Link Search Menu Expand Document

VOXL 2 Mini Power

Table of contents

  1. Hardware Options
    1. VOXL Power Module
    2. VOXL Mini ESC - 4-in-1
  2. LEDs
  3. Software
    1. Checking Battery Status
    2. voxlpm PX4 Driver
    3. modal_io PX4 Driver

Hardware Options

VOXL Power Module

The main power input is J1 and can be paired with a VOXL Power Module, which provides the up to 6A momentary inrush current and provides two I2C based power monitoring ICs, providing PX4 the battery status.

Note, for VOXL 2 Mini, the MDK-M0041-4 (note the -4) version is required, that has a 3.8VDC output instead of 5VDC.

m0104-user-guides-power.jpg

M0104 J1:

  • Connector on board: Molex 2059-72-0041
  • Mating connector: 2059792041

m0104-j1-m0041

VOXL Mini ESC - 4-in-1

The main power input is J1 and the 3.8V and GND pins can be paried with the output of the VOXL Mini ESC’s regulated outpout.

The battery status information is sent over UART to the modal_io driver through J19 instead of the I2C bus on J1.

For bi-direction UART communications, connect VOXL 2’s J19 connector to the VOXL Mini ESC’s (M0129) J1 using MCBL-TODO or building your own following this.

m0104-m0129

LEDs

The D1 LED illuminates green when the 3.3V regulator is reporting “good”.

The D2 LED illuminates green when the 5.0V USB bus regulator is reporting “good”.

More info about the other LEDs can be located here

Software

Checking Battery Status

With the VOXL PM attached, you check the battery using px4-listener battery_status command after getting a shell to VOXL 2.

Here’s an example from a 2S battery:

px4-listener battery_status

TOPIC: battery_status
 battery_status_s
	timestamp: 1080175258  (0.059704 seconds ago)
	voltage_v: 7.2224
	voltage_filtered_v: 7.2224
	current_a: 0.1758
	current_filtered_a: 0.1791
	average_current_a: 0.0000
	discharged_mah: 51.6742
	remaining: 1.0000
	scale: 1.0000
	temperature: nan
	cell_count: 2
	voltage_cell_v: [3.6662, 3.6662, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000]
	max_cell_voltage_delta: 0.0000
	capacity: 0
	cycle_count: 0
	run_time_to_empty: 0
	average_time_to_empty: 0
	serial_number: 0
	manufacture_date: 0
	state_of_health: 0
	max_error: 0
	interface_error: 0
	connected: True
	source: 0
	priority: 0
	id: 1
	is_powering_off: False
	warning: 0

voxlpm PX4 Driver

The voxlpm PX4 driver monitors both battery and companion computer regulated voltage.

The driver runs in PX4 on the DSP, and interfaces through SSC QUP2.

You can’t get to this I2C bus through Ubuntu at this time.

The modal_io PX4 driver monitors both battery via the VOXL Mini ESC.

The driver runs in PX4 on the DSP, and interfaces through SSC QUP2.