User's Guide

Development Kit User Guide – Rev11.0
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these adjustments based upon the robot’s duty schedule lets users truly maximize the
lifespan of entire fleets of batteries.
WiBotic charging systems can
be used with a wide range of
battery types – including a range
of both protected and
unprotected Lithium chemistries.
The “Enable Recovery
Charge” mode is particularly
useful when Protected batteries
are used.
Unprotected Lithium batteries have no onboard circuity to avoid overvoltage or
undervoltage conditions. This can be very dangerous if not properly managed. The
WiBotic Onboard Charger inherently provides overcharge protection through the use of
the “float voltage” setting. The
OC constantly monitors battery
voltage and will automatically
stop charging once the safe float
voltage is reached and the
current being delivered to the
battery drops to 1/10
th
of the
Maximum Charge Current
setting.
However, the WiBotic charger
cannot control battery discharging.
It is possible that overuse of the robot or drone could lead to a dangerous undervoltage
condition when unprotected batteries are used. During undervoltage conditions the
battery cells may become damaged. It is therefore not recommended that a normal
high-current charge cycle be attempted after an undervoltage event.
The WiBotic OC is designed to avoid that possibility. By default, the OC will not attempt
to charge a battery that reads below its minimum safe voltage. In fact, if battery voltage
has dropped below 5V, then the OC will no longer have enough power to communicate
with the transmitter and will turn off completely.
Protected batteries operate differently. They are designed with internal circuits to
automatically stop charging or discharging when overvoltage or undervoltage thresholds
Unprotected batteries
do not typically contain
a separate PCB and
have primary + and -
output cables and a
separate multi-pin cell
balancing cable
Protected batteries
often have a BMS PCB
wrapped or embedded
within the battery and
may have separate sets
of leads for charging
and discharging
Know the type of battery you are using!