Integrating charger into battery powered project

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I am working on a project involving controlling two dc motors via a dual motor controller and an arduino uno board using a thumbstick as an input. I am planning on using a battery to power the project and I was thinking of using a Lipo battery. I have not used Lipo batteries before and I have read that the batteries need to be balanced to avoid battery damage in the long term. I was hoping to use a usb c recharge point for the project and could not see any boards that had any balancing capability.

I was looking at the

Lipo Charger-Type C

SKU: DFR0668

But given that I’ve read that lipo batteries can catch fire, I’m a bit wary that I need to treat them with due care.

Could you recommend a charging board for an 11.1V lipo battery?And let me know what you know about lipo battery balancing and what would be needed to integrate this into my project for charging of an onboard battery.

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Hi Ptolemy,

That’s correct, if you’re using a large collection of cells you’ll likely need a BMS (Battery Management System) to ensure that you don’t get any internal differences in voltage that can cause the current to spike internally. Depending on the size of your setup, a charger/discharger, such as that which I’ve linked below (be sure to double-check your ratings for max current and voltage), should be your best option to ensure that the batteries are charged correctly, and safely. As for charging a single cell by USB C it looks like you’ve found the best option with the DFR0668, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any appropriate converters to be able to use a USB C in order to charge the 11.1V battery, while also providing balancing.

Bryce
Core Electronics | Support