Hello,
I have spent the last few weeks looking through hundreds (no, most likely dozens but it felt like hundreds !) of different models of PMIC, battery charger ICs and other related chips with no success... I am looking for a simple one-cell battery charger (no fancy features, e.g. MCP73831) that would also include a fuel gauge in a reasonably simple package (no 72-BGA). There are lots of very complicated and redundant products out there but apparently no simple IC. The MAX77818 for instance is way too complex.

Of course the other option would be to combine a simple charger like MCP73831 with a simple fuel gauge like the MCP3421 but I can't believe it does not already exist as an integrated package. It must be my poor searching skills.

Has any of you come across a simple charger/gauge ?

Cheers

M

 

Of course the other option would be to combine a simple charger like MCP73831 with a simple fuel gauge like the MCP3421 but I can't believe it does not already exist as an integrated package. It must be my poor searching skills.

I have not searched for what you are asking, but I have used the MCP73831/2. There are also the MCP73833/4 devices. The fact that you want a simple,no frills battery charger and gauge ignores the market. All the frills offered on a chip do not need to be used, yet a chip without all those frills cannot be used by someone who wants them. There is probably not a sufficient market for chips with no frills, one frill, two frills, etc. to justify manufacturing each type. Incremental cost for production of an all-frill chip is probably very low if anything. Thus, that is what is done.

As another example, you see the same thing in microcontrollers. Fewer frills chips, which are often older, cost more than newer more frill chips. So, just ignore the frills and get something that offers what you want.

If you are worried about how to deal with the frills you don't want, a number of hobbyist oriented businesses offer complete kits. Adafruit and Sparkfun are two that come to mind. For the MCP chip, even Microchip offers a complete unit. Each of the sites mentioned offer full schematics and most offer detailed instructions.

 

That makes complete sense... unfortunately

The only issue with more complexe chips are the increased assembly cost (BGA vs QFN for instance) and the fact that some pins have to be pulled up/down thus increasing the number of components and routing complexity.

Thanks for your insight !

 

That makes complete sense... unfortunately

The only issue with more complexe chips are the increased assembly cost (BGA vs QFN for instance) and the fact that some pins have to be pulled up/down thus increasing the number of components and routing complexity.

Thanks for your insight !

BGA vs. QFN is, unfortunately, a fact of life. I don't like either. I can deal with QFN. BGA is a different story. I buy break out boards for BGA.

 

Matt, I'm looking for that sort of thing myself.

Has any of you come across a simple charger with a fuel gauge ?

The nearest thing I could find was ADP5350: buck charger, fuel gauge (voltage based?), boost converter, LDOs. It has got a QFN variant.

It isn't as simple as I'd like, but it could give me a somewhat compact solution [short of going BGA].