3 This is a simple but effective, dual-rate, standalone charger for Lithium
4 Polymer batteries. It supports two different charge rates selectable with
5 a swtich, of approximately 100mA and 500mA. The 500mA rate is good for
6 batteries of 400 mAh and higher including the 900mAh cells sold with
7 [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum) starter kits, while the 100mA rate is more
8 appropriate for the 110mAh cells often used with [TeleMini](../TeleMini). A
9 standalone charger is essential for use with TeleMini since it does not
10 have on-board charging capability.
12 Production units are available from the
13 [Garbee and Garbee](https://shop.gag.com) web store.
15 These are photos of production version 1.1:
17 <a href="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-top.jpg"> <img src="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-top-thumb.j
19 <a href="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-bot.jpg"> <img src="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-bot-thumb
26 * Micro USB connector for power input
27 * 2mm JST-style connector for battery
30 * green when charge complete
31 * both on, or "yellow", when battery is disconnected or bad
32 * 1.0 x 0.4 inch board
34 ### Developer View ###
37 * [Microchip MCP73831](http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en024903) Li-ion battery charger chip
39 * [gEDA](http://www.gpleda.org/) for schematic capture and PCB layout
41 * The hardware is licensed under the [TAPR](http://www.tapr.org) [Open Hardware License](http://www.tapr.org/ohl.html)
45 The design files can be found on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com) in the
46 project [hw/lipocharger](http://git.gag.com/?p=hw/lipocharger;a=summary).
48 For those who don't have ready access to the gEDA suite, here are pdf snapshots
49 of the files for Production PCB version 2.0 in more easily readable form.
51 * [schematic](v1.1/lipocharger-sch.pdf)
52 * [pcb artwork](v1.1/lipocharger-pcb.pdf)
53 * [bill of materials](v1.1/partslist.csv)