The advanced charger is based on a hardware similar to the basic charger one. The main differences are in the charge/discharge profiles management that now can be entered in "local" and without the PC support.

1. All the parameters for charge and discharge can be entered directly in the charger.
2. The PC is useful only for PIC firmware patch and for output graphic plotting.
3. A second P-channel mosfet is added for up to 10A charge current or for no self-powering diode.

4. Integrates a 16x2 lines LCD display
5. Integrates up to 7 different charge/discharge profiles
6. The batteries can be charged,discharged or cycled (charge after discharge)
7. Parameters for each battery profile:
   • Number of cells (from 1 o 7)
   • Cell capacity (useful for automatic timeout calculation)
   • Cut-off voltage per cell
   • Delta peak per cell
   • Charge current (up to 10A or 5A plus the diode)
   • Discharge current (up to 30A)
   • Peak control inhibition
   • Timeout in function of the cell capacity.
8. Support for costant voltage supply (motor test) with adjustable output
9. Fast current control (200Hz) and low noise values (1mV resolution for batteries)
10. Display during charge of current,voltage,peak voltage,delta peak, capacity, time
11. Display during discharge of current,voltage,peak voltage,cut-off, capacity, time
12. Acoustic buzzer for end of operation signaling
13. Automatic recovery in case of power supply failure

1. Possibility to have a costant voltage charge with current limiting (Pb and Li-Poly batteries)
2. Possibility to function as wattmeter


The first photo is the discharge at 20A of a 2400mAh NiCd battery pack. Please note the battery connection with double wire, one for the high current path, the other for the voltage sense. The keys on the panel are green for up/down parameters adjust, yellow for parameter enter and red for action break.










The second photo shows the charger content. We can see the small PCB and the fan cooler (CPU cooler) with the power transistors attached. The metallic box is larger than the PCB because in the prototype we decided to fit also a switching power supply inside.











The third photo shows the charger rear side with the fan for transistor cooling, the plugs for power supply in (or out, if the power supply is put inside) and the DEM 9S connector for RS232 serial interface.