M
T emperature Measurement
The MAX2003/MAX2003A employs a negative tempera-
ture-coefficient (NTC) thermistor to measure the bat-
tery’s temperature. This temperature value can be used
to determine start and termination of fast-charge. The
two temperature conditions that can be used for fast-
charge termination are:
Maximum Temperature
Rate-of-Change of Temperature (
T/
t)
Figure 5 shows the various temperature cutoff points and
the typical voltages that the device will see at the TS pin.
V
LTF
(low-temperature fault voltage) refers to the volt-
age at TS when the battery temperature is too low, and
V
HTF
(high-temperature fault voltage) refers to the high-
temperature cutoff. If the voltage is outside these limits,
the MAX2003/MAX2003A will not enter fast-charge
mode. After fast-charge is initiated, the termination
point for high-temperature termination is V
TCO
(temper-
ature cutoff voltage), rather than V
HTF
. See Figure 5 for
TEMP LED status.
V
LTF
is set internally at 0.4V
CC
, so (with a 5V supply)
V
LTF
is 2V. V
TCO
is set up using external resistors to
determine the high-temperature cutoff after fast-charge
begins. V
HTF
is internally set to be (V
LTF
- V
TCO
) / 8
above V
TCO
.
Thermistors are inherently nonlinear with respect to
temperature. This nonlinearity is especially noticed
when
T/
t measurements are made to determine
charge termination. The simplest way around this is to
place a resistor-divider network in parallel with the ther-
mistor (Figure 6) to reduce the effects of nonlinearity.
The lowpass filter (R
T
, C
T
) placed on the TS pin attenu-
ates high-frequency noise on the signal seen by TS.
Charge Pending
Before fast-charge is initiated, the cell voltage and tem-
perature of the battery pack must be within the
assigned limits. If the voltage or temperature is outside
these limits, the device is said to be in a “charge-pend-
ing” state. During this mode, the CHG pin will cycle low
(LED on) for 0.125sec and high (LED off) for 1.375sec.
Fast-charge is normally initiated if the cell voltage is
greater than V
EDV
(end-of-discharge voltage). If the cell
voltage is too low (below V
EDV
), the device waits until
the trickle current brings the voltage up before fast-
charge is initiated. V
EDV
is set internally at 0.2V
CC
, so
(for a 5V supply) V
EDV
is 1V.
If the temperature of the cell is not between V
LTF
and
V
HTF
the device is also in a charge-pending state (see
Temperature Measurementsection).
Initiate Fast-Charge
If the MAX2003/MAX2003A are out of the charge-pend-
ing state, fast-charge can be initiated upon one of the
following conditions:
Battery Replacement
Applying Power to the MAX2003/MAX2003A
(battery already present)
Digital Control Signal
During fast-charge, the CHG pin will be continuously
low (LED on). For the initial period of fast-charge (the
hold-off time), the voltage charge-termination methods
are disabled. The hold-off time is a function of the
charge rate selected by TM1 and TM2 (see Table 4).
NiCd/NiMH Battery Fast-Charge Controllers
8
_______________________________________________________________________________________
V
CC
= 5V
V
LTF
- V
TCO
V
LTF
= 0.4V
CC
1/8 (V
LTF
- V
TCO
)
7/8 (V
LTF
- V
TCO
)
V
HTF
V
TCO
V
SS
= 0V
OFF
ON
ON
TEMP LED
STATUS
Figure 5. Temperature Measurement Scale
RC FILTER
100k
R
T
V
CC
C
T
0.1
μ
F
NTC
TS
SNS
RT2
RT1
MAX2003
MAX2003A
Figure 6. Thermistor Configuration for Temperature Measurement