Voltlog #54 – BQ24650 MPPT Charging Module

In this video I am taking a look at this compact BQ24650 Charging MPPT Module made by YZX Studio in China. You can use this module to improve the efficiency of your solar system while charging your battery.

Voltlog #47 – ICL8038 Frequency Generator Kit Assembly

Today we’re going to be assembling this frequency generator kit based on the ICL8038 which I got in an earlier InTheMail episode. The ICL8038 waveform generator is a monolithic integrated circuit capable of producing high accuracy sine, square, triangular, sawtooth and pulse waveforms with a minimum of external components.

Voltlog #45 – Multiple Rail Power Supply Kit Assembly

In this video I am assembling a multiple fixed rail power supply kit. This power supply works with a 5-24V input either through a USB mini socket or a dc barrel jack (2.5mm center positive) and at the output you get +12V, -12V, +5V, -5V and +3.3V. My kit was missing 1 small heatsink and one of the electrolytics was a different value than specified on the PCB.

Voltlog #42 – DIY 4 x 18650 Battery Charger

Today we’re going to be making a DIY lithium battery charger and more specifically aimed at charging 18650 cells. I sometimes take apart some of these laptop batteries to recover 18650 cells and I have a bunch so far that I kept. Every-time I salvage these cells I test them before deciding to keep them or not.

As you can imagine it takes time and I need to charge multiple cells at once. So I will be making a charger that can handle 4 x 18650 cells but the project is scalable and you can increase or decrease the number of cells it can handle according to your needs. As usual, links for all the items will be in the video description.

Voltlog #41 – 60W Dummy Load Mod 20mA to 999mA

This video is about the 60W dummy load discussed in episode number #38 and #39 and if you haven’t watched those two videos I recommend you do, there will be links below. In this video I am doing a mod to change the range of the dummy load from 0.2A-9.99A to a new range of 20mA to 999mA.

Voltlog #39 – 60W Dummy Load Reverse Engineering

In this video we’re discussing the dummy load again but this time I reverse engineered the dummy load schematic and I discuss it’s basic theory of operation. Check the video description for a link to the pdf schematic.