+[[!meta title="LipoCharger"]]
# LipoCharger
-This is a simple but effective charger for LiPo batteries. It has a higher
-charge rate than the on-board charger on [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum), and
-will be necessary for charging the batteries used with projects like
-[TeleNano](../TeleNano) and [TeleMini](../TeleMini), which do not have
-on-board charging capability.
+This is a simple but effective, dual-rate, standalone charger for Lithium
+Polymer batteries. It supports two different charge rates selectable with
+a swtich, of approximately 100mA and 500mA. The 500mA rate is good for
+batteries of 400 mAh and higher including the 900mAh cells sold with
+[TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum) starter kits, while the 100mA rate is more
+appropriate for the 110mAh cells often used with [TeleMini](../TeleMini). A
+standalone charger is essential for use with TeleMini since it does not
+have on-board charging capability.
+
+Production units are available from the
+[Garbee and Garbee](https://shop.gag.com) web store.
+
+These are photos of production version 1.1:
+
+<a href="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-top.jpg"> <img src="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-top-thumb.j
+pg"></a>
+<a href="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-bot.jpg"> <img src="v1.1/lipocharger-v1.1-bot-thumb
+.jpg"></a>
## Features ##
### User View ###
-* Wall-wart power supply to our standard 2mm LiPo battery connector
+* Micro USB connector for power input
+* 2mm JST-style connector for battery
+* dual-color LED
+ * red when charging
+ * green when charge complete
+ * both on, or "yellow", when battery is disconnected or bad
* 1.0 x 0.4 inch board
### Developer View ###
* Hardware Features
- * [Microchip MCP73837](http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en531507) Li-ion battery charger chip
- * Strain-relief holes for soldering to wall-wart leads
+ * [Microchip MCP73831](http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en024903) Li-ion battery charger chip
* Tools Used
* [gEDA](http://www.gpleda.org/) for schematic capture and PCB layout
* Licenses
The design files can be found on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com) in the
project [hw/lipocharger](http://git.gag.com/?p=hw/lipocharger;a=summary).
-## Future Plans ##
+For those who don't have ready access to the gEDA suite, here are pdf snapshots
+of the files for Production PCB version 2.0 in more easily readable form.
+
+* [schematic](v1.1/lipocharger-sch.pdf)
+* [pcb artwork](v1.1/lipocharger-pcb.pdf)
+* [bill of materials](v1.1/partslist.csv)
-We need to build and evaluate some prototypes, and review costing, before
-deciding whether this design will go into production.
projects / web / altusmetrum / blobdiff