What everyone should know about Battery Chargers

A good charger provides the base for well-performing and durable batteries. In a price-competitive market chargers often receive low priority. The battery and charger must go together like horse and carriage (Figure 1), and this is not always the case. Engineers are often not fully aware of the complex power requirement of a portable device and the need to charge under adverse conditions.

Horse and CarriageFigure 1: Battery and charger must go together like horse and carriage

One party does not deliver without the other.

Chargers are divided into personal and industrial, “smart” and “dumb,” slow, fast and ultra-fast types. Consumer products come with a low-cost personal charger that performs well when used as directed. The industrial charger is often made by a third party and includes special features, such as charging at adverse temperatures. Although batteries operate below freezing, not all chemistries can be charged when cold and most Li-ion falls into this category. Lead and nickel-based batteries accept charge but at a lower rate.

Some Li-ion chargers (Cadex) include a wake-up feature, or “boost,” to allow recharging if a Li-ion battery have fallen asleep due to over-discharge. A sleep condition can occur when storing the battery in a discharged state and the self-discharge brings the voltage to the cut-off point. A regular charger treats such a battery as unserviceable and the packs are discarded. Boost applies a small charge current to raise the voltage to between 2.20 and 2.90V/cell and activate the protection circuit, at which point a normal charge commences. Caution applies if Li-ion has dwelled below 1.5V/cell for a week or longer.

Lead- and lithium-based chargers operate on Constant Current Constant Voltage (CCCV) by which the voltage is capped when reaching a set limit. At this point of the charge cycle, the battery begins to saturate and the current drops. Full-charge occurs when the current drops to a set level. Lead acid requires a periodic full saturation to prevent sulfation.

Nickel-based batteries charge with constant current and the voltage is allowed to fluctuate freely. This can be compared to lifting a weight with an elastic band where the hand moves ahead of the load. Full charge detection occurs when observing a slight voltage drop after a steady rise. This method is known as the Delta Voltage Delta Temperature (DVDT) and works well with rapid and fast charge. To safeguard against anomalies, such as shorted or mismatched cells, the charger should include a plateau timer to terminate charge if no voltage delta is measured, as well as a temperature sensors.

A temperature rise is normal with nickel-based batteries, especially when reaching the 70 percent charge level. The reason for this is a decrease in charge efficiency and the charge current should be lowered to limit stress. When “ready,” the battery must cool down. If the temperature stays above ambient, then the charger is not performing right and the battery should be removed. Extended trickle charge on nickel-based batteries inflicts damage. NiCd and NiMH should not be left in the charger unattended for weeks and months. If not required, store them in a cool place and apply a charge before engagement.

Lithium-based should always stay cool on charge. Discontinue using the battery and/or charger if the battery heats up on charge. Li ion cannot absorb over-charge and therefore does not receive trickle charge when full. It is not necessary to remove Li-ion from the charger, however, if not used for a week or more, it is always best to place the pack in a cool place and recharge before use.

The most basic charger is the overnight charger, also known as slow charger. This goes back to the old nickel-cadmium days where a simple charger applied a fixed charge of about 0.1C (one-tenth of the rated capacity) as long as the battery was connected. Slow chargers have no full-charge detection; the charge stays engaged and a full charge of an empty battery takes 14–16 hours. When fully charged, the slow charger keeps NiCd lukewarm to the touch. Because of its reduced ability to absorb over-charge, NiMH should not be charged on a slow charger. Low-cost consumer chargers to charge C AA and AAA cells often use this charger method, so do some children’s toys.

The rapid charger falls between the slow and fast charger and is used in consumer products. The charge time of an empty pack is 3–6. When full, the charger switches to “ready.” Most rapid chargers include temperature sensing to safely charge a faulty battery.

The fast charger offers several advantages and the obvious one is shorter charge times. Short charge times demand tighter communication between the charger and battery. At a charge rate of 1C, which the fast charger typically uses, an empty NiCd and NiMH charges in a little more than an hour. As the battery approaches full charge, some nickel-based chargers reduce the current to adjust to the lower charge acceptance. The fully charged battery switches to trickle charge, also known as maintenance charge. Most of today’s nickel-based chargers have a reduced trickle charge to also accommodate NiMH.

Li-ion charges are most efficient and charge the battery to 70 percent in less than an hour. The extra time is devoted for the long saturation charge that is not mandatory as it is for lead acid. In fact, it is better not to fully charge Li-ion as it will last longer. Of all chargers, the Li-ion charger is the most simplistic. No trickery applies to improve battery performance and longevity. Only the CCCV method works.

Lead acid cannot be fast-charged and the term “fast-charge” is a misnomer. Most lead acid chargers charge the battery in 14–16 hours; anything slower is a compromise. Lead acid can be charged to 70 percent in about eight hours; the all-important saturation charge takes up the remaining time. A partial charge is fine provided the lead acid occasionally receives a fully saturated charge to prevent sulfation.

Last Updated: 26-May-2015
Batteries In A Portable World
Batteries In A Portable World

The material on Battery University is based on the indispensable new 4th edition of "Batteries in a Portable World - A Handbook on Rechargeable Batteries for Non-Engineers" which is available for order through Amazon.com.

