Solar battery charge controller: why it is needed and how it works. What is a battery charge controller? Li-Ion battery charge controller Battery charge controller

The charge controller is a very important component of the system in which solar panels create electric current. The device controls the charging and discharging of batteries. It is thanks to him that the batteries cannot be recharged and discharged so much that it will be impossible to restore their working condition.

You can make such controllers yourself.

Homemade controller: features, components

The device is intended for operation only, which creates a current with a force of no more than 4 A. The capacity of the battery, which is charged, is 3,000 Ah.

To manufacture the controller, you need to prepare the following elements:

2 microcircuits: LM385-2.5 and TLC271 (is an operational amplifier);
3 capacitors: C1 and C2 are low-power, have 100n; C3 has a capacity of 1000u, designed for 16 V;
1 indicator LED (D1);
1 Schottky diode;
1 SB540 diode. Instead, you can use any diode, the main thing is that it can withstand the maximum current of the solar battery;
3 transistors: BUZ11 (Q1), BC548 (Q2), BC556 (Q3);
10 resistors (R1 – 1k5, R2 – 100, R3 – 68k, R4 and R5 – 10k, R6 – 220k, R7 – 100k, R8 – 92k, R9 – 10k, R10 – 92k). All of them can be 5%. If you want greater accuracy, you can use 1% resistors.

How can some components be replaced?

Any of these elements can be replaced. When installing other circuits you need to think about changing the capacitance of capacitor C2 and selecting the bias of transistor Q3.

Instead of a MOSFET transistor, you can install any other one. The element must have low open channel resistance. It is better not to replace the Schottky diode. You can install a regular diode, but it must be placed correctly.

Resistors R8, R10 are 92 kOhm. This value is non-standard. Because of this, such resistors are difficult to find. Their full replacement can be two resistors with 82 and 10 kOhm. They are needed turn on in series.

Principle of operation

If there is no current from the solar battery, the controller is in sleep mode. It doesn't use a single watt from the battery. After sunlight hits the panel, electric current begins to flow to the controller. He must turn on. However, the indicator LED, together with 2 weak transistors, turns on only when the voltage reaches 10 V.

After reaching this voltage current will flow through the Schottky diode to the battery. If the voltage rises to 14 V, the amplifier U1 will start to work, which will turn on the MOSFET transistor. As a result, the LED will go out, and two non-powerful transistors will close. The battery will not charge. At this time, C2 will be discharged. On average this takes 3 seconds. After the capacitor C2 is discharged, the hysteresis U1 will be overcome, the MOSFET will close, and the battery will begin to charge. Charging will continue until the voltage rises to the switching level.

Charging occurs periodically. At the same time, its duration depends on what the charging current of the battery is and how powerful the devices connected to it are. Charging continues until the voltage reaches 14 V.

The circuit turns on in a very short time. Its inclusion is affected by the charging time of C2 by the current, which limits the transistor Q3. The current cannot be more than 40 mA.

This is another article about the well-known TP4056 chip, many have already fallen in love with it and have been tested repeatedly by an army of radio amateurs. Yes, and I heard rumors about a miraculous microcircuit. I ordered five experimental ones from the Chinese and began to think about how to assemble them - with a canopy or on a scarf. Here is the most common circuit - a few parts and the microcircuit itself.

Then I came across pieces of PCB and decided to assemble it on a printed circuit board, but it’s not so simple. My cartridge was exhausted after a couple of dozen refills. The question arose to buy a new one, but its price is exorbitant, for me. Then there is only one way out, to paint with nail polish, but they don’t give me any more polish, they said that the polish was not bought for me to spend it on some plaques, no, that’s not a typo, some plaques - yes, no expected...

In general, I sat and thought about what to do with myself, I remembered that scarves can be painted not only with varnish, but also with paraffin and a marker, paraffin is not for me, I can only paint an egg for Easter, and even then not very well. But the marker is a good idea.

I got behind the wheel of my two-wheeled pedal bike and went to the store in search of the treasured permanent marker. I found it right away if anyone is interested, such a marker costs 6 UAH. This is as of 02/29/2016

We draw a scarf, my method is this: make marks with a pushpin on the PCB and connect them with a marker, just like there was such a game in magazines when I was a child.

