Standalone IC for balancing for 4 series cells

hello,

  Thamks for your reply. i have gone through bq76pl536a datasheet and aardvark interface sheet.  There it was mentioned like i need connect our evaluation module to the adapter then to PC and in PC we need to install software and program the EPROM by giving the threshold's.

There they didn't mention anything about microcontroller and i just need to balance cell voltages only . so could you please tell me do i still need a microcontroller or not

I think I said it's not standalone. It means that you MUST have a uC to control PL536A. 

yes, you need that for cell balancing as well. 

Let me know if you have other questions. 

could you please let me know, where can i get the circuit of both IC and microcontroller for battery balancing application. In the datsheet it was not montioned clearly.

Thank you.

Shall i know which interface to use between

1. bq76pl536a and microcontroller .

2. microcontroller to PC

And how can i Program microcontroller .

1. is there any tool or software available for programming microcontroller ?

2. Do i need to program IC also?

Use PL536A GUI. It has cell balancing features. YOu can find the user