Check of operation for Battery charger After confirming that there is no mistake
in the wiring, confirm in the operation.A to C of
the following figure shows checkpoints.
Check of the voltage control circuit
operation
I checked operation of the voltage control circuit and
current control circuit using stabilised-power-supply equipment, before
inputting AC. If there should be faulty wiring,
there is a possibility of breaking equipment.
Connect the output of
stabilised-power-supply to point A, and connect a circuit tester to point
B in voltage measurement
mode. Make VR1 into the minimum
voltage side (full of left). Then, raise
the voltage of a stabilised-power-supply gradually to 30V. The voltage displayed on a circuit tester should be stabilized in
about 8V. If it becomes high more, the voltage control circuit may not be
operating normally. Check wiring once again. In my
case, when the voltage of 30V was applied from a stabilised-power-supply,
the range of 7.9V to 29V has been controlled by changing VR1. This is a
value as a design mostly.
Check of the current control circuit
operation
 Next, operation of a current control
circuit is checked. Stop a
stabilised-power-supply. Connection of a
stabilised-power-supply is still point A. Make a
circuit tester into current measurement
mode, and connect with the output terminal of a
charger. Because the ammeter is attached to the charger, you may
short-circuit the plus terminal and minus terminal of an output, without
using a circuit tester. Make VR2 into the minimum
current side (full of left). Then, raise
the voltage of a stabilised-power-supply gradually to 30V. A circuit tester's current should be stabilized in about 85mA. When
flowing more, the current control circuit may not be operating normally.
Check wiring once again. In my case, when the
voltage of 30V was applied from a stabilised-power-supply, it has
controlled in 85.6mA to 500mA by changing VR2. This is a value as a design
mostly. Even if it changes VR1 for voltage control, current does not
change. This is also as a design. The voltmeter of a charger shows about 1
V in this condition. This is the voltage applied to the reverse current
prevention diode (about 0.6V), the ammeter of a charger and circuit
tester. Because they have some resistance, the voltmeter of a charger is
not set to 0V even if it short-circuits an output.
Check of the rectifier circuit
operation
 Finally operation of a rectifier
circuit is checked. A voltage of RMS (Root Mean
Squared) is used for alternating voltage. This voltage is not the maximum
of voltage (peak voltage).
 Why is RMS used for alternating
voltage? Because, calculation of electric power is easy. As for
alternating voltage, peak voltage is not held but voltage is changing with
time. Therefore, peak voltage cannot be used when calculating electric
power (quantity which electricity works). RMS voltage is of peak voltage. W = Vrms x I rms
(When the phase of voltage and current is the
same) Because the outputs of the transformer used
this time are 24Vrms, peak voltage is about 33.6V. Actually, there was
35.0V voltage at point A. This error is caused by the error of AC input
voltage and accuracy of transformer. Normal operation of a rectifier
circuit was also checked.
Calculation of power
consumption
If a battery is charged by the
500mA charging current, the portion of the bottom of a charger will get
warm. It is not hot. Calculation of the power
consumption of IC for voltage control and current control is shown below.
The premise of calculation is the
following. Charge voltage is 14V. Charging current
is 500mA. And voltage of voltage control is 23V.
Power consumption of IC for voltage control
| Potential difference of input and
output of IC |
= Input voltage - Output
voltage = 35V - 23V = 12V |
| Current which passes IC |
= 500mA ( IC itself uses current,
but it's small so ignored. ) |
| Power consumption in IC |
= 12V x 0.5A = 6W |
Power consumption of IC for current control
| Potential difference of input and
output of IC |
= Input voltage - Voltage for
current control - Output voltage = 23V -
5V - 14V = 4V |
| Current which passes IC |
= 500mA ( IC itself uses current,
but it's small so ignored. ) |
| Power consumption in IC |
= 4V x 0.5A = 2W |
If
voltage for voltage control is made high, the power consumption of IC for
voltage control will decrease, and the power consumption of IC for current
control will increase. Conversely, if voltage for
voltage control is made low, the power consumption of IC for voltage
control will increase, and the power consumption of IC for current control
will decrease. Total power consumption seldom
changes. Because voltage control is for over charge prevention of a
battery, it is the above values generally.
As a
charger, the power consumption of R3 and VR2 (about 3 W) is added to the
above-mentioned value. So, it can be regarded as about 10W power
consumption. If the charging current is reduced,
power consumption will decrease more.
The performance of this equipment is
summarized as follows.
| Voltage control range |
7.9V to 32.5V |
| Current control range |
85.6mA to
500mA | The maximum
voltage is high from the value previously explained at Check of the
voltage control circuit operation. This is because
it applied only to 30V in Check of the voltage control circuit
operation.
|