Okay, I've deviated from the topic, let's continue. I etched it in a solution of copper sulfate, I can say that this is the best remedy, I speak of course on my own behalf - everyone has their own preferences, I will only say that what I like about it is the price, durability and of course the fact that it does not stain everything around like chlorine iron.

We solder our parts: a pair of SMD resistors and two capacitors.

For testing I chose a battery from a laptop battery. Well, the charge has gone, well, whether it charges or not, I’ll see in the morning, and now go to bed.

The morning showed that the charge was successful, but I was in a hurry to go to school and forgot to take a photo. Good luck to everyone in the repetition, and as always, Kalyan.Super.Bos was with you

The question arises about recycling excess energy when the battery is fully charged, and the wind generator or panel continues to generate energy. This is fraught with rather negative consequences both for the battery and for the energy sources themselves - overcharging leads to the destruction of the battery plates, and the wind wheel begins to gain uncontrolled speed and can go into disarray.

We will be able to cope with this by producing a simple but quite reliable universal battery, suitable for charging batteries from both solar cells and a wind generator. The original design of the unit was developed by Michael Davis.

The signal coming from the rectifier of a wind generator or solar panel is switched using a relay controlled by a threshold circuit with a field-effect transistor switch. Mode switching thresholds are adjusted using trimming resistors. As a load to utilize energy when the battery is fully charged, the author used 8 resistors (heating elements) with a resistance of 4 Ohms with a dissipation power of 50 W. The finished product was framed in a plastic case.

I deliberately did not draw your attention to the description of the little things from this project, since the author soon followed the path of improving and simplifying the design of his brainchild. I propose to consider the modernized and simplified design of the controller in more detail. As can be seen from the circuit diagram, the principle of operation of the device has not changed at all.

The circuit itself has been simplified - instead of op-amp and logic chips, the author used the most common NE555P timer chip. Let's take a closer look at the selection of parts for the project.

The widely used integrated stabilizer 7805 (K142EN5A) is used as a supply voltage stabilizer for the circuit itself. Transistor Q1 can be replaced with NTE123, 2N3904 or any other bipolar NPN structure with suitable parameters. The same applies to the field-effect transistor IRF540 - we change it to any suitable one in terms of parameters. It is better to take multi-turn tuning resistors. Any with an adjustment interval from 0 to 100K will do (but still, with 10K resistors, the adjustment will be much more accurate, which is important when setting the charging modes of a gel battery).

A 12V automotive relay with the ability to switch currents of 30-40A is used as a switch. You can install any stabilizer capacitors - from ceramic to film, although I, as a reinsurer, would install film. The LEDs in the charge controller can be selected in any different glow colors - LED1 induces the “reset” mode of energy to the load, and LED2 induces the battery charging mode. Buttons PB1 and PB2 are any reliable, non-latching, used to switch the circuit "manually" during commissioning (measuring voltage at control points TP1 and TP2). During the initial adjustment of the circuit, the voltage at the control point TP1 is set to 1.667V, and at the control point TP2 - 3.333V. It is desirable to provide all power circuits of the device with fuses for the appropriate currents.

However, one enterprising collaborator (Jason Markham) bred a circuit board for the controller and successfully began selling a DIY kit ($38) and a finished product ($54.95) over the Internet.

Nothing can be done - America, although our do-it-yourselfer will assemble a dozen of such battery charge controllers for such an amount.

Tests of the controller, carried out for a long time with both a wind power plant and a solar panel, have shown its high reliability.

Finally, one small note: connect the controller to the system only after connecting the battery to its contacts, otherwise the device may not work properly or fail. Author of the article: Elektrodych.

Assessing the characteristics of a particular charger is difficult without understanding how an exemplary charge of a li-ion battery should actually proceed. Therefore, before moving directly to the diagrams, let's remember a little theory.

What are lithium batteries?

Depending on what material the positive electrode of a lithium battery is made of, there are several varieties:

with lithium cobaltate cathode;
with a cathode based on lithiated iron phosphate;
based on nickel-cobalt-aluminium;
based on nickel-cobalt-manganese.

