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Volume 51. No. 8
August 2022
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
The power of batteries
We have a great set of projects for you this month. An easy-tobuild MIDI keyboard; Nano Pong, a modern twist on a retro game;
and a PicoMite Backpack that combines the power of MMBasic,
a high-quality touchscreen display and an inexpensive but very
capable Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller. But that’s not all –
my favourite in this issue is a very useful Battery Manager that
combines three recent projects (Battery Multi-logger, Battery
Balancer, and a Mini Isolated Serial Link) with some new circuits
to produce a handy design that is compact, flexible and modular.
It can connect and disconnect up to four loads/sources to protect
batteries, and is capable of switching well over 20A at 10V-60V.
If you’re in the market for battery charging designs that go above
and beyond basic ‘electron pumping’ then this is one for you.
Back in the early days of PE, most battery circuits really only
meant one thing, some variation on a simple lead-acid battery
charger. They were relatively crude, mostly safe and worked
reasonably well, but there wasn’t a lot of sophistication built into
the designs.
Fast forward to 2022 and the range of battery technologies, cell
designs and supporting circuity is huge. Power density and
charge time have improved in leaps and bounds, but so too has
the need to charge/discharge properly – get that wrong and at best
you will damage a cell, at worst it may catch fire. Lithium-based
batteries have become the cornerstone of many technologies
that run untethered from the mains, from in-ear headphones to
electric vehicles, but they are very picky about how you use them
and do not tolerate abuse.
As the world moves away from fossil fuels and towards
distributed generation systems (photovoltaic panels or wind
turbines) and electric transport expands to include everything
from scooters to flying taxis, modern batteries are going to
become ever more important. Having the right circuit designs and
knowhow will be vital, and I hope you enjoy reading about, or
even building, this month’s Battery Manager.
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
Although the proprietors and staff of Practical Electronics take
reasonable precautions to protect the interests of readers by
ensuring as ar as ractica le that advertise ents are ona fide
the magazine and its publishers cannot give any undertakings
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We advise readers that certain items of radio transmitting and
telephone equipment which may be advertised in our pages
cannot be legally used in the UK. Readers should check the law
e ore uying any trans itting or tele hone e ui ent as a fine
confiscation o e ui ent and or i rison ent can result ro
illegal use or ownership. The laws vary from country to country;
readers should check local laws.
Practical Electronics | August | 2022
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