The new version of the TP4056 & advices.

I will clear everythung. Actually I am using this tp4056 to charge my battery through solar. I connected battery to B+ and B- taking output from OUT+ and OUT- but I am getting only 1.2v (battery is fully charged LI-ION 3.6v 2600mah battery)

Why I am not getting the voltage. I shorted B- and OUT- to get the desired voltage

I have a Suboos 2x18650 hanging camp lantern that is a very handy design save for its UI and emitter choices. So it’s basically a host.
Considering replacing the driver and charging circuit and was wondering if this board would be acceptable for charging 2 cells in parallel?

a bit late but yes.
i have a 70’s table lamp i converted with 12p 18650.
at 1a into about 28ah it takes a while.
i jb weld epoxied a small heatsink to the board to help with thermal throttling.
esp since the solar panels output at 1a load in full sun approaches 6v.

I’m about to buy a pack of TP4056.
The Type C variant from the link below:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32647690858.html

But seeing there are clones out there I wonder whether I can assume they are fine or maybe I should be worried?

Also, I see that there are variants with protection circuit, f.e.:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1800678916.html

The circuit does not help against reverse polarity (which would be useful) but against overcharge, overdischarge and overcurrent.
Really I fail to see what use would that protection have in a charger (which is supposed to terminate, to not short and never discharges). But these circuits are there for some reason so I likely miss something.

Suggestions?

Agro that isn't hard to figure out. By integrating protective circuitry the board can also prevent over-discharge and etc., so it can be easier to li-ion convert something.

Newer, more compact size version:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32967650561.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32966356149.html

No type-Crap yet LoL.

Ah, I see.
I used to view the boards as just chargers that lack cases rather than parts of other devices. Even though I’ve seen them used in flashlights. :slight_smile:

Type-Commendable input is a must for me. :slight_smile:

There are DIY ways around any limitations:

After all, it is likely to use 2 or 3 charging boards per input connector. So, you don't really need that much type-C TP4056 boards or socket boards (which they're asking more money for).

Agro, if battery reverse polarity protection is important for you, try with TP5000 boards (datasheet).

Quite more expensive than TP4056 boards and they come without any socket, but can be found stock configured for 2A charging (with heatsink). Example: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32886711330.html

Thanks Barkuti. I’m actually looking into 50-100 mA range.
My cottonpickers charger starts failing and frequently stops the charge way too early.
Furthermore a few times I wished I could give sb. a 10180 charger.
And as of now I just don’t have anything around 100mA.

So…a few uses. Add magnetic leads, swap a resistor and TP4056 is ready to roll.

I was just worried that those boards may not be particularly good…
Reverse polarity protection would be nice. Myself I’m not infallable and I’d lije to be zble to give the boards to muggles. I need to look closer at that TP5000 when I’m bach home, maybe there are boards with usb ports…

a bit late but the boards should just shut off if overloaded.
if they are being killed its probably from the inductive kick from your motor.
a reverse biased diode across the 4056 board output might protect it.
note that while you measure 6a running it may pull a lot more at turn on.
protection responds and the load dump from the motor nukes the board.

My Type C TP4056 are here. :slight_smile:
Now…I know that I can adjust current by swapping a resistor.
But can I also adjust termination voltage somehow?

According to the NanJing Top Power datasheet TP4056's termination voltage is fixed. An easy method is to set one or more schottky diodes between the battery and the charger module, this will drop termination voltage by the schottky diodes' Vdrop at the given cut-off current (around 0.25V more or less).

I advice you to first measure the TP4056 module's termination voltage. Power it on without load and measure it with a voltmeter. A couple modules I have lying around measured at 4.11 - 4.12V.

I also have some on the way. Having both type-C and micro-B modules let me equip my li-ion powered stuff with dual inputs for more flexibility. :-)

Thanks Barkuti.
I unpacked and measured 2 boards, one was fluctuating 4.13-4.15V and the other 4.13-4.16V.
I hardly know anything about schottky diodes. I think I should put one in series with a battery lead, right? And it doesn’t matter whether I put it on the positive or the negative side as long as I orient it right?

Ideally I’d like to have termination at about 4V though 4.1V would be OK as well. So I need a ~0.15V drop.
I intend to tame the boards to charge at 50mA. Then the termination voltage would be 5mA.
So I need to find a diode with a Vf of 150mV at 5mA. Right?

I see that there are quite a few other parameters in datasheets. Is there anything else I should care about?

I tried to make a quick search for a suitable diode on Ali (shipping locally would kill the deal and Arrow no longer ships for free…) but the sellers don’t seem to put Vf in the title. And most listings don’t really have anything useful. Suggestions?

Just had a few minutes with my precision PSU, voltmeter and a salvaged bigass SK54 diode. At under 15mA I was seeing ≈220mV of drop, ≈197.5mV just below 5mA, ≈185mV at ≈3.4mA and ≈157mV at ≈1mA. The current fluctuation was at least at ±5% at that point.

I think the most appropiate diodes are the low voltage/high amp ones, but in practice you will either find SS12 or SS54s in AliExpress. I recently bought a super-cheap 50 piece pack of SS54 diodes, namely for this sort of duty (my testing wasn't done with one of these because of their small size, already had a hard time with the SK54 and my PSU's alligator clips). A nice bunch of them in parallel should get the job done. :-)

Thank you. :slight_smile:
Just bought a 10-pack od SS32 for 15 cents shipped, will see if it arrives. :slight_smile:

15 cents shipping included? Where is such insanely insane deal?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000121587747.html

I see US$0.15 for the goods and US$0.53 for shipping to the US.

They don’t charge for shipping to Poland. :slight_smile:
And SS34 is even cheaper, 12 cents shipped. :wink:

The deal Agro posted isn't a good one for me, AliExpress Saver surcharge gets added.

However, I made another search and found this SS32 100-pack: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32842657334.html

Which in my case is €1.11 + €0.99 = €2.10 including AliExpress Saver shipping. The actual price is $1.20, with free shipping to the US.

Guess there's no point for me to buy those now, but I wonder how much actual difference may be.

Maybe if I can scavenge some SS12 from a motherboard somewhere…