All of these batteries have their own characteristics, but since these nuances are not of fundamental importance for the general consumer, they will not be considered in this article.

Also, all li-ion batteries are produced in various sizes and form factors. They can be either cased (for example, the popular 18650 today) or laminated or prismatic (gel-polymer batteries). The latter are hermetically sealed bags made of a special film, which contain electrodes and electrode mass.

The most common sizes of li-ion batteries are shown in the table below (all of them have a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts):

Designation	Standard size	Similar size
XXYY0, Where XX- indication of diameter in mm, YY- length value in mm, 0 - reflects the design in the form of a cylinder	10180	2/5 AAA
	10220	1/2 AAA (Ø corresponds to AAA, but half the length)
	10280
	10430	AAA
	10440	AAA
	14250	1/2 AA
	14270	Ø AA, length CR2
	14430	Ø 14 mm (same as AA), but shorter length
	14500	AA
	14670
	15266, 15270	CR2
	16340	CR123
	17500	150S/300S
	17670	2xCR123 (or 168S/600S)
	18350
	18490
	18500	2xCR123 (or 150A/300P)
	18650	2xCR123 (or 168A/600P)
	18700
	22650
	25500
	26500	WITH
	26650
	32650
	33600	D
	42120

Internal electrochemical processes proceed in the same way and do not depend on the form factor and design of the battery, so everything said below applies equally to all lithium batteries.

How to properly charge lithium-ion batteries

The most correct way to charge lithium batteries is to charge in two stages. This is the method Sony uses in all of its chargers. Despite a more complex charge controller, this ensures a more complete charge of li-ion batteries without reducing their service life.

Here we are talking about a two-stage charge profile for lithium batteries, abbreviated as CC/CV (constant current, constant voltage). There are also options with pulse and step currents, but they are not discussed in this article. You can read more about charging with pulsed current.

So, let's look at both stages of charging in more detail.

1. At the first stage A constant charging current must be ensured. The current value is 0.2-0.5C. For accelerated charging, it is allowed to increase the current to 0.5-1.0C (where C is the battery capacity).

For example, for a battery with a capacity of 3000 mAh, the nominal charge current at the first stage is 600-1500 mA, and the accelerated charge current can be in the range of 1.5-3A.

To ensure a constant charging current of a given value, the charger circuit must be able to increase the voltage at the battery terminals. In fact, at the first stage the charger works as a classic current stabilizer.

Important: If you plan to charge batteries with a built-in protection board (PCB), then when designing the charger circuit you need to make sure that the open circuit voltage of the circuit can never exceed 6-7 volts. Otherwise, the protection board may be damaged.

At the moment when the voltage on the battery rises to 4.2 volts, the battery will gain approximately 70-80% of its capacity (the specific capacity value will depend on the charging current: with accelerated charging it will be a little less, with a nominal charge - a little more). This moment marks the end of the first stage of charging and serves as a signal for the transition to the second (and final) stage.

2. Second charge stage- this is charging the battery with a constant voltage, but a gradually decreasing (falling) current.

At this stage, the charger maintains a voltage of 4.15-4.25 volts on the battery and controls the current value.

As the capacity increases, the charging current will decrease. As soon as its value decreases to 0.05-0.01C, the charging process is considered complete.

An important nuance of the correct charger operation is its complete disconnection from the battery after charging is complete. This is due to the fact that for lithium batteries it is extremely undesirable for them to remain under high voltage for a long time, which is usually provided by the charger (i.e. 4.18-4.24 volts). This leads to accelerated degradation of the chemical composition of the battery and, as a consequence, a decrease in its capacity. Long-term stay means tens of hours or more.

During the second stage of charging, the battery manages to gain approximately 0.1-0.15 more of its capacity. The total battery charge thus reaches 90-95%, which is an excellent indicator.

We looked at two main stages of charging. However, coverage of the issue of charging lithium batteries would be incomplete if another charging stage were not mentioned - the so-called. precharge.

Preliminary charge stage (precharge)- this stage is used only for deeply discharged batteries (below 2.5 V) to bring them to normal operating mode.

At this stage, the charge is provided with a reduced constant current until the battery voltage reaches 2.8 V.

