I have an issue with the BQ24600 precharge timer. I have a battery pack I suspect is faulty and I wanted to see if it could be recovered. The charger started charging at I/10 as described in the precharge section (300mA in this case). The battery pack voltage was only 7.9V - the charge cut off is 12.6V, so the low charge threashold (Vlowv) would be 9.3V.
The datasheet says that if the Vlowv is not reached within 30 minutes the charger turns off and indicates a FAULT. I noted that it charged for 1 hour without showing a FAULT (flashing the STAT pin).
My circuit is basically the same as Fig 1 on the datasheet, except it is set for 12.6V cut off and the CE pin is pulled to VCC via a 100k resistor so a transistor can disable charging. (This should not have been toggled during the charging time)
Is there a fault with this device or have I managed to disable the pre-charge timer in some way?