03 December, 2013

PortPilot Pro Main Post

Uses

  • Identify chargers. Predict compatibility.
  • Measure charging speed and voltage. Verify charger rating. Choose fastest charge method
  • Measure USB battery packs' capacity and efficiency.
  • Block data transfer
  • Connect/disconnect the USB port without unplugging
  • Emulate other chargers. Improve charging speed. Charge other devices.
  • Programmable fuse
  • Measure impedance of power source
  • Measure battery % charged. I just noticed this one. Some devices don't tell you how complete charging is, which is a pity because the device knows - it just doesn't tell you. With the PPP, you can easily tell by looking at the current.

Wishes

It would be nice to have these additional functions. Not sure if they're possible or not.
  • Switch emulation type without needing a computer - blocking data already does this, to some degree
  • Set up a timer to start/end charging
  • Change reporting speed of software - currently it reports at about 10 times/second, and it's not consistent
  • On the impedance display - e.g. 0.6Ohm, it looks like 0.60

There's currently a bug in the firmware that resets the energy transferred after 64000 mWs when logging data to a computer. I wonder how high the other counters can count up to? I've measured up to 34 hours and 32 mWh on the display, so at least that much.

Emulation

Emulation capability of PortPilot Pro was added in PortPilotCmd Beta 0.0.4. There's no indication on the Pro when it's emulating. I wish it could change emulation state without a computer. Emulation seems to block data. I guess it's unavoidable since some chargers short the data pins.
Reset emulation state: Emulation state is lost when:
  • Disconnecting both input and auxiliary USB ports (i.e. turning it off and on again), OR
  • Blocking then allowing data

Previous Posts

Measuring USB Voltage And Current
PortPilot Pro Packaging

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