Smart Battery SMBUS Analyzer

Development Board: Arduino Pro Mini
Baud Rate: 115200
Smart Battery System specification datasheet: http://sbs-forum.org/specs/sbdat110.pdf

Commands: mode
mode [onplug/continuous] - Sets the analyzer in one of two modes. OnPlug shows battery info only when the battery is initially plugged in. Continuous shows battery info in 2.5s intervals.

Known SMBUS Device Addresses:
[11] Acer AL12X32, Acer AL12A32

Texas Instruments BMS Gas Guage IC Note: Acer Battery Model AL12X32 uses a TI BQ9000 IC, which is 'proprietary' according to TI; however, it appears to be a re-branded TI BQ4050.
Datasheet: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/bq4050.pdf

Used Parameters:

• VOLTAGE 0x09
• TEMPERATURE 0x08
• CURRENT 0x0a
• CAPACITY 0x10
• TIME_TO_FULL 0x13
• CHARGE 0x0d
• TIME_TO_EMPTY 0x12
• STATUS 0x16
• CYCLE_COUNT 0x17
• DESIGN_CAPACITY 0x18
• DESIGN_VOLTAGE 0x19
• MANUFACTURE_DATE 0x1b
• SERIAL_NUMBER 0x1c
• DEVICE_NAME 0x21
• DEVICE_CHEMISTRY 0x22
• MANUFACTURER_NAME 0x20
• MANUFACTURER_DATA 0x23
• MANUFACTURER_INFO 0x25
• SPECIFICATION_INFO 0x1a
• CELL3_VOLTAGE 0x3D
• CELL2_VOLTAGE 0x3E
• CELL1_VOLTAGE 0x3F

Instructions (Microsoft Windows)

Requirements:

• Smart Battery SMBUS Analyzer
• Putty or another serial terminal application
• Smart battery

1. Download and install Putty from here: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html
   
2. Plug in the analyzer and then open Device Manager and look for "Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge" under "Ports (COM & LPT)". Take note of the COM port number in parenthesis at the end of the device name.
   
3. Open Putty. Select "Serial" under "Connection type:".
   
4. Change the "Serial line" value to the COM port you noted earlier. (Commonly "COM3")
   
5. Change the "Speed" value to 115200.
   
6. Click Open. This will open a new terminal connection to the analyzer. If you wish to see the startup output, press the reset button on the analyzer device.
   
7. At this point, you're using the analyzer, you can plug in your Smart Battery and the device will automatically output information from the batteries internal BMS to the terminal window.
   
   

Diagnostics

Issue: Garbled output. Question marks, negative or missing values.
Fix: Try "jump starting" the battery by connecting the VCC(+12.6V) and GND wires. Reconnect the battery. If the output is still garbled, give it a bit of time and try again. If there is still no output after 30 seconds of "jumping", the internal BMS might be bad or the analyzer cable might be backwards.

Issue: USB Device Not Recognized
Fix: USB cable the analyzer is attached to is bad, too long, or the USB port it is plugged into may be weak.