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On April 13, 2018, Michael wrote:
Given you don't know how the battery is charged then I would consider it unwise to use an external charger. I did have a quick look at the Dell XPS and can see that the battery is internal with more than likely a charge controller on the main board and temperature devices on the battery cells. Just speculating here, but if there are 4 cells, then to charge safely you would need 4 thermistors with 1 common = 5 wires, which leaves 2 for charging/power. 7 in total.
On January 8, 2018, Giuseppe wrote:
I would like to charge my laptop battery (DELL XPS 13 9343, part number JD25G) with a HTRC B6 V2 80W 6A Balance charger. Is that possible given that the battery has 7 pins, but only 4 cells? How do I connect it to the balanced charger externally? Consider that it is a very common problem for these laptops and so far you can only replace the whole motherboard when it doesn't charge (tried changing charger, battery, dc jack and IC to no avail). It would be of help for thousands of people, if not more, as dell gives no option and we all know how much it costs to get a new laptop!
On July 13, 2016, Michael wrote:
All you need is a DC/DC boost converter to charge the batteries in situ and keep the 3 separate batteries as backup or keep those topped up and switch them over, as and when. You could use a Ćuk converter with a transistor switched via an oscillator. There are many ways of doing this, including charging each individual battery through an automatic Voltage controlled switch from the vehicle charging system .
On July 12, 2016, Meelu wrote:
It is a very helpful article. Thank you
On July 1, 2016, Manoj S wrote:
We are having a Mobile ATM vehicle. The system was planned so that the UPS attached to the ATM would draw the power from the Vehicle's electric power output. But we are having some issues with charging of battery provided with the UPS in the mobile ATM The issue is described below: Power output of Vehicle: 12V DC Online UPS: 1 KVA UPS Battery: 3 nos of 12V batteries connected in Series - Total 36V The issues is that, we are unable to charge the 36V batteries with the power output of 12V from vehicle. Alternatively, the electrical people suggested to: To install an additional 1 KVA inverter with a 12V battery backup. The vehicle will be ON throughout. And the out from Vehicle battery will be given as input to the Inverter battery. The inverter will produce single phase AC which will be given to the UPS as Input. UPS will be functioning on this input and parallely charging the UPS battery. Now the question is, whether this is workable? Will there by any power mismatch? Whether the vehicle will be able to provide adequate current to generate the necessary power?
On June 24, 2016, Michael wrote:
Over 30 years ago there was a design for battery charging which measured the temperature of he battery as a guide to charge rate. Now roll on to 1998 I was designing L-ion chargers. The batteries then had a small I2C interface which reported charge capacity and pretty much everything to do with charging the device that you needed to know. What we have now is a desire for companies to spend money on development, then as little as possible in production, which of course means that battery charges these days, that are sold with consumer goods, are little more than trickle chargers. If you want to do something properly either build or buy a decent charger, but don't expect any consumer or manufacturer of commodity goods to provide anything even half way decent. In other words never trust a charger bought with your goods, unless it is military grade. :)
On March 29, 2016, Hans wrote:
As to consumer electronics, I guess there's only common sense left, since you cannot be trusted to observe any currents and voltages. Use the charger that was supplied to you (factory made or approved replacement) Start the charge, look if there's visual danger, then put your finger on the battery to feel if it gets hot. If it does, ask your supplier for another. If your device won't work because the battery does not seem to be charged, do the same. It probably won't give you the maximum life span but then rechargeable cells were never invented for that, just low price and easy use.
On January 28, 2016, donjoe wrote:
You say "Li ion cannot absorb over-charge and therefore does not receive trickle charge when full." ... but in BU-808 you present data about Li-Ion batteries charged to 4.3 volts as representing "114%" of SoC. So which is it? Can they or can they not be overcharged? Or is it that "114%" is only achievable through methods _other_ than trickle charging?
On November 10, 2015, Jerry Peek wrote:
As with other articles I've read on this site (from the current "Most Popular Pages" list), this article is full of information. But it seems to me that this article -- as with other articles I've seen here -- doesn't answer some fundamental questions. For instance this article says that a battery and charger should be married like horse and carriage, but how can an average consumer tell if that's true for their device+charger? Should NO ONE buy a generic charger and use it, instead (somehow) carry separate well-matched chargers for each device? What if someone travels a lot and uses whatever charger is available (car, airline seat, friend's, etc)? How can someone know the composition of a particular (say) Li-ion battery and measure the exact voltage that a particular charger and device circuitry allow it to charge to -- and how quickly? Etc. In case it isn't obvious, I'm not asking for answers to these particular questions. I'm suggesting that articles like "what everyone should know about ..." don''t seem to help an average person figure out their own situation. Maybe I just haven't found those particular articles "for average battery users" on this site? The Guardian newspaper sent me to batteryuniversity.com. If articles (at least) on this site are written for "everyone" I think more-accessible tips would be a big help. That could be a great service to average non-expert battery users. Thanks.