Battery backup doesn't seem to work

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philipww
 
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Battery backup doesn't seem to work

Post by philipww »

I have just finished an Ice Tube. It works fine, but the battery backup doesn't seem to work. Have checked last diode, its stripe, its solder, all seems fine. Have 3v measured on the supplied battery. I have 3v measured across battery terminals on board. Anything to check next?

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jarchie
 
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Re: Battery backup doesn't seem to work

Post by jarchie »

Have 3v measured on the supplied battery. I have 3v measured across battery terminals on board. Anything to check next?
On the off chance you measured 3v while the clock was being supplied with 9v power, try measuring with the AC adapter unplugged. If the battery voltage sags significantly, it might be an issue with Q3 not turning off completely, which can be solved by replacing the Q3 FET:
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=43209
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=43908

Otherwise, I also suggest posting photos of your main board (front and back), so Adafruit support and perhaps other forum users (like myself) can check soldering and component placement. I don't know why, but sometimes it takes a second or even third pair of eyes to spot some things.

I'm assuming that the time does not advance when the clock loses external power. Note that with the default Adafruit firmware, it's expected that the clock time will blink after a power loss until the time is reset. And sometimes, the clock will lose a few seconds. That's normal.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Battery backup doesn't seem to work

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

All good advice from jarchie. If you post some good clear photos of the front & back of the main board we'll check the assembly also.

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philipww
 
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Re: Battery backup doesn't seem to work

Post by philipww »

Thanks John. It was that I didn't realize how it was supposed to act when it loses power. It's all good now that the user error is corrected.

I was using this to teach a friend how to solder / assemble a project, and picked it up to finish when we never seemed to get time to finish together. It was a nice project for that.

I really appreciate your thoughtful response.

Best..philip
jarchie wrote:
Have 3v measured on the supplied battery. I have 3v measured across battery terminals on board. Anything to check next?
On the off chance you measured 3v while the clock was being supplied with 9v power, try measuring with the AC adapter unplugged. If the battery voltage sags significantly, it might be an issue with Q3 not turning off completely, which can be solved by replacing the Q3 FET:
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=43209
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=43908

Otherwise, I also suggest posting photos of your main board (front and back), so Adafruit support and perhaps other forum users (like myself) can check soldering and component placement. I don't know why, but sometimes it takes a second or even third pair of eyes to spot some things.

I'm assuming that the time does not advance when the clock loses external power. Note that with the default Adafruit firmware, it's expected that the clock time will blink after a power loss until the time is reset. And sometimes, the clock will lose a few seconds. That's normal.

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jarchie
 
Posts: 615
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:16 pm

Re: Battery backup doesn't seem to work

Post by jarchie »

philipww wrote:Thanks John. It was that I didn't realize how it was supposed to act when it loses power. It's all good now that the user error is corrected.
You're very welcome.

By the way, if you're not happy with the default sleep behavior, the Ice Tube Clock is open hardware/open source, so you're free to change it! I've posted some pointers for firmware hackers in another thread.

Or if you'd like try an unofficial alternative firmware with different sleep behavior, you might take a look at mine. To install it, you'd need to upgrade the clock's microcontroller to an ATmega328P and use an ISP programmer, like Adafruit's USBtinyISP. I'd also be willing to send you a preprogrammed chip, if you reimburse my costs (~$3 plus shipping); just email, if that is preferable.

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