The preliminary stage is necessary to prevent swelling and depressurization (or even explosion with fire) of damaged batteries that have, for example, an internal short circuit between the electrodes. If a large charge current is immediately passed through such a battery, this will inevitably lead to its heating, and then it depends.

Another benefit of precharging is pre-heating the battery, which is important when charging at low ambient temperatures (in an unheated room during the cold season).

Intelligent charging should be able to monitor the voltage on the battery during the preliminary charging stage and, if the voltage does not rise for a long time, draw a conclusion that the battery is faulty.

All stages of charging a lithium-ion battery (including the pre-charge stage) are schematically depicted in this graph:

Exceeding the rated charging voltage by 0.15V can reduce the battery life by half. Lowering the charge voltage by 0.1 volt reduces the capacity of a charged battery by about 10%, but significantly extends its service life. The voltage of a fully charged battery after removing it from the charger is 4.1-4.15 volts.

Let me summarize the above and outline the main points:

1. What current should I use to charge a li-ion battery (for example, 18650 or any other)?

The current will depend on how quickly you would like to charge it and can range from 0.2C to 1C.

For example, for a battery size 18650 with a capacity of 3400 mAh, the minimum charge current is 680 mA, and the maximum is 3400 mA.

2. How long does it take to charge, for example, the same 18650 batteries?

The charging time directly depends on the charging current and is calculated using the formula:

T = C / I charge.

For example, the charging time of our 3400 mAh battery with a current of 1A will be about 3.5 hours.

3. How to properly charge a lithium polymer battery?

All lithium batteries charge the same way. It doesn't matter whether it is lithium polymer or lithium ion. For us, consumers, there is no difference.

What is a protection board?

The protection board (or PCB - power control board) is designed to protect against short circuit, overcharge and overdischarge of the lithium battery. As a rule, overheating protection is also built into the protection modules.

For safety reasons, it is prohibited to use lithium batteries in household appliances unless they have a built-in protection board. That's why all cell phone batteries always have a PCB board. The battery output terminals are located directly on the board:

These boards use a six-legged charge controller on a specialized device (JW01, JW11, K091, G2J, G3J, S8210, S8261, NE57600 and other analogues). The task of this controller is to disconnect the battery from the load when the battery is completely discharged and disconnect the battery from charging when it reaches 4.25V.

Here, for example, is a diagram of the BP-6M battery protection board that was supplied with old Nokia phones:

If we talk about 18650, they can be produced either with or without a protection board. The protection module is located near the negative terminal of the battery.

The board increases the length of the battery by 2-3 mm.

Batteries without a PCB module are usually included in batteries that come with their own protection circuits.

Any battery with protection can easily turn into a battery without protection; you just need to gut it.

Today, the maximum capacity of the 18650 battery is 3400 mAh. Batteries with protection must have a corresponding designation on the case ("Protected").

Do not confuse the PCB board with the PCM module (PCM - power charge module). If the former serve only the purpose of protecting the battery, then the latter are designed to control the charging process - they limit the charge current at a given level, control the temperature and, in general, ensure the entire process. The PCM board is what we call a charge controller.

I hope now there are no questions left, how to charge an 18650 battery or any other lithium battery? Then we move on to a small selection of ready-made circuit solutions for chargers (the same charge controllers).

Charging schemes for li-ion batteries

All circuits are suitable for charging any lithium battery; all that remains is to decide on the charging current and the element base.

LM317

Diagram of a simple charger based on the LM317 chip with a charge indicator:

The circuit is the simplest, the whole setup comes down to setting the output voltage to 4.2 volts using trimming resistor R8 (without a connected battery!) and setting the charging current by selecting resistors R4, R6. The power of resistor R1 is at least 1 Watt.

As soon as the LED goes out, the charging process can be considered completed (the charging current will never decrease to zero). It is not recommended to keep the battery on this charge for a long time after it is fully charged.

The lm317 microcircuit is widely used in various voltage and current stabilizers (depending on the connection circuit). It is sold on every corner and costs pennies (you can take 10 pieces for only 55 rubles).

LM317 comes in different housings:

Pin assignment (pinout):

Analogues of the LM317 chip are: GL317, SG31, SG317, UC317T, ECG1900, LM31MDT, SP900, KR142EN12, KR1157EN1 (the last two are domestically produced).

