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LiPo Battery Charger

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:21 am
by parkview
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.
LiPo battery and charger PCB_sml.jpg
LiPo battery and charger PCB_sml.jpg (84.28 KiB) Viewed 4943 times
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:
single board.jpg
single board.jpg (31.61 KiB) Viewed 4943 times
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 :shock: 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! :D

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.