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I have a MakerFocus Raspberry Pi 4 Battery Pack (Amazon).

Trying to figure out the serial interface for it but documentation isn't great. I've found only this packet so far that the board sends: SmartUPS V1.00,Vin NG,BATCAP 61, Vout 5141

Could someone confirm if there's any more to it I'm missing? Does the tx port do anything on this?

Note: The serial interface is the 3 pins marked IO/UART slightly below the USB ports on the newer version of this board; the "MakerFocus New version Raspberry Pi Battery Pack User Guide" is referring to the old version that didn't have it.

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  • Thank you for your clarification. So you are talking about the new version V2.0. However I did notice that there is the new version, and I downloaded the user guide from that product page. Looking back, it is that V2.0 product page not up to date. Anyway, can you give us the web link to the user guide for V2.0. By the way, my imgur image library is full and cannot upload any more images. So I have to put the image I want to add to this comment to the answer section instead. If I cannot complete my answer later, then I will delete my draft answer. Cheers.
    – tlfong01
    Commented Mar 2, 2020 at 1:50
  • I've only been able to find this so far for v2: github.com/rcdrones/UPSPACK_V2 which is where I got that sample packet.
    – ieatpizza
    Commented Mar 2, 2020 at 2:56
  • So I have added a reference list to my answer and include your user manual there. I read that the product is designed by "Raspberry Pi Club", not sure it is official. :)
    – tlfong01
    Commented Mar 2, 2020 at 3:17
  • 1
    I skimmed the python and C++ programs and found them premature, or seemingly still in development, so I am not keen to dig deeper to get the meaning of the error messages. Perhaps I might come back, say 6 months later, and see how their very smart UPS UPS is getting on. Anyway, my answer is coming to an end, if you don't have any more helpful and updated references. I appreciate very much your question and comments in introducing this smart Rpi UART UPS PSU to us. Cheers.
    – tlfong01
    Commented Mar 2, 2020 at 4:02

2 Answers 2

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I would read this as:

SmartUPS V1.00, Vin NG, BATCAP 61, Vout 5141
  • Vin NG - Voltage In No good
  • BATCAP 61 - Battery capacity 61%
  • Vout 5141 - Voltage out 5.141v

I would check the Vin by:

  1. Plug a USB power supply in with no main power
  2. Add power to the USB power supply

See what status each mode gives you - it may be able to tell you the state of the incoming power.

The 'fun' thing with UPS systems are the protocols (see here for lots of examples) but the library NUT can be tailored to your needs. More info on NUT is at the home web site but it may be worth installing the package and running nut-scanner to see if it understands the UPS directly.

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Question

What is the meaning of the following UPS PSU warning message?

SmartUPS V1.00,Vin NG,BATCAP 61, Vout 5141

ups psu v2

Answer

I have not yet found the version 2 of user guide, so I don't know if the PSU is using UART serial AT commands to hand shake and then text string to report status.

For the following message:

SmartUPS V1.00, Vin NG, BATCAP 61, Vout 5141

My wild guess is the following:

  1. SmartUPS V1.00 = software name and version

  2. Vin NG = no idea

  3. BATCAP 61 = Wild guess- perhas Lipo high voltage protection capped to 6.1V

  4. Vout 5141 = Voltage output = 5.141V (90% sure)

I think if you used a DMM to confirm UPS output is around 5.14V, then there this smart UPS should be working OK. No worries.

/ to continue, ...

References

(1) Amazon MakerFocus Rpi4 UPS Battery Pack V2 Product Page

(2) UPSPack V2 User Guide (seems out of date, referring to V1 board only)

(3) UPSPack V2 产品软硬件使用指南 (Software and hardware user guide, including python 3 program, manual etc; In Chinese only, could not find English version)

Appendices

Appendix A - UPS PSU Hardware Spec

Reference: UPSPack V2 产品软硬件使用指南 (Product software and hardware user guide, inclduing jpython 3 program, manual etc)

硬件参数

  1. Micro USB 输入电压：5.1V 2-3A。电源适配器自适应输出电流。

  2. 2个USB-A座/5V GPIO排针口： 输出电压为 5.1V±0.1V ，所有端口输出电流最大合计为：3.0A

  3. 带1个UART串口，波特率：9600 8N1

  4. 带1个IO输出口，高电平：表示电池工作正常。 低电平：表示电池即将消耗完毕。

  5. 电池输出接口封装为： PH2.0

  6. 4 颗电量LED灯，1颗PMU工作状态灯，1颗外部输出电源灯。

  7. 1个外部输出开关，用于控制PMU对外输出的电压。

  8. UPS板载自恢复保险丝，并且3款电池内部分别自带锂电池保护板。防止过充和过放。

Hardware Spec V0.1 (translated form Chinese to broken English by tlfong01)

  1. Micro USB connector output: 5.1V 2~3A (PSU adapter auto outputs appropriate current)

  2. Two USB A-Type Connector, GPIO duPont 2.54mm connector, 5.1V +- 0.1V, max 3.0A

  3. One UART serial port 9600bd, 8N1

  4. One status IO port, High state means battery operating normal, Low state means battery is running out

  5. Battery connecter stand is PH2.0

  6. 1 output status 4-LED bar, 1 PMU status LED, 1 output power LED

  7. One output power manual switch, to control PMU output voltage

  8. One on board auto reset poly fuse, three types of LiPo over charge/discharge board.

Notes

Note 1: Draft answer to delete later

To the OP: Thank you for your clarification. So you are talking about the new version V2.0.

However I did notice that there is the new version, and I downloaded the user guide from that product page. Looking back, it is that V2.0 product page not up to date.

Anyway, can you give me the web link to the user guide for V2.0.

By the way, my imgur image library is full and cannot upload any more images. So I have to put the image I want to add to this comment to the answer section instead. If I cannot complete my answer later, then I will delete my draft answer. Cheers

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