The charging current can be increased to 3A if you take LM350 instead of LM317. It will, however, be more expensive - 11 rubles/piece.

The printed circuit board and circuit assembly are shown below:

The old Soviet transistor KT361 can be replaced with a similar pnp transistor (for example, KT3107, KT3108 or bourgeois 2N5086, 2SA733, BC308A). It can be removed altogether if the charge indicator is not needed.

Disadvantage of the circuit: the supply voltage must be in the range of 8-12V. This is due to the fact that for normal operation of the LM317 chip, the difference between the battery voltage and the supply voltage must be at least 4.25 Volts. Thus, it will not be possible to power it from the USB port.

MAX1555 or MAX1551

MAX1551/MAX1555 are specialized chargers for Li+ batteries, capable of operating from USB or from a separate power adapter (for example, a phone charger).

The only difference between these microcircuits is that MAX1555 produces a signal to indicate the charging process, and MAX1551 produces a signal that the power is on. Those. 1555 is still preferable in most cases, so 1551 is now difficult to find on sale.

A detailed description of these microcircuits from the manufacturer is.

The maximum input voltage from the DC adapter is 7 V, when powered by USB - 6 V. When the supply voltage drops to 3.52 V, the microcircuit turns off and charging stops.

The microcircuit itself detects at which input the supply voltage is present and connects to it. If the power is supplied via the USB bus, then the maximum charging current is limited to 100 mA - this allows you to plug the charger into the USB port of any computer without fear of burning the south bridge.

When powered by a separate power supply, the typical charging current is 280 mA.

The chips have built-in overheating protection. But even in this case, the circuit continues to operate, reducing the charge current by 17 mA for each degree above 110 ° C.

There is a pre-charge function (see above): as long as the battery voltage is below 3V, the microcircuit limits the charge current to 40 mA.

The microcircuit has 5 pins. Here is a typical connection diagram:

If there is a guarantee that the voltage at the output of your adapter cannot under any circumstances exceed 7 volts, then you can do without the 7805 stabilizer.

The USB charging option can be assembled, for example, on this one.

The microcircuit does not require either external diodes or external transistors. In general, of course, gorgeous little things! Only they are too small and inconvenient to solder. And they are also expensive ().

LP2951

The LP2951 stabilizer is manufactured by National Semiconductors (). It provides the implementation of a built-in current limiting function and allows you to generate a stable charge voltage level for a lithium-ion battery at the output of the circuit.

The charge voltage is 4.08 - 4.26 volts and is set by resistor R3 when the battery is disconnected. The voltage is kept very accurately.

The charge current is 150 - 300mA, this value is limited by the internal circuits of the LP2951 chip (depending on the manufacturer).

Use the diode with a small reverse current. For example, it can be any of the 1N400X series that you can purchase. The diode is used as a blocking diode to prevent reverse current from the battery into the LP2951 chip when the input voltage is turned off.

This charger produces a fairly low charging current, so any 18650 battery can charge overnight.

The microcircuit can be purchased both in a DIP package and in a SOIC package (costs about 10 rubles per piece).

MCP73831

The chip allows you to create the right chargers, and it’s also cheaper than the much-hyped MAX1555.

A typical connection diagram is taken from:

An important advantage of the circuit is the absence of low-resistance powerful resistors that limit the charge current. Here the current is set by a resistor connected to the 5th pin of the microcircuit. Its resistance should be in the range of 2-10 kOhm.

The assembled charger looks like this:

The microcircuit heats up quite well during operation, but this does not seem to bother it. It fulfills its function.

Here is another version of a printed circuit board with an SMD LED and a micro-USB connector:

LTC4054 (STC4054)

Very simple scheme, great option! Allows charging with current up to 800 mA (see). True, it tends to get very hot, but in this case the built-in overheating protection reduces the current.

The circuit can be significantly simplified by throwing out one or even both LEDs with a transistor. Then it will look like this (you must admit, it couldn’t be simpler: a couple of resistors and one condenser):

One of the printed circuit board options is available at . The board is designed for elements of standard size 0805.

