Charge limiter


 


This circuit is an extension for an "ordinary" battery-charger, the "cheap" kind whithout complicated electronics. The extension takes care not to overcharge the battery by simply stopping the charge current when a certain voltage is reached. If the voltage drops again, charging will be resumed.
The circuit uses the PIC16F873 microcontroller to keep things simple (little hardware needed, all functionality is implemented in software). The PIC16F873 has an internal analog-to-digital converter, that's why I used this type. Also, a Dallas Semiconductor DS1820 chip is used to measure the ambient temperature. The voltage-treshold is temperature dependent.

In the circuit, there is no capacitor shown to stabilize the input power. If the charger used only contains a rectifier, a capacitor must be added to smooth the voltage. Use a 1000 µF elco.

Schematic diagram of the charge limiter

List of components

Circuit explanation:


Port RA0 (configured as AD input) is used to measure the voltage of the charger using voltage divider R3/R4. Port RA3 is used as a digital input/output to control the Dallas DS1820 temperature sensor. In the beginning of the program, the relay is activated, ensuring battery and charger are connected which in fact enforces reading the battery voltage and not the charger voltage. Depending the charge state of the battery, the software will decide whether to release the relay. After a while the relay is activated again and the cycle will start from the beginning.

Source code for this project

Features

Printed circuit board

Copper side

Copper side of the printed circuit.

 Components side

Components side of the printed circuit.
Components

Components layout.

Download print-layout as Word 2000 document

Download print-layout as PDF

Picture

Picture of the device.

The device built into a plastic pipe, mounted under the original charger.

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