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In a recent blog entry, I complained about all the chargers and wall warts I need to carry with me when going on a trip. This project, which can charge a pair of AA Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) or Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) cells using a laptop's USB port for power, arose to address part of that problem. (By the way, if you want to lighten your laptop load, take a look at the MoGo Mouse.) Any USB port can supply 5V at up to 500mA. The USB standard specifies that a device may not use more than 100mA until it has negotiated the right to use 500mA, but apparently no USB ports enforce that requirement. This makes the USB port a convenient source of power for devices such as this charger. There are commercially available USB AA charging solutions available, but they each have some drawbacks:
[December 2007 Update: Sanyo has introduced a USB powered charger for their Eneloop batteries. This charger has none of the drawbacks listed above, and will charge a pair of 2000mAh cells in about 5 hours, or a single cell in half that time. Although designed for Eneloops (see my review), it will work with regular NiMH cells as well. Watch for a review on this site soon.] The charger in this project is designed to charge two AA NiMH or NiCd cells of any capacity (as long as they are the same) at about 470mA. It will charge 700mAh NiCds in about 1.5 hours, 1500mAh NiMHs in about 3.5 hours, and 2500mAh NiMHs in about 5.5 hours. The charger incorporates an automatic charge cut-off circuit based on cell temperature, and the cells can be left in the charger indefinitely after cut-off. SpecificationsThis charger has the following specifications:
The CircuitThe heart of this charger is Z1a, one half of an LM393 dual voltage comparator. The output (pin 1) can be in one of two states, floating or low. While charging, the output is pulled low by an internal transistor, drawing about 5.2mA of current through Q1 and R5. Q1 has a beta of about 90, so about 470mA will flow through into the two AA cells being charged. This will fully charge a pair of 2500mAh cells in just over 5 hours.
During charging, R1, R2, and R4 form a three-way voltage divider which yields about 1.26V at the non-inverting input of Z1a (pin 3, Vref). TR1 is a thermistor that is in direct contact with the cells being charged. It has a resistance of 10kΩ at 25°C (77°F), which varies inversely with temperature by about 3.7% for every 1C° (1.8F°). R3 and TR1 form a voltage divider whose value is applied to the inverting input (pin 2, Vtmp). At a temperature of 20°C (68°F), TR1 is about 12kΩ, which makes Vtmp about 1.76V. Once the cells are fully charged, the charge current will literally go to waste, in the form of heat. As the cell temperature rises, TR1's resistance drops. At 33°C (91°F), the resistance will be about 7.4kΩ, which makes Vtmp about 1.26V, which equals the Vref voltage.
Also, because R4 is now connected to +5V through R5 and Q1 instead of being held at 0.26V by Z1a, the Vref voltage changes to about 2.37V. This guarantees that as the cell temperature drops, the charger won't turn back on. In order for Vtmp to reach 2.37V, TR1 would have to reach about 20kΩ, corresponding to a temperature of about 6°C (43°F), which should never happen in a room temperature environment. Z1b is the other comparator on the LM393 chip, and a close look at the schematic reveals that it's performing the same comparison as Z1a. Instead of driving the charging transistor however, it drives an LED that indicates that charging is in progress. R6 limits current to the LED to about 10mA. By running the LED from its own comparator (which is on the chip whether we use it or not), the LED current has no effect on Vref. Finally, C1 is there to ensure that charging starts when a pair of cells is inserted. With no cells in place and the charger off, C1 has about 1.9V across it (5V - 0.7V - Vref). As soon as the second of two cells is inserted, the positive side of C1 is suddenly forced down to the battery voltage (about 2.4V). This immediately forces the negative side 1.9V lower than this, to about 0.5V. Since this is connected to Vref, Z1a's output goes low, causing charging to start. After a few milliseconds, C1 adjusts to the new voltage difference imposed by R1, R2, and R4 on one side and the cells on the other, and no longer affects the circuit. ConstructionThe circuit is best built on a printed circuit board. Refer to my article on the subject, Making Excellent Printed Circuit Boards. Here is the printed circuit layout:
Begin by installing all the resistors and the capacitor. The resistors should be installed lying flat. Install LED1, being sure to orient it so that the negative terminal is the one connected to pin 7 of Z1b.
Install Z1 next, ensuring that pin 1 (indicated by a small dot or identation on one corner of the IC) is oriented as shown in the placement diagram. If you wish, use a socket for Z1. Transistor Q1 is mounted on a small heatsink. First bend the leads back 90° just where they start to narrow. Don't bend them too sharply or they might break. Insert Q1 into its lead holes, and slide the heatsink underneath. Hold everything in place with a clamp while soldering the leads. With the clamp still in place, drill the hole for the heatsink bolt.
Installing the battery holder is the next step. I used a 2-cell holder made by cutting the two outer cell positions off of a side-by-side 4-cell holder. You can of course just buy a 2-cell holder, but none was available when I went to the parts store. My approach has the additional advantage that the cells are easier to insert and remove, because the sides of the holder don't curve inwards over the cells. Before installing the holder, remove a ¼" long section of the centre divider to make room for the thermistor. Also solder some leads to the cell holder terminals. Glue the holder in place on the circuit board, flush with the sides and ends of the board. When the glue has dried, drill through the TR1 holes in the board to make matching holes in the battery holder. If you did everything carefully, these two holes should be right on the centre line, where you removed the section of divider. Insert the thermistor through the holes, and then put a pair of AA cells in the holder. From the copper side, push up on the thermistor so it is in firm contact with the cells, and then solder it in place. Then remove the cells, and connect the battery holder leads to the holes marked B+ and B- on the placement diagram.
