Converting Nintendo 3DS Battery Voltage for Developers

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on converting the battery voltage readings from a Nintendo 3DS for developers. The voltage values returned by the system are in hexadecimal format, with maximum readings of 0xD1 (209) when charged and dropping to 0xCE (206) when unplugged. A proposed formula for conversion is 5.0 * (batteryVolt / 256.0), although the exact scaling method prior to the analog-to-digital conversion (A/D) remains uncertain. Additional resources for understanding lithium-ion battery charging and gas gauging are provided.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of hexadecimal number systems
  • Familiarity with lithium-ion battery specifications
  • Knowledge of analog-to-digital conversion processes
  • Basic programming skills for Nintendo 3DS development
NEXT STEPS
  • Research "Nintendo 3DS A/D conversion techniques"
  • Explore "lithium-ion battery charging principles"
  • Learn about "battery gas gauging methods"
  • Investigate "hexadecimal to decimal conversion algorithms"
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for Nintendo 3DS developers, hardware engineers working with battery systems, and anyone interested in understanding battery voltage conversion and scaling methods.

Joel16
Hello I need a bit of some help here. I have a Nintendo 3DS and I'm trying to get my program to display its battery voltage. The thing is the voltage function that Nintendo uses returns values in an unknown format, and I don't have access to a multi-meter to get the correct readings right now, so I'm wondering if there's just some math required to convert these units to standard units. (V / mV)

The current information I have is this:


When the charger is plugged into a fully charged 3DS unit, this value will be maximum 0xD1 (209)

Unplugging the charger will make the value go down to 0xCE (206)

The voltage at 5% battery percentage just after the LEDs start flashing is 0xAF (175)

Plugging in the charger at this point will make the voltage go up to 0xB9 (185)Additional information:
The adapter has a voltage of 5.0V
The battery (LiON) has a voltage of 3.7V

Edit:
From what me and a few other developers have gathered is that this magic number may be 5.0. That is, 5.0 * (batteryVolt / 256.0), but we aren't too sure about this.
 
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It has more to do with the a/d convertor and how the voltage is scaled ahead of it. While it is entirely possible that 255 (not 256) is the max it will read, how was what is being measured scaled down ahead of the a/d? I could measure 10000 volts with the appropriate voltage divider ahead of the a/d with poorer resolution of course than feeding the a/d directly with a 0-5 volt signal. Or, they may have scaled down lower than this for some unknown reason.
 
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