Finally got a chance to test the new version of the analogue slave software. I am comparing my current version 1.08 with Peters latest version 1.13.
First thing I noticed is that the new software runs much faster. The old version runs at 250khz and the new software running at 125khz seems quicker to respond to voltage changes!
I tried at 31khz, but that takes much to long to respond to voltage changes. The risk here is that a low voltage alarm might not trigger in time and cell voltage will drop so low that the low voltage opto stops conducting. This seems to happen at around 1.25 volts and starts conducting again at around 2.20 volts.
As far as the actual figures go I have made a chart. A note on the equipment I have used. My DC power supply is a £20 0-20 volt 2 amp supply. It has a single knob to adjust voltage, but isn't designed for the fine adjustments required for these measurements. My volt meter cost me a fair amount, about 20 years ago
, and was last calibrated Sep 2000! Still it has served me well. So keep all this in mind when looking at the values below.
_________Programmed________________________________
____________Value__________Ver_1.08_________Ver_1.13_
MaxVOptoOn___375____________3.78_____________3.80___
MaxVOptoOff___360____________3.64_____________3.64___
LoadOn________360____________3.65_____________3.63___
LoadOff________355____________3.59_____________3.61__
MinVOptoOff____250____________2.52_____________2.54__
MinVOptoOn____240____________2.40_____________2.44___
So there you have it, the results of my very quick test of the slaves. I will be using the new software as the lower clock speed will lower current consumption as will the new resistor value for R5 (100K from 22K).
Edit: BTW that 3 byte download bug happened again with the new software. I had to copy and paste the main program, without the comments into a new window and then it downloaded o.k.