I=1000/R. You shouldn’t set a high current right away; first see how hot the microcircuit gets. For my purposes, I took a 2.7 kOhm resistor, and the charge current turned out to be about 360 mA.

It is unlikely that it will be possible to adapt a radiator to this microcircuit, and it is not a fact that it will be effective due to the high thermal resistance of the crystal-case junction. The manufacturer recommends making the heat sink “through the leads” - making the traces as thick as possible and leaving the foil under the chip body. In general, the more “earth” foil left, the better.

By the way, most of the heat is dissipated through the 3rd leg, so you can make this trace very wide and thick (fill it with excess solder).

The LTC4054 chip package may be labeled LTH7 or LTADY.

LTH7 differs from LTADY in that the first can lift a very low battery (on which the voltage is less than 2.9 volts), while the second cannot (you need to swing it separately).

The chip turned out to be very successful, so it has a bunch of analogues: STC4054, MCP73831, TB4054, QX4054, TP4054, SGM4054, ACE4054, LP4054, U4054, BL4054, WPM4054, IT4504, Y1880, PT6102, PT6181, VS61 02, HX6001, LC6000, LN5060, CX9058, EC49016, CYT5026, Q7051. Before using any of the analogues, check the datasheets.

TP4056

The microcircuit is made in a SOP-8 housing (see), it has a metal heat sink on its belly that is not connected to the contacts, which allows for more efficient heat removal. Allows you to charge the battery with a current of up to 1A (the current depends on the current-setting resistor).

The connection diagram requires the bare minimum of hanging elements:

The circuit implements the classical charging process - first charging with a constant current, then with a constant voltage and a falling current. Everything is scientific. If you look at charging step by step, you can distinguish several stages:

Monitoring the voltage of the connected battery (this happens all the time).
Precharge phase (if the battery is discharged below 2.9 V). Charge with a current of 1/10 from the one programmed by the resistor R prog (100 mA at R prog = 1.2 kOhm) to a level of 2.9 V.
Charging with a maximum constant current (1000 mA at R prog = 1.2 kOhm);
When the battery reaches 4.2 V, the voltage on the battery is fixed at this level. A gradual decrease in the charging current begins.
When the current reaches 1/10 of the one programmed by the resistor R prog (100 mA at R prog = 1.2 kOhm), the charger turns off.
After charging is complete, the controller continues monitoring the battery voltage (see point 1). The current consumed by the monitoring circuit is 2-3 µA. After the voltage drops to 4.0V, charging starts again. And so on in a circle.

The charge current (in amperes) is calculated by the formula I=1200/R prog. The permissible maximum is 1000 mA.

A real charging test with a 3400 mAh 18650 battery is shown in the graph:

The advantage of the microcircuit is that the charge current is set by just one resistor. Powerful low-resistance resistors are not required. Plus there is an indicator of the charging process, as well as an indication of the end of charging. When the battery is not connected, the indicator blinks every few seconds.

The supply voltage of the circuit should be within 4.5...8 volts. The closer to 4.5V, the better (so the chip heats up less).

The first leg is used to connect a temperature sensor built into the lithium-ion battery (usually the middle terminal of a cell phone battery). If the output voltage is below 45% or above 80% of the supply voltage, charging is suspended. If you don't need temperature control, just plant that foot on the ground.

Attention! This circuit has one significant drawback: the absence of a battery reverse polarity protection circuit. In this case, the controller is guaranteed to burn out due to exceeding the maximum current. In this case, the supply voltage of the circuit directly goes to the battery, which is very dangerous.

The signet is simple and can be done in an hour on your knee. If time is of the essence, you can order ready-made modules. Some manufacturers of ready-made modules add protection against overcurrent and overdischarge (for example, you can choose which board you need - with or without protection, and with which connector).

You can also find ready-made boards with a contact for a temperature sensor. Or even a charging module with several parallel TP4056 microcircuits to increase the charging current and with reverse polarity protection (example).

LTC1734

Also a very simple scheme. The charging current is set by resistor R prog (for example, if you install a 3 kOhm resistor, the current will be 500 mA).

Microcircuits are usually marked on the case: LTRG (they can often be found in old Samsung phones).

