These smart, intelligent battery charger will charge a Li-IOn battery rapidly by monitoring 3 crucial parameters, which are constant current, constant voltage and constant 25 degrees Celsius temperature. The post […]
In this page you will come across more than 100 well researched 6V, 12V, and 24V, 48V automatic battery charger circuits that will operate in a technically correct manner and ensure a safe and optimal charging of your battery.
A battery charger is actually an equipment accustomed to supply electric power into a supplementary cell or rechargeable battery pack by pressuring an electric current into it.
Here I have presented more than 100 thoroughly researched charger controller concepts which promise not only the most ideal way of charging your battery but are also equipped to implement the same with utmost care and safety.
There are plenty of choices you can get while designing your own charging systems as per your specific needs and battery ratings.
Before building a circuit it would be important for you learn some basics of battery charging.
Remember many people may advise many critical things, which might scare you regarding batteries and their charging concepts. These facts may be misinterpreted, and therefore dangerous or a misinformation!!
Below given facts will help you to get rid of the many misconceptions and get a proper idea regarding charging of any battery for that matter.
Basically, batteries can be compared to our body, they do not like working under stressful conditions. That's the most fundamental thing you must remember while charging a battery.
Second fact is that, batteries don't like getting overcharged.
The third fact is batteries do not like warm conditions, so just make sure your battery stays cool while it's getting charged.
However, if you try to keep the battery temperature lower, the charging rate might need to be lower too, making the process slower, and vice versa. Although this may be a downside, the good thing is that lower current rates will always ensure a long life for your battery, and therefore an increased number of charge/discharge cycles.
Difference Between Lead Acid and Li-Ion/Lipo Batteries
As far charging criticalities are concerned, the above conditions remain the same for both these counterparts.
However Li-ion and Lipo batteries are designed to get charged much quickly than lead acid batteries, through a higher charging rate. But that doesn't mean these won't accept charging at lower currents.
Lower current charging is the recommended method if you are OK with the excess delay in the charging time.
If you are not OK, and want your battery to get charged quickly, in that case you may require special chargers having temperature compensation. Or if you are not using a special charger just make sure to include a fan cooling for the battery. That's all!
A Couple of In Depth Technical aspects
There are a couple of technical things which must be strictly followed before designing a battery charger:
1) The Charging Voltage
2) The Charging Current.
As a rule of thumb, ensure that your battery is never allowed to be charged further, once it reaches its full charge value.
Do not charge your battery with higher currents above its optimal rating. Keeping the charging current on the lower side will always be beneficial to any battery.
To maintain the above conditions, simply make sure your charger includes an overcharge cut off, and a current controlled input power supply.
For Lead Acid batteries the optimal charging current rate can be around 0.1C or 1/10th of its Ah value, and for Li-ion it may be 0.5C or 5/10 its Ah rating.
For more detailed information regarding the various types of automatic and semi-automatic battery chargers or tutorials, you may select the one as per your requirement from the below given list:
When it comes to batteries the first thing that we become concerned about it is its charging methods and ensuring maximum life for the battery.
After some tireless research and study I could come up with a many circuit ideas that could be implemented for the said purpose and for ensuring efficient maintenance of your batteries.
Batteries play an important role in a significant numbers of applications which may be related to our homes, industries, shops, cars, mobile phones, the range can be simply unending.
Understanding batteries and their working principle becomes very important especially regarding the correct methods of charging a particular type of battery attributed with a unique set of specifications.
For example you cannot charge a lead acid battery with procedures entitled for Li-Ion batteries. Because the chemical composition of a lead acid battery may be so much different to a Li-ion battery.
The collection of circuit diagram presented in the following examples are stringently classified and ensure that these become perfectly suitable for the selected battery.
Another factor is maintaining the correct amount charge level without stressing the battery and without affecting its functional life span.
All these are additionally taken care of in the circuit designs and suggestions enclosed in the following articles.
Among all lead acid batteries variants 12V lead acid batteries are the most popular type of batteries and are presently widely used for most of battery driven gadgets. These are ideally suited for applications which require high power output such as in car electrical, inverters, power LED lamps, and with solar charger modules.
Charging a 12V battery requires a good quality charger which must be equipped with a 3 step charging involving High Current Bulk Charging Moderate Current Bulk Charging, Absorption Charging, Float Charging. You can get more details in the above link
6 V Battery Charger
6V batteries are also mostly found in the form of lead acid batteries, but there application range is relatively limited compared to 12V counterpart. Because being less in voltage means the battery will need to be really huge for delivering high current outputs and therefore are not used in high current applications ranges. Nevertheless the charger for a 6V battery also needs to be equally good with a 3-step charging and auto cut off system. More explanation is provided in the above link
24 V/48 V Battery Charger
Just like 12V batteries 24V batteries are also widely used in a huge number battery operated devices, especially one which involve huge wattage or operate with high current loads. Being higher in voltage ensures lower current even for higher rated loads and helps to keep the system compact. These are also mostly lead acid types preferably with deep discharge facility, and the charging process is quite identical to the above discussed batteries which require a precise auto-cut off system and a long float charging sessions. You will find many related designs in the adjoining link.
