): 0b11000000
Charging Current: 4000
Charging Voltage: 16800
Temp: 25.65
Current (mA): 0
Anyway, eventually, I want to build a multi-battery charging station that will also automatically track the battery SN as well as the number of charging cycles the battery has gone through to help predict longevity. I have about 10 of the male molex battery connectors on the way, but those are still a few weeks out. Those connectors are custom and not easy to get a hold of in quantities under 1,000 (Molex requires 1,000 minimum order). I wish 3dr went with something more standard - I bet we'd be seeing a lot more after market chargers (any?) if that were the case. If you were building a 4 port battery charger, that means you'd have to be able to sell 250 units in order to use up the 1,000 connectors. I'm not sure if the market is big enough for a 4 battery charger to sell that many to make it feasible.