Battery-charger-control designers face a fundamental choice: to use a part from the rich selection of dedicated charge-control ICs available from many vendors or to use a programmable microcontroller.

A previously-published Design Idea outlined a polarity protection circuit that provides the correct connection of the battery to a load regardless of the battery’s orientation in its holder. The ...

When the battery voltage falls below the lockout threshold, the circuit monitors the voltage of a Li-Ion battery and disconnects the load to prevent deep discharge. A vehicle that runs on batteries ...