48V batteries are more robust than the above mentioned batteries and are used only where awesome amount of power is required. It is used in huge solar inverters, GTI or grid tie inverters, and also in inverters which require very long backup operations. To charge a 48V battery you will need to make sure that the output from the charger must be at least 55V rated, and the battery must be charged with a 3 step charging process quite identical to the other lead acid variants.
PWM Battery Charger
PWM based charging concept is a relatively modern concept which is used for charging battery through digital and using pulse width modulation. Here the charging process is controlled by varying the voltage pulses to the battery. Since no analogue system is involved PWM chargers are very efficient and dissipate minimum electricity in the form of heat. In this website I have published a good number of PWM based charger which anybody can grasp and build at home.
IC 555 Battery Chargers
As we all know that IC 741 is an op amp IC which has been so far used for implementing many useful ideas. In this website you will find that this versatile IC has been smartly applied as a comparator in most battery charger for enabling an automatic full charge cut-off and low discharge restoration implementation. Using a comparator IC allows your battery charging to be entirely safe and ideally suited for charging any battery safely. More can be learned from the attached link.
Just like IC 741, IC 555 is another versatile chip which can be effectively used for making battery charger s. I have presented a few battery chargers using IC 555 which also features an automatic cut off as soon as the battery is fully charged.
Arduino Battery Charger
Arduino is a microcontroller concept for designing extremely efficient and state-of-the-art battery charger designs. In this site I have introduced the most modern battery charging technology using Arduino for ensuring the best possible charging implementation for your battery using this highly advanced.
MPPT Battery Charger
Any electronic hobbyist will know the importance of having a LM317 chip in his electronic goods box, because this IC can do some wonderful jobs when it comes to voltage regulation procedures. A battery charger basically requires a good voltage regulation while charging and this IC makes sure that it gives its best while implementing a safe regulated supply within a battery charger. In this website you will a handful of selected LM317 based battery charger with current control facility.
LM338 Battery Charger
LM338 is the big brother of LM317 and is identically versatile, and greatly suited for making constant current and constant voltage battery charger s, with one added feature. This feature is its high current specifications which makes it even more special than LM317. LM338 van deliver a good 5 amp current therefore becomes suitable for charging batteries upto 50 Ah rating. You will come across many good LM338 based battery charger in this website.
Multi-purpose Battery Charger
An automatic charger refers to a design which may be equipped with all the necessary features required for a comprehensive and safe battery charging procedure, such as supplying CC/CV to the battery and an auto-cut for both the high and lower thresholds of the battery. A good range of automatic battery charger has been included in this website for your specific battery charging requirement and specs.
Op amp Battery Charger
In the above discussion we learned how an opamp IC 741 can be used in battery charger for implementing a safe auto cut-off. In this blog you will find many such alternate designs using one opamp and sometimes two opamps for maintaining the required auto cut off action in the most efficient way. Other than IC 741 you will also find see how other variants such as IC LM321, LM358, LM324 etc are used as effectively for implementing automatic battery chargers.
Solar Battery Chargers
Solar power harnessing is becoming more and more popular and highly sought after technology today. When it comes to solar energy harnessing and solar power accumulation, charging battery effectively becomes an inherent part of the entire system. In this website I have designed many exclusive solar battery charger s, and MPPT charging concepts which can be used for charging batteries using solar panel at the most efficient way.
Simple Battery Charger
Although battery charging concept normally requires complex steps and procedures for ensuring maximum benefit for the battery and the user, simple battery chargers with bare minimum facilities can be also used for charging batteries as safely. However since these are not equipped with advanced ry the charging efficiency might be a little compromised wherein the batteries may not charge upto the optimal levels. A few transistorized simple battery chargers have been included in the above link, specially suited for the young school electronic enthusiasts.
Li-Ion Battery Chargers
We have discussed the term constant current and constant voltage in the above sections. Basically these mean that the current supply and the voltage supply from the specific charger must be controlled and not allowed to exceed the stipulated safe limits of the connected battery. These parameters become crucial mostly for the Li-ion batteries and require strict implementation with these features. In this website you will be able to find elaborate designs explaining CC/CV based battery chargers for your individual application needs.
Li-ion batteries are special type of batteries which are designed to produce maximum efficiency in the form of quick charging, long backups, along with huge number charging/discharging cycles. Being so efficient also means that these batteries will require an equally sophisticated charging system. In this website I have furnished a handful of good Li-ion battery charger which are cheap yet include all the necessary advanced features such as constant current, contact voltage and auto cut-off features with automatic temperature sensing and current sensing trip off facilities.
Universal Battery Chargers
A universal battery charger must have all the features in it which can make it universally applicable for charging all types of batteries, such as lead acid battery, Ni-Cd battery, SMF battery and also Li-ion battery. To meet these crucial criteria a universal charger must have all the settings which can be applied for a given battery charging specifications, and must be user friendly also. In this website I have designed a few good universal and smart battery charger which are truly universal, as its name suggests.