In Part One of this project I developed a test circuit that proved that it would all work. In Part II, I actually redesign the bread boarded prototype into the final product.

After the near mishap with the last GPS bush walk, I have pondered how I was going to monitor the battery power usage. This blog is my first go at it.

Back in March 2006, I went to run the PC for something, and realised that it would be really handy to have a power distribution board. This would allow me to quickly unplug all the different modules.

This is what I came up with. It's still not built, as I will make the PIXAXE-28 controller board at the same time, since this one is pretty small.

Here is the schematic diagram of the board:

Here is the PCB board layout:

I have purchased a 2D Honeywell 3100 Digital Compass.  This uses a TTL RS-232 voltage level, so since I need to connect it to a PC, I will need to make up a converter curcuit using a MAX232CPE chip.  I have one here, but I think it's stuffed (from a previous experiment some years ago).

I will pick up two more in Perth next time I am up there.  I will also purchase the batteries, Hall Effect Sensor and battery charger. So much to do, and so little time :-)

I had to add a 10 ohm power resistor into the PSU so the Test PSU would come on line with no load present