Anyone know why Jim is still responding to emails and stuff? If the auction went through, it should all have been passed on by now. Did the buyer weasel out of the auction or something ? It sounded like there was to have been a new site for submissions and what not by now, but so far nothing. Just honestly curious what's gone on since the auction closed. Thoughts?
I’ve been working on a custom LiFePO4 battery pack for my house and camping. I haven’t really seen a lot of discussion about what the AirMini can actually run on, other than it’s known 24V. I decided to hook up a DC adapter and my bench supply and see what it could handle. I looked at the chips inside last night, and the actual motor driver IC can handle up to 60V. It also provides the 3.3V for the digital logic, so I assumed it could handle more than 24V.
The unit doesn’t come on below 22V. I suspect this is a software cutoff to make sure the motor has enough power to run. But I tested it between 22V all the way up to 29.2V, and it worked fine. That means for my 8s 24V LiFePO4 battery at home I should be able to run it without a 24V adapter as it typically has voltages of between 22V-27.2V when it’s not charging.
Obviously, it’s a medical device, so most people don’t want to mess with the power. But for my use case it seems it should work fine directly off my battery pack without any adapter other than the DC to Mini plug. Just wanted to leave this here in case it helps others in the future. Obviously ymmv and who knows long term what may happen. But the ICs themselves seem fine in the datasheets at these higher voltages, and I suspect the current will be slightly lower to compensate. I’ll test it out tonight and see.