Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

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theonedrewski
 
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Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by theonedrewski »

Hello,
Either I have a problem or am reading the instructions poorly haha... I have a solar Lipoly charger connected to a 6v panel and am charging a 6600 mAhr battery (3.7v Lipoly) but both the circuit boards "charging" and "done" leds are illuminated. Is this normal? The power led is illuminated and have independently tested the voltage and current of the panel (6.1V at ~450 ma). So I'm sure it isn't any issues with the panel. I had just finished de-charging the battery by charging my iphone 5 from a minty boost v3 ( which was working great!) and am sure the battery is pretty depleted. It appears to be gaining some charge, as it momentarily charged my phone for a couple of seconds before stopping after about 2 hrs of good sunlight. I get the same response when I plug the mini USB input into a wall outlet, the "charging" and "done" leds both come on. I am worried if the circuit thinks the battery is charged it will harm the device with excess current or never charge the battery? Or do I suspect it already is damaged if both are illuminated? Did I de-charge the battery too low and it is a low voltage warning? Devices stay cool and show no sign of trouble. Any thoughts? Thanks for any help!

Drew

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The power led is illuminated and have independently tested the voltage and current of the panel (6.1V at ~450 ma).
Is that measured in-circuit when both leds are on?

theonedrewski
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by theonedrewski »

Hey Bill,
Thanks again for your reply, your the man! I tested the Pv panel unplugged from the circuit before. It is the 6v, 3.7 watt non-waterproof one you guys sell. I just tested it in good sunlight connected to the solar Lipoly circuit and got about the same 6v with about 490 mA, and this was testing across the connections of the pv panel, which I assumed should be the same response for what's going into the circuit.

Some other troubleshooting...
I have the 6600 mahr battery charging on a seperate charger (USB Lipoly charger) and was been charging for nearly half a day (even with the faster current setting). I just unplugged it for a moment just now and put the solar Lipoly together to find again "done" and "charging" leds are illuminated. Thought it might be the battery, so I switched to my 1300 mAhr 3.7 V battery which I know has some charge but not full. Same response, both leds light up immediately with no delay.

I also have the thermometer resistor attached, have yet to test it. Starting to wonder if that could be the reason to override the "done" charging. Thinking of removing it and testing again.
Thanks once again Bill,
Drew

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

6v with about 490 mA, and this was testing across the connections of the pv panel,
You can't measure current that way. You need to break the circuit to measure the actual current flow: http://learn.adafruit.com/multimeters/current
I also have the thermometer resistor attached, have yet to test it. Starting to wonder if that could be the reason to override the "done" charging.
How do you have it connected? Did you remove the existing 10K resistor? Post a photo of your connections.

theonedrewski
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by theonedrewski »

Oh ok, sorry about that. I measured the current by removing the 2.1 mm jack and placing the multimeter on the positive wire between the circuit and the panel. I got 0.0 ma, flowing through it even though the red power led is on. Seems it must not be charging after all.

My connections are here, I have a 1k ohm resistor in PROG slot which measures a resistance of .65 k ohms when soldered in the circuit so I am guessing it is in parallel with a different resistor ( I had a different resistor at first and pulled it poorly, so forgive the nasty soldering job). The capacitor of course is also soldered in, as well as the 10k thermometer resistor in the THERM spot. Here is a pic. Should I try removing the thermometer? It would prevent the battery from being discharged from the minty boost too right, which isn't happening. Minty boost still charges devices in the circuit.

Thanks Bill,
Drew
solarcircuit.JPG
solarcircuit.JPG (493.71 KiB) Viewed 734 times

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

You have to remove the on-board resistor if you are going to use the thermistor. Please read this tutorial page: http://learn.adafruit.com/usb-dc-and-so ... he-charger
remove the 10K surface mount resistor from the THERM pads (or cut the trace going to it), and solder in a 10K NTC thermistor.
...
Simply remove the 10K surface mount resistor from the THERM pads (or cut the trace going to it), and solder in a 10K NTC thermistor.
That page also explains how to select the resistor value for adjusting the max charge current.
Image

theonedrewski
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED illuminated.

Post by theonedrewski »

Bill, it's working perfectly now. I swear I read that page a millions times but never read the part about removing that tiny resistor.

Thank you for your patience and have a happy fourth!
Drew

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jdoc
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by jdoc »

Hello, I had the same problem and had also not removed the thermistor, however, the charger keeps doing the same thing. That is, both charge and done LEDs light up at the same time. I think I only saw it work properly for about a minute when I first plugged everything... then I thought that was just the way it worked until my battery emptied out completely, meaning, the charger wasn't charging it.

I read the specs and it says the only other reason why it would be doing that is a "Timer Failure", but that doesn't sound right to me since it does it immediately on power up. Do you have any insights? Anything else I may be missing?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

That can be either a timer or a temperature failure. Please post a clear photo of the front of the board.

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jdoc
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by jdoc »

First, I will share a project video so you have an idea of what it does (also, so you don't think I dumb):
https://plus.google.com/109898049094395 ... owYxNWNxzY
All LEDs on as soon as the panel gets sunlight
All LEDs on as soon as the panel gets sunlight
IMG_20140926_163116.jpg (972.3 KiB) Viewed 421 times
Hard to take a picture (bit of a mess) but thermal resistor has been removed and the thermistor is in its place. Voltage is within range.
Hard to take a picture (bit of a mess) but thermal resistor has been removed and the thermistor is in its place. Voltage is within range.
IMG_20140926_162935.jpg (999.54 KiB) Viewed 421 times

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I can't see under the capacitor. Did you remove the resistor from the temperature sense circuit before adding your thermistor?

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jdoc
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by jdoc »

I didn't remove it before, I did it after reading this thread, but unlike the other lucky customer, this did not solve my problem :(

Any other ideas?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Please post a photo showing all your soldering on the board.

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jdoc
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by jdoc »

Sorry for the delay in my reply... I was a bit sick and busy. I am not sure if this is sufficient, it is kinda hard to get at the circuit but I tried. It seems there is some kind of impedance issue perhaps? The solar charger is connected to a 5V booster through a toggle on/off switch on the power line while the ground is always connected all through the circuit.
p2.jpg
p2.jpg (240.28 KiB) Viewed 376 times
p1.jpg
p1.jpg (254.82 KiB) Viewed 376 times
I can't get the charger to ever charge the battery (a 3800 lipo) so if there is no further ideas, Ima have to get a commercial charger with the panel and battery included because that is the only part of the whole circuit that is not working.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar Lipoly Charges with both "charging" and "done" LED

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I still can't see the soldering on the board. The one thermistor joint visible in your earlier post looks like a probably cold joint. That would be consistent with the temperature error that the lights are indicating.

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