Any pnp transistor is suitable, the main thing is that it is designed for a given charging current.

There is no charge indicator on the indicated diagram, but on the LTC1734 it is said that pin “4” (Prog) has two functions - setting the current and monitoring the end of the battery charge. For example, a circuit with control of the end of charge using the LT1716 comparator is shown.

The LT1716 comparator in this case can be replaced with a cheap LM358.

TL431 + transistor

It is probably difficult to come up with a circuit using more affordable components. The most difficult thing here is to find the TL431 reference voltage source. But they are so common that they are found almost everywhere (rarely does a power source do without this microcircuit).

Well, the TIP41 transistor can be replaced with any other one with a suitable collector current. Even the old Soviet KT819, KT805 (or less powerful KT815, KT817) will do.

Setting up the circuit comes down to setting the output voltage (without a battery!!!) using a trim resistor at 4.2 volts. Resistor R1 sets the maximum value of the charging current.

This circuit fully implements the two-stage process of charging lithium batteries - first charging with direct current, then moving to the voltage stabilization phase and smoothly reducing the current to almost zero. The only drawback is the poor repeatability of the circuit (it is capricious in setup and demanding on the components used).

MCP73812

There is another undeservedly neglected microcircuit from Microchip - MCP73812 (see). Based on it, a very budget charging option is obtained (and inexpensive!). The whole body kit is just one resistor!

By the way, the microcircuit is made in a solder-friendly package - SOT23-5.

The only negative is that it gets very hot and there is no charge indication. It also somehow doesn’t work very reliably if you have a low-power power source (which causes a voltage drop).

In general, if the charge indication is not important for you, and a current of 500 mA suits you, then the MCP73812 is a very good option.

NCP1835

A fully integrated solution is offered - NCP1835B, providing high stability of the charging voltage (4.2 ±0.05 V).

Perhaps the only drawback of this microcircuit is its too miniature size (DFN-10 case, size 3x3 mm). Not everyone can provide high-quality soldering of such miniature elements.

Among the undeniable advantages I would like to note the following:

Minimum number of body parts.
Possibility of charging a completely discharged battery (precharge current 30 mA);
Determining the end of charging.
Programmable charging current - up to 1000 mA.
Charge and error indication (capable of detecting non-chargeable batteries and signaling this).
Protection against long-term charging (by changing the capacitance of the capacitor C t, you can set the maximum charging time from 6.6 to 784 minutes).

The cost of the microcircuit is not exactly cheap, but also not so high (~$1) that you can refuse to use it. If you are comfortable with a soldering iron, I would recommend choosing this option.

A more detailed description is in.

Can I charge a lithium-ion battery without a controller?

Yes, you can. However, this will require close control of the charging current and voltage.

In general, it will not be possible to charge a battery, for example, our 18650, without a charger. You still need to somehow limit the maximum charge current, so at least the most primitive memory will still be required.

The simplest charger for any lithium battery is a resistor connected in series with the battery:

The resistance and power dissipation of the resistor depend on the voltage of the power source that will be used for charging.

As an example, let's calculate a resistor for a 5 Volt power supply. We will charge an 18650 battery with a capacity of 2400 mAh.

So, at the very beginning of charging, the voltage drop across the resistor will be:

U r = 5 - 2.8 = 2.2 Volts

Let's say our 5V power supply is rated for a maximum current of 1A. The circuit will consume the highest current at the very beginning of the charge, when the voltage on the battery is minimal and amounts to 2.7-2.8 Volts.

Attention: these calculations do not take into account the possibility that the battery may be very deeply discharged and the voltage on it may be much lower, even to zero.

Thus, the resistor resistance required to limit the current at the very beginning of the charge at 1 Ampere should be:

R = U / I = 2.2 / 1 = 2.2 Ohm

Resistor power dissipation:

P r = I 2 R = 1*1*2.2 = 2.2 W

At the very end of the battery charge, when the voltage on it approaches 4.2 V, the charge current will be:

I charge = (U ip - 4.2) / R = (5 - 4.2) / 2.2 = 0.3 A

That is, as we see, all values do not go beyond the permissible limits for a given battery: the initial current does not exceed the maximum permissible charging current for a given battery (2.4 A), and the final current exceeds the current at which the battery no longer gains capacity ( 0.24 A).

