LT3650-8.2/LT3650-8.4
10
36508284fd
operaTion
The I
TH
error voltage corresponds linearly to average cur-
rent sensed across the inductor current sense resistor,
allowing maximum charge current control by limiting the
effective voltage range of I
TH
. A clamp limits this voltage
to 1V which, in turn, limits the current sense voltage to
100mV. This sets the maximum charge current, or the
current delivered while the charger is operating in constant-
current (CC) mode, which corresponds to 100mV across
R
SENSE
. This maximum charge current level can also be
manipulated through the RNG/SS pin (see the RNG/SS:
Dynamic Charge Current Adjust and RNG/SS: Soft-Start
sections).
If the voltage on the BAT pin is below V
BAT(PRE)
, the LT3650
engages precondition mode. During the precondition inter-
val, the charger continues to operate in constant-current
mode, but the maximum charge current is reduced to 15%
of the maximum programmed value as set by R
SENSE
.
When the charger output voltage on the BAT pin approaches
the float voltage (V
BAT(F LT)
), the charger transitions into
constant-voltage (CV) mode, and charge current is reduced
from the maximum value. As this occurs, the I
TH
voltage
falls from the limit clamp and servos to lower voltages.
The
IC monitors the I
TH
voltage as it is reduced, and
detection of the C/10 charge current is achieved when
I
TH
= 0.1V. If the charger is configured for C/10 termina-
tion, this threshold is used to terminate the charge cycle.
Once the charge cycle is terminated, the CHRG status
pin becomes high impedance and the charger enters low
current standby mode.
The LT3650 contains an internal charge cycle timer that
terminates a successful charge cycle after a programmed
amount of time. This timer is typically programmed to
achieve end-of-cycle (EOC) in three hours, but can be
configured for any amount of time by setting an appropriate
timing capacitor value (C
TIMER
). When timer termination
is used, the charge cycle does not terminate after C/10
is achieved. Because the CHRG status pin responds to
the C/10 current level, the IC will indicate a fully charged
battery status, but the charger will continue to source
low currents into the battery until the programmed EOC
time has elapsed, at which time the charge cycle will
terminate. At EOC, when the charging cycle terminates, if
the battery did not achieve at least 97.5% of the full float
voltage, charging is
deemed unsuccessful. The LT3650
will then re-initiate, and charging will continue for another
full timer cycle.
Use of the timer function also enables bad-battery detec-
tion. This fault condition is achieved if the battery does
not respond to preconditioning and the charger remains
in (or enters) precondition mode after one-eighth of the
programmed charge cycle time. A bad-battery fault halts
the charging cycle, the CHRG status pin goes high imped-
ance, and the FAULT pin is pulled low.
When the LT3650 terminates a charging cycle, whether
through C/10 detection or by reaching timer EOC, the
average current mode analog loop remains active but
the internal float voltage reference is reduced by 2.5%.
Because the voltage on a successfully charged battery is
at the full float voltage, the voltage error amp detects an
overvoltage condition and rails low. When the voltage er-
ror amp output drops below 0.3V, the IC enters standby
mode, where most of the internal circuitry is disabled, and
the V
IN
bias current is reduced to 85µA. When the voltage
on the BAT pin drops below the reduced float reference
level, the output of the voltage error amp will climb, at
which point
the IC comes out of standby mode and a new
charging cycle is initiated.