The last step is to connect a USB power cable. Either buy a cable, or cut one off of a discarded USB device such as a broken mouse. Cut the cable to the desired length, and strip about 1" of the outer covering off the end. Roll back the shielding, and find the +5V and GND wires. These will generally be red and black respectively. Strip and tin the ends of them, and solder them to the USB+5V and USBGND terminals of the charger. TestingBefore connecting the charger to a power source, inspect your work carefully. Be sure all the components are oriented correctly (specifically Q1, LED1, Z1, and the battery holder).
With power applied, check that the LED is off. If it is on, use a 330Ω resistor to short out TR1 for an instant (this makes the circuit think the cells have gotten extremely hot). If the LED doesn't extinguish, there's something wrong. With the LED off, measure the voltage between GND and Vref (pin 3 of Z1). This should be approximately 2.37V. It can be a bit more or less depending on the exact supply voltage and the variation in resistor values. Also check the voltage at Vtmp (pin 2). At room temperature, this should be in the range of 1.60V to 1.85V, depending on the temperature. Now insert a pair of matching AA NiMH cells, preferrably ones that are partially or fully discharged. As soon as you insert the second cell, the LED should light up. Measure the Vref voltage again; it should now be about 1.26V. Vtmp may also have changed a little bit, due to the supply voltage drop caused by the load placed on the power supply. The charger is now charging and the voltage at the battery terminals should be increasing. After a while, the rate of increase should slow down. As the cells reach about 75% charge, the rate of increase will speed up again. Finally, when the cells reach 100% charge, the voltage will start decreasing, and the cells will start to get warm. 15 to 20 minutes later, the charger should turn off. If the cells get uncomfortably warm and the charger has not shut off, there's something wrong. It's also worth measuring the charge current. The easiest way to do this is to insert two thin conductive strips, such as brass shim, separated by an insulator, between one cell and a battery holder contact. Then connect an ammeter to the two strips, so that the charging current flows through the meter. The meter should read somewhere between 450 and 490mA. If it's any higher, you will be exceeding the USB current supply specification, since the charger itself uses an additional 10mA (primarily for the LED). If the measured current, I, is too high or too low, replace R5 with a different value resistor according to the following formula: R5 = 1.6 x I Use the nearest standard value. For example, if you measure a current of 510mA, replace R5 with an 820Ω resistor. If the measured current was 420mA, use a 680Ω resistor. EnclosureAt the time I wrote this, I had not yet constructed an enclosure for this circuit, but plan to do so in the near future, since the bare board is not robust enough to throw into the laptop bag when going on a trip. The enclosure will be made from 1/16" plastic or aircraft plywood for the sides and bottom, with a translucent plastic panel over the circuitry. The battery compartment will be left open. A strain relief will prevent the USB leads from breaking off where they attach to the board. For cooling, I plan to drill holes in the sides and top in the heatsink area. Using the ChargerUsing the charger is easy. Just plug it into a USB port and insert the two cells you want to charge. When the LED extinguishes, charging is complete. Approximate charge times are as follows:
It is important that the two cells being charged are of the same type and at the same level of discharge. If the cells are mismatched, one will become fully charged before the other. When it reaches 33°C, the charger will shut off. If the second cell needs more than about 200mAh more than the first cell, it will not have reached a full charge.
When charging is completed, the charger will switch to a 10mA trickle charge. This is sufficient to overcome the cells' natural self-discharge rate, but low enough that the cells can be left in the charger indefinitely. However, do not leave the cells in the charger unless the charger is plugged into a powered-up USB port. Otherwise, the cells will supply power to the circuit and be drained in the process. When using this charger with any computer, make sure that the computer is not set to go into a power saving mode that turns off power to the USB ports. If this happens, charging will stop, and the cells being charged will discharge. When using a laptop as a power source, it's best to plug in the laptop's power supply, since the charger uses a significant amount of power, and will probably take longer to complete than the laptop battery will last. If powering this charger from a USB hub, be sure to use a powered hub. A non-powered hub will not be able to deliver enough current to the charger, since it must share the 500mA coming from the computer with the ports in the hub (typically four). The extra cable length also tends to reduce the voltage reaching the charger. Charging AAA CellsIf the springs in the battery holder are long enough, the charger can also be used to charge a pair of AAA cells. However, it is then necessary to insert shims between the cells and the sides of the battery holder to ensure that the cells remain in contact with the thermistor. Only charge modern AAA cells, having a capacity of 700mAh or more. Parts ListSome parts can be obtained at Radio Shack, but larger electronic supply houses like DigiKey are more likely to stock all the parts needed.
†Note that the Radio Shack thermistor has been discontinued. Although I have not tried any of them, there are other similar thermistors available, such as the Vishay #2381 640 54103 (Digi-Key #BC2298-ND). The temperature coefficient is slightly different (about 4.6%/C°), but over the range we're interested in, is close enough. Using this thermistor, the cut-off and turn-on temperatures would be about 32°C (89°F) and 10°C (50°F) respectively. Alternatively, you can use the resistor values below with the Vishay thermistor to raise the cut-off temperature back to 33°C, while lowering the turn-on temperature to 3°C (37°F).
I have not tested this combination, but the values were computed using the same program that I used to compute the values that were used with the Radio Shack thermistor. Do not mix and match values from this table with those listed above. If you change any of the values to those in this table, change all of them. If anyone finds an alternate source for the Radio Shack thermistor, please let me know. I'd Like to Hear from YouIf you build this circuit (or not), let me know what you think. If you have problems, I may be able to help you, but be sure to supply a detailed description. I can be reached at stefan@capable.ca. Other Articles of InterestIf you found this article useful, you may also be interested in:
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