Discrete Li-ion accu charger - new version

A small discrete charger for instruments powered by a single Li-ion or Li-pol battery. If the external power supply is not connected, the back current from accu to charger is very small. The new version doesn't not need an NTC thermistor. Old version The Li-Ion charging process

Fig. 1. Modified circuit of build-in Li-ion accumulator charger Fig. 1 above shows the typical charging process for a Li-Ion battery. Initially one should charge the battery with a current source, until the voltage reaches 4.2 V (lower for some batteries), then the charger should become a constant voltage source. This is exactly what the circuit below does! Circuit description

Fig. 2. Modified circuit of build-in Li-ion accumulator charger When a charger voltage is present and the battery voltage is low, the circuit around T1/T2/T3 forms a current source to charge the battery (constant current mode). When the battery voltage

is higher than around 4.1 V, shunt regulator IC1 starts to conduct and the charger changes from a current source to a voltage source and the battery is no longer charged. Transistor T4 operates as a switch. When no input voltage is present, transistor T4 is OFF and no current flows through the voltage divider R4 to R6. The emitter-base diode in T1 is reversed, so T1 is blocked. More about leakage current below. The charging voltage should be at least 4.9 V. The "R" input voltage of shunt regulator TL431 is approximately 2.5 V, from which R4/R5/R6 can be determined. Transistor T4 conducts when its gate voltage is higher than around 2.2 V i.e. when charging. Then transistor T4's resistance is some tens of s, negligible in the R4-R5-R6 voltage divider. When battery is (almost) discharged, the voltage on the basis of a smaller T1 and T4 may not be completely open. It does not matter, because in this stage the charger works as current source. For proper function of the charger, T4 must have a small threshold voltage. We use transistors BSS138 (SMD) or BS108 (for classical mounting). Both types have a threshold voltage of typically around 1 V. Transistor T2 conducts via R3 and supplies current to the base of the transistor T1 and IC TL431C. The charging current creates a voltage drop across resistor R1 and when this is higher than around 0.5 V, transistor T3 starts to conduct which reduces the current through T2 and T1. So, R1 determines the charging current in the current source phase. For a resistance of 4.7 the charging current is around 100 mA, at 2.2 about 230 mA and at 1 about 500 mA. If you omit the (shorted) resistor R5, the final charge voltage usually slightly larger than 4.2 V. By connecting a resistor R5 can adjust the voltage to the required value. Just when you charge the battery for 90 to 95%, I recommend to set the charging voltage from 4.1 to 4.15 V. A lower charging voltage significantly increases the number of charge cycles and prolonged battery life.

Fig. 3. Charger with charge indicator. If charge current goes down, LED intensity decreases During the charging phase, the "constant current" is determined by resistor R1 which has voltage drop of about 0.5 V. Near the end of the charging phase the circuit works in "constant voltage" mode and the current gradually decreases to zero. This offers a possibility to show the status of the charging process (See Fig. 3). T5 conducts when the when the voltage drop across

R1 and D1 is greater than the voltage required to open the transistor T5. Resistor R8 limits the current through the LED to indicate charging. For D1 I originally used a Schottky diode with a low voltage drop, but then the LED went OFF when the circuit was still charging. If you use a very small transformer or a small power adapter "wall" as power source then it may not be necessary to limit the current in the charger since the power supply will take care of that. You can then use the simplified schematics of the charger, which is in Fig. 4 It should only check that the charging current is not greater than the maximum allowed, usually 0.5 C.

Fig. 4. Simpified circuit with current limited power supply

Fig. 5. Reverse current from accumulator to charger The charger draws a small reverse current. Fig. 5 shows the reverse current as function of the supply voltage. Because in practice the power supply is connected (0V) or disconnected (5V) the reverse current is no problem.