Diagram SOlution

Normally, chargers available in the market do not have any sort of control except for a ro-tary switch that can select different tap-pings on a rheostat, to vary the charging current. This type of control is not adequate because of the irregular fluctuations in the mains supply, rendering the control ineffective.  A simple circuit intended for automatic charging of lead-acid batteries is presented here. It is flexible enough to be used for large capacity inverter batteries. Only the rating of transformer and power transistor needs to be increased.

Circuit diagram :

Automatic Battery Charger Circuit Diagram

 

The circuit has been basically designed for a car battery (about 40 Ah rating), which could be used for lighting two 40W tube lights. The circuit includes Schmitt trigger relay driver,float charger,and battery voltage monitor sections.  The Schmitt trigger is incorporated to avoid relay chattering. It is designed for a window of about 1V. During charging, when the battery voltage increases be-yond 13.64V, the relay cuts off and the float charging section continues to work. When battery voltage goes below 11.66V, the relay is turned on and direct (fast) charging of the battery takes place at around 3A.  In the Schmitt trigger circuit, resistors R1 and R2 are used as a simple voltage divider (divide-by-2) to provide battery voltage sample to the inverting input terminal of IC1. The non-invert-ing input terminal of IC1 is used for reference input derived from the output of IC2 (7806), using the potentiometer arrangement of resistors R3 (18 kilo-ohm) and R4 (1 kilo-ohm). 

LED1 is connected across relay to indicate fast charging mode. Diodes D3 and D6 in the common leads of IC2 and IC3 respectively provide added protecion to the regulators.  The float charging section, comprising regulator 7812, transistors T3 and T4, and few other discrete components, becomes active when the battery volt-age goes above 13.64V (such that the relay RL1 is deenergised). In the energised state of the relay, the emitter and collector of transistor T4 remain shorted, and hence the float charger is ineffective and direct charging of battery takes place. 

The reference terminal of regulator (IC3) is kept at 3.9V using LED2, LED3, and diode D6 in the common lead of IC3 to obtain the required regulated output (15.9V), in excess of its rated output, which is needed for proper operation of the circuit. This output voltage is fed to the base of transistor T3 (BC548), which along with transistor T4 (2N3055) forms a Darlington pair. You get 14.5V output at the emitter of transistor T4, but because of a drop in diode D7 you effectively get 13.8V at the positive terminal of the battery. When Schmitt trigger switches ‘on’ relay RL1, charging is at high current rate (boost mode). The fast charging path, starting from transformer X2, comprises diode D5, N/O contacts of relay RL1, and diode D7. 

The circuit built around IC4 and IC5 is the voltage monitoring section that provides visual display of battery voltage level in bar graph like fashion. Regulator 7805 is used for generating reference voltage. Preset VR1 (20 kilo-ohm) can be used to adjust voltage levels as indicated in the circuit. Here also a pot meter arrangement using resistors R7, R8, and R9 is used as ‘divide by 3’ circuit to sample the battery voltage. When voltage is below 10V, the buzzer sounds to indicate that the safe dis-charge limit has been exceeded.

Author : Yash Deep - Copyright : EFY Mag

This circuit was devised to switch power to a Peltier cooler in a vehicle. Power to the load from the vehicle’s battery is switched by a SPDT relay while the ignition switch is turned on and from the SLA auxiliary battery when the ignition is off.

The SLA battery is charged from the vehicle’s battery. When the engine is running, the voltage remains fairly constant, which greatly simplifies the charging circuit. If the SLA battery is fully charged, any further charging current from the vehicle battery is limited by a 3.3W 5W resistor (R1). If the SLA battery is deeply discharged, the voltage drop across this resistor will be enough to bias on PNP transistor Q1. This will turn on P-channel Mosfet Q2 and it will provide further charging current via R2, effectively becoming a 2-step charger.

Since the paralleled resistors (R1 & R2) have a lower combined voltage drop, Q1 will receive lower base bias, which in turn will cause Mosfet Q2 to fully saturate. This positive feedback creates a clean transition between the two states and prevents Q2 from over-dissipating by being partially on. The current then will ramp down until the battery is only receiving a trickle charge and the voltage drop across the paralleled resistors is only a few dozen millivolts. Schottky diode D1 prevents the SLA battery from discharging into the vehicle’s accessory circuits when the engine is off.

Two safety devices are included in the circuit, the first being in-line fuse F1 which will prevent serious damage in case of shorts. In addition, a PTC resettable thermistor (RT1) protects the battery from sustained over-currents during the charging phase. It is a 1.85A hold, 3.70A trip device at 23°C. Since it has a positive temperature coefficient, at 70°C, these ratings decrease to 1A and 2A for hold and trip respectively, which can further protect the battery.