The main drawback of such charging is the need to constantly monitor the voltage on the battery. And manually turn off the charge as soon as the voltage reaches 4.2 Volts. The fact is that lithium batteries do not tolerate even a short-term overvoltage very well - the electrode masses begin to degrade quickly, which inevitably leads to a loss of capacity. At the same time, all the prerequisites for overheating and depressurization are created.

If your battery has a built-in protection board, which was discussed a little higher, then everything is simplified. Upon reaching a certain voltage on the battery, the board itself will disconnect it from the charger. However, this method of charging has significant disadvantages, which we talked about in.

The protection built into the battery will not allow it to be recharged under any circumstances. All that remains for you to do is to control the charge current so that it does not exceed the allowable values for this battery (protection boards cannot limit the charge current, unfortunately).

Charging using a laboratory power supply

If you have a power supply with current protection (limitation) at your disposal, then you are saved! Such a power supply is already a full-fledged charger that implements the correct charge profile, which we wrote about above (CC / CV).

All you need to do to charge li-ion is to set the power supply to 4.2 volts and set the desired current limit. And you can connect the battery.

Initially, when the battery is still discharged, the laboratory power supply will operate in current protection mode (i.e., it will stabilize the output current at a given level). Then, when the voltage on the bank rises to the set 4.2V, the power supply will switch to voltage stabilization mode, and the current will begin to fall.

When the current drops to 0.05-0.1C, the battery can be considered fully charged.

As you can see, the laboratory power supply is an almost ideal charger! The only thing it can't do automatically is make a decision to fully charge the battery and turn off. But this is a small thing that you shouldn’t even pay attention to.

How to charge lithium batteries?

And if we are talking about a disposable battery that is not intended for recharging, then the correct (and only correct) answer to this question is NO.

The fact is that any lithium battery (for example, the common CR2032 in the form of a flat tablet) is characterized by the presence of an internal passivating layer that covers the lithium anode. This layer prevents a chemical reaction between the anode and the electrolyte. And the supply of external current destroys the above protective layer, leading to damage to the battery.

By the way, if we talk about the non-rechargeable CR2032 battery, then the LIR2032, which is very similar to it, is already a full-fledged battery. It can and should be charged. Only its voltage is not 3, but 3.6V.

How to charge lithium batteries (be it a phone battery, 18650 or any other li-ion battery) was discussed at the beginning of the article.

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The inexpensive and easy-to-use controller is designed specifically for integration into battery systems. The controller "forgives" connection errors, power and battery polarity reversal will not damage both the battery and the controller, a minimum of controls and indications allows even an amateur to use the controller. The controller has two terminal blocks for easy connection of the power supply and battery, and two status LEDs for displaying status.

Specifications

Description of work

The controller operates in the constant recharging mode (buffer mode), the trimmer resistor on the controller board allows you to set the charging end voltage in the range from 13.4 to 13.9 volts. The buffer charge mode is the most optimal for extending the life of the battery, since the battery is in the maximum charged state most of the time.

For maximum battery life, a charge cycle should last at least 8-16 hours. As a rule, this information is indicated by manufacturers on the battery. The charging time of the controller depends on the battery capacity.

The charge controller has two LEDs. The green LED indicates that the battery is currently being charged. The controller automatically determines the required charge current. During the charging process, as the battery voltage approaches the set voltage, the charge current decreases. When the charging current drops below a certain level (see the parameter “Disable charge indication at current less than” in the Specifications table), the green LED turns off.

The red LED indicates that the battery is connected in reverse polarity, while charging does not occur.

When the supply voltage is turned off, the battery does not discharge through the module.

The battery connected to the charger, with a residual voltage of less than 10 V, is determined by the controller as faulty and the charge does not occur.

When powering the module from a low-frequency transformer with a diode bridge, it is necessary to install a capacitor with a capacity of at least 1000 μF at the output of the diode bridge.

Using several SCD0049 modules, it is possible to design charging systems for a group of batteries connected in series, without an additional balancing circuit, provided that the modules are powered from separate galvanically isolated power sources.

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