LiPo Battery Charger
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:21 am
I use a 900mA LiPo battery for some of my LED projects. These need charging up, so since Stephen ran 2016 Introduction to KiCAD tutorial that was based on a TP4056 charging IC, I have settled on using these as my current LiPo charger of choice. While I have the actual SMD based TP4056 chips: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Sh ... 39006.html , I have yet to build the PCB to host it all. Instead I purchased a few pre-assembled boards from Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Sh ... 58256.html. These include battery protection IC's as well.
To make it easier to connect my LiPo battery to the TP4056 charger PCB, last year I created a small home made PCB that included JST-XH and Hirose DF13C SMD plugs.
The main issue I have with the design is that it used some JST leads and plug to connect to the TP4056 charger board. While I wanted to build my own charger from scratch, why not just build a small carrier PCB that hosts the plugs. So this is what I ended up with:
I found I could panellise seven of these in a 10cm x 10cm area, and Seeed currently have a special on for three 10x10cm PCB's for $1.00 I don't know how they do it, but had to give it a go, just to see what the end cost might. In the end it was US$1.00 for the PCB's and US$9.07 for shipping. All up, A$14.37 Australian dollars, or A$0.68ea, which is a bargain!
While I do have all the necessary IC's and parts to build my own TP4056 protected battery charger board, buying a fully assembled one for A$0.40ea is hard to beat.
PS: yes, some of the labels are upside down, but they will be hidden from view once assembled.
To make it easier to connect my LiPo battery to the TP4056 charger PCB, last year I created a small home made PCB that included JST-XH and Hirose DF13C SMD plugs.
The main issue I have with the design is that it used some JST leads and plug to connect to the TP4056 charger board. While I wanted to build my own charger from scratch, why not just build a small carrier PCB that hosts the plugs. So this is what I ended up with:
I found I could panellise seven of these in a 10cm x 10cm area, and Seeed currently have a special on for three 10x10cm PCB's for $1.00 I don't know how they do it, but had to give it a go, just to see what the end cost might. In the end it was US$1.00 for the PCB's and US$9.07 for shipping. All up, A$14.37 Australian dollars, or A$0.68ea, which is a bargain!
While I do have all the necessary IC's and parts to build my own TP4056 protected battery charger board, buying a fully assembled one for A$0.40ea is hard to beat.
PS: yes, some of the labels are upside down, but they will be hidden from view once assembled.