Diodes Inc. Releases Programmable Battery Charger to Keep Portable Products Safe
The APM860x lithium battery charger ICs from Diodes Inc. provide a range of safety features designed to protect small form factor portable products during the charging process. To ensure safe charging of products including mobile phones, media players and headsets, the single channel APM8600 and dual channel APM8601 constantly monitor lithium ion and lithium polymer cells for overvoltage, charge time and temperature. Providing up to 28V overvoltage protection, the APM8601 automatically selects between USB or dc inputs, and the APM8600 is a dc input only device.
The ICs’ charging algorithm covers all lithium cell charging phases, comprising pre-charging for deeply depleted cells, constant current/constant voltage fast charging and top-off charging to hold the cell at its full charge level. Maximum fast charging current is 1A, with charge current from the USB input set to either 100 or 500mA depending on the logic level applied to USEL input.
Fully programmable via external component selection, the APM86’s charging current, pre-charging and end-of-charge are determined by resistor value and the charge time by capacitor value. Cell temperature measurement is achieved via a standard thermistor located in close proximity to the cell. Charge indicator pins are provided for charging status display.
Provided in the U-DFN3030 14-pin package, the dual input APM8601 charger is priced at $ 0.53 each in 10k quantities and the single input APM8600 charger is priced at $ 0.48 each in 10 k quantities.