Battery chargers

Microchip has introduced a family of single and dual cell lithium-ion (Li-Ion) and lithium-polymer (Li-Polymer) charge-management controllers.

These devices have a voltage regulation accuracy of ±0.5% enabling maximum cell use and enhancing the cycle life of the battery. In addition, they provide safety features for low-cost, simple charging.

The chargers are suitable for applications such as wireless handsets, PDAs, digital cameras, MP3 players, self-charging battery packs and other Li-Ion and Li-Polymer battery-powered equipment.

The MCP7384x series combines high-accuracy, constant-voltage/constant-current regulation, cell preconditioning, cell-temperature monitoring, safety timers, automatic charge termination and charge status indication in MSOP packages.

The cell preconditioning supports deeply depleted batteries. The cell-temperature monitoring (available in MCP73841/2) continuously measures the cell temperature and prevents charging when the temperature is outside the recommended window.

The MCP73841/2/3/4 automatically power down when the input source is removed minimising the battery drain. They also begin a new charge cycle when the battery voltage falls below the recharge threshold, eliminating frequent trickle charge periods that are detrimental to the battery life.