Title of Reference Design | Battery Charger with MPPT | Solar MPPT Battery Charger | MPPT Solar Charge Controller | Solar MPPT Charger | Solar Power MPPT Controller |
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Key Attractions | The design provides efficient power management with MPPT functionality. It supports multiple battery chemistries and handles flexible input voltages. Real-time telemetry and programmable features make it ideal for solar and standalone charging. | The design optimises solar power extraction, supporting various battery types and solar panel configurations. It offers flexibility, scalability, and customisable features for efficient, safe charging in diverse applications and conditions. | The reference design optimises solar energy with MPPT and supports multiple lead-acid battery types. It includes load control, safety features, and integrated drivers, making it suitable for solar lighting and off-grid systems. | The solar charger design offers an efficient, small, cost-effective solution with high performance, supporting various input voltages and charge currents. It includes safety features, low power consumption, and flexible configuration options. | The reference design simplifies off-grid solar streetlamp design with flexible battery configurations, efficient energy use, and maximum power tracking. It supports solar panels from 10W to 30W, ensuring scalability for various needs. |
Highlights | The Analog Devices reference design is a Li-ion battery charger with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and telemetry, achieving 97% efficiency and supporting power sources, including solar panels up to 200W. Its buck-boost configuration allows input voltages from 17V to 54V, accommodating values below, above, or equal to the battery voltage, with a USB-to-I2C controller enabling communication. It is programmable and versatile and functions as a solar or stand-alone charger for multiple cell chemistries like Li-Ion, LiPo, and SLA. The LT8491 IC’s on-chip logic ensures MPPT by tracking the maximum power point and periodically sweeping the input panel voltage to select the optimal power curve value. The charger includes a slave I2C interface for digital control, telemetry readouts, and status monitoring, compatible with the Windows-based GUI application ‘simpleLT8491’ for real-time control and monitoring of the charger and battery pack. The DC2703A-A-KIT can support higher current and voltage configurations by replacing input-side MOSFETs and capacitors with higher-rated components. | The reference design from Microchip gets the most energy from solar panels, even in changing conditions like light, shade, and temperature. It safely charges different types of batteries using predefined settings and works with various solar panels. This makes it useful for streetlights, road signs, portable generators, fans, and RV devices. The flexible design can handle power from less than 20W to over 400W. Engineers can customise it by changing capacitors, MOSFETs, and inductors. Extra features, such as monitoring battery power, checking temperature, and controlling fans, can be added or removed based on need. The charger works with solar panels that provide 15V to 60V and supports single or multiple connected panels. It uses MPPT to operate solar panels efficiently and has settings for different battery types. The system charges batteries step by step, adjusting current and voltage to keep them safe. | Cypress’s MPPT solar charger and LED driver reference design use the PowerPSoC solution to charge solar-powered lead-acid batteries with a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm that optimises energy harvesting and charging efficiency. This solution also drives LEDs, making it suitable for street and solar lighting applications, offering performance for outdoor and off-grid systems. The MPPT algorithm controls the charging current, allowing the system to operate at maximum power even at night, improving battery efficiency. The design supports various lead-acid battery types, including flooded, absorbed glass mats (AGM), sealed, and gel batteries. The system includes load control options such as automatic dusk-to-dawn operation, battery charging, load enabling, and safety features for the charging circuit, including protection against over-voltage, no battery connection, under-voltage, and low panel voltage. The MPPT algorithm optimises solar energy by modulating charging current to extract power, supporting a 12V lead-acid battery with up to 9.5A charging current. With integrated high-power peripherals, the system includes a boost driver and a buck driver, providing energy management with battery and solar panel protections. | The MP2731 is a solar charger designed for one-cell batteries from Monolithic Power Solutions that helps engineers create small, cost-effective solar charging solutions with high performance. The design includes essential parts like a switcher, sensor circuits, and a power-controlled controller. It uses a unique algorithm to get the most energy from the solar panel, even when the light changes, achieving over 98% accuracy. The charger also has safety features like battery protection and timers. Its small size (25mm x 25mm) fits tight spaces, and engineers can choose parts for the best balance of cost, size, and efficiency. The design works with input voltages from 3.7V to 16V and can handle up to 22V, with up to 4.5A charge current and 93% efficiency. It has low power consumption and an I2C interface to monitor and configure the system. | The solar power MPPT controller reference design from Onsemi simplifies the design process for off-grid solar streetlamps, providing insights for engineers developing solar-powered lighting solutions. The system includes LEDs, a lead-acid battery, a solar controller, and a solar panel that converts sunlight into electrical energy. Sunlight intensity varies throughout the day due to cloud cover, sun angle, seasonal changes, and reflections, causing a solar panel rated for 30W peak power to produce only 24W at midday and 6W in the evening. The panel’s voltage output is adjustable, typically 20V to 48V, depending on the solar cells’ configuration. The system consumes less than 2mA of the battery, reducing energy usage, and includes maximum power tracking with an error margin of under 5%, optimising energy efficiency. It can charge up to four batteries in series or parallel, offering flexibility in battery configurations. It is compatible with solar panels from 10W to 30W, allowing engineers to scale the design for different power needs. |
Applications | Applications include solar-powered battery chargers, multiple types of lead-acid battery charging, Li-ion battery chargers, and battery-equipped industrial or portable military equipment. | The reference design supports various panels, chemistries, and power ranges for outdoor applications. | The reference design is suitable for street and solar lighting applications. | The reference design is suitable for outdoor solar surveillance cameras and lighting applications. | The reference design suits off-grid solar street lighting, surveillance cameras, e-bike chargers, and outdoor systems. |
OEM Brand | Analog Devices (ADI) | Microchip | Cypress | Monolithic Power Systems (MPS) | Onsemi |
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Nidhi Agarwal is a Senior Technology Journalist at EFY with a deep interest in embedded systems, development boards and IoT cloud solutions.