This is a set of Python scripts which use an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to measure a battery's voltage and display a status icon on the screen. It supports the Microchip ADCs MCP3001, MCP3008 and MCP3551. These scripts are intended to be used on a Raspberry Pi running RetroPie v4.4. This project is based on gbzbatterymonitor.

This guide will show you how to install and configure batmon. You need to login via SSH or open a terminal by pressing CTRL+ALT+F3 to enter the commands.

Dispmanx is used to create a layer on the screen where the battey icon is displayed. It needs to be installed first with this set of commands:

1. cd ~
2. git clone https://github.com/AndrewFromMelbourne/raspidmx.git
3. cd raspidmx
4. make
5. sudo cp /home/pi/raspidmx/lib/libraspidmx.so.1 /usr/lib

Install batmon with these commands:

1. cd ~
2. git clone https://github.com/floppes/batmon.git
3. cd batmon

Run nano config.py to open the configuration file and adjust the settings to your needs.

To test your configuration run python main.py. Press CTRL+C to quit.

If you are satisfied with the result, you can make the script automatically start on every boot by adding the line python /home/pi/batmon/main.py & (the ampersand at the end is important!) to the file /etc/rc.local before the line exit 0. You will need to be root to edit the file (sudo nano /etc/rc.local).