Lastly, to protect the SLA battery from deep discharge, a low voltage disconnect is included. This is centred around REG1, a voltage reference configured as a comparator. Its reference (REF) input is connected to a voltage divider, as long as "enable" switch S1 is closed.

Whenever the voltage at REG1’s reference terminal exceeds 2.5V, its anode will be pulled low, biasing on PNP transistor Q3. Q3 provides positive feedback via the 270kΩ resistor and diode D2 to turn on N-channel Mosfet Q4, which allows the load to be powered up.

If the SLA battery voltage drops below 10V, the reference terminal will fall below 2.5V and the anode of REG1 will go high, thereby removing bias from Q3 and turning off Q4 to disconnect the load and prevent deep discharge. LED1 indicates when power is being applied to the load.

This circuit uses the popular and easy to find LM3914 IC. This IC is very simple to drive, needs no voltage regulators (it has a built in voltage regulator) and can be powered from almost every source. This circuit is very easy to explain: When the test button is pressed, the Car battery voltage is feed into a high impedance voltage divider. His purpose is to divide 12V to 1,25V (or lower values to lower values).

This solution is better than letting the internal voltage regulator set the 12V sample voltage to be feed into the internal voltage divider simply because it cannot regulate 12V when the voltage drops lower (linear regulators only step down). Simply wiring with no adjust, the regulator provides stable 1,25V which is fed into the precision internal resistor cascade to generate sample voltages for the internal comparators. Anyway the default setting let you to measure voltages between 8 and 12V but you can measure even from 0V to 12V setting the offset trimmer to 0 (but i think that under 9 volt your car would not start).

There is a smoothing capacitor (4700uF 16V) it is used to adsorb EMF noise produced from the ignition coil if you are measuring the battery during the engine working. Diesel engines would not need it, but Im not sure. If you like more a point graph rather than a bar graph simply disconnect pin 9 on the IC (MODE) from power. The calculations are simple (default)

For the first comparator the voltage is : 0,833 V corresponding to 8 V
* * * * * voltage is : 0,875 V corresponding to 8,4 V
for the last comparator the voltage is : 1,25 V corresponding to 12 V
Have fun, learn and dont let you car battery discharge... ;-)

author: Jonathan Filippi
e-mail: jonathan.filippi@virgilio.it

This automatic NiCd charger for 9V NiCd batteries is using 555 timer properties and is very easy to build. Why is an automatic 9 volts NiCd battery charger? Because you can leave the battery for charging as much as you like: it will be always completely charged and ready for use when is needed. It wont be overcharged and it will not discharge. 

With the values presented in the circuit diagram, the battery charger NiCd circuit is suitable for 6V and 9V batteries. 9 volt types with 6 and 7 cells are charging with 20mA; P1 must be adjusted so that the NiCd charger disconnects after 14 hours. Window inferior level is set at 1V below this value with P2.

5V battery type with 4 or 5 cells are charged at 55mA. Again, with P1 adjust the NiCd charger circuit so it disconnects after 14 hours. Window inferior level must be set at 0.8V below this value.

Sourc

This is one of the porters of the series "battery chargers that will never do." It uses the serial port of a PC to power a battery charger. A serial interface port can not supply enough current to charge batteries more powerful, but low capacity battery Nickel Cadmium (NiCd), this circuit is more than enough.You could, for example, use the batteries in a radio and charge them while using the PC. 

The three serial port connections TxD, DTR and RTS, when not in use, are -10 V and can provide a current of about 10 to 20 mA. The circuit shown supplies a charging current of about 30 mA. If you need to change the polarity of the charging circuit, then it is a simple job, just reverse the diodes and use of software, change door signs to 10 V. Those interested can also write a software routine that automatically recharges the batteries.

The circuit below illuminates an LED to indicate unequal charges between two 12 volt lead batteries. It can be used to verify that two batteries are connected in parallel or isolated since the LED will be off when the voltages are equal within a tollerance, or on if the voltage difference is greater than 100 millivolts. Three comparators and three voltage dividers are used to determine battery conditions.

Battery Equal Charge Indicator Circuit Diagram

The upper left comparator (+) input at pin 5 is set to about 10 volts with battery #1 at 12 volts. The negative input (pin 4) is set to a slightly lower voltage by adding an additional 240 ohms to the voltage divider so that the output of the comparator will be positive when both battery voltages are equal and negative if battery 2 rises above battery 1 by 100 millivolts or more.

The voltage at pin 5 is used as a reference for the lower comparator and the negative input of the lower comparator is set to a lower voltage with the addition of 510 ohms, so that the output will also be positive when the battery voltages are equal and negative when battery #1 is greater than #2 by 100 millivolts or more.

The two comparator outputs are both connected to the positive input of the third comparator at pin 9 so that the LED will illuminate when either condition exists,
(Battery #1 > Battery #2) OR (Battery #2 > Battery #1). Link