M
current value must be sufficiently guardbanded to
ensure the limiting factor is the SNS resistor, and not
the transistor. In our example, the maximum current
supplied by the Darlington will be guardbanded to
1.8A. Since the beta of the Darlington is typically 1000,
the base current needed will be:
I
B
= I
C
/ BETA = 1.8A / 1000 = 1.8mA
The emitter of the TIP115 will see 14V, so the base will
see about 12.6V. When the MOD pin is high, the
2N2222 transistor is on and the base resistor will be:
R
B
= V
B
/ I
B
= 12.6V / 1.8mA
≈
6.8k
This 1.8A current will never be reached because MOD
will be off when the SNS voltage reaches 0.25V (0.9A).
Current-Limited S upply
The circuit in Figure 12 is set up to charge a Duracell
DR35 battery pack (nine cells, 2.6Ah) using a 19V, 2.6A
current-limited power supply provided by Advanced
Power Solutions. Since many power supplies have
built-in current limiting, very few external components
are required for this charging method.
The SNS pin in this circuit is tied directly to V
SS
. This
signals the MOD pin to stay high until a termination
condition is met. When MOD is high, the NPN transistor
is turned on, hence pulling the gate of the MOSFET low.
This turns the MOSFET on and supplies current to the
battery at the current limit of the source (2.6A). The 12V
zener diode is placed between the source and gate of
the FET to ensure the FET’s maximum source-drain
voltage is not exceeded.
When a termination condition is reached, the MOD pin
goes low to turn off the FET and terminate the fast-
charge current.
NiCd/NiMH Battery Fast-Charge Controllers
18
______________________________________________________________________________________
Table 7. Operation Summary
Discharge initiated with temperature
and voltage within set limits.
Discharge
Fast-charge initiated and tempera-
ture or voltage outside the set limits.
Charge Pending
a) Power applied and voltage at
CCMD = DCMD
b ) DCMD = Low, CCMD = Rising
Edge (power already present)
c ) DCMD = High, CCMD = Falling
Edge (power already present)
Initiate Fast-Charge
Rising edge on DCMD
Initiate Discharge
Charge Status
(V
BAT
- V
SNS
)
≥
V
MCV
Battery Absent
Conditions
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
MOD Status
High
Low
Low
Low
Low
DIS
Status
1.375
0.125
—
—
—
CHG LED Status
LED On
(Low)
(sec)
0.125
1.375
Continuous
Continuous
Continuous
Pulse current provided by pulsing
MOD pin after fast-charge/top-off.
Pulsed Trickle-
Charge (MAX2003A)
Trickle current provided by external
resistor after fast-charge/top-off.
Constant Trickle-
Charge (MAX2003)
Charge complete and top-off
enabled without exceeding temper-
ature and voltage limits.
Top-Off Charge
Exceed one of the five termination
conditions.
Charge Complete
Fast-charge initiated with tempera-
ture and voltage within set limits.
Fast-Charge
Pulsed according to charge rate
(Table 4).
Low
MAX2003A: Activate for 0.5sec in
every 4sec period.
MAX2003: Active for 4sec in
every 34sec period.
Low
If V
SNS
> 0.050V
CC
, MOD = Low
If V
SNS
> 0.044V
CC
, MOD = High
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
0.125
0.125
0.125
0.125
Continuous
0.125
0.125
0.125
0.125
—
LED Off
(High)
(sec)