TurbineLP
Jul 23, 2004, 01:32 PM
I'm planning to build a decent-sized (4S8P) Li-ion battery pack (actually not for an RC application, but that's neither here nor there) and I've been toying with the idea of making my own protection/balancing circuit for it, like the commercial packs have.
After some searching around I found this product, the Xicor X3100:
http://www.xicor.com/folder_x3100.php
...which I think would fit the bill perfectly (assuming one can deal with the package, which is a pretty tiny surface-mount IC). The X3100 really seems to do everything - besides the basic over/undervoltage and overcurrent protection, it can also handle cell balancing and SOC indication (which would be very cool to have in a homemade pack).
The data sheet and application note even give a complete "recommended implementation" circuit, so it looks like all that would be necessary would be to build the circuit, tie in an appropriate microcontroller, and write some relatively simple code. Of course none of that is as easy as I'm making it sound, but...
Thoughts, comments?
After some searching around I found this product, the Xicor X3100:
http://www.xicor.com/folder_x3100.php
...which I think would fit the bill perfectly (assuming one can deal with the package, which is a pretty tiny surface-mount IC). The X3100 really seems to do everything - besides the basic over/undervoltage and overcurrent protection, it can also handle cell balancing and SOC indication (which would be very cool to have in a homemade pack).
The data sheet and application note even give a complete "recommended implementation" circuit, so it looks like all that would be necessary would be to build the circuit, tie in an appropriate microcontroller, and write some relatively simple code. Of course none of that is as easy as I'm making it sound, but...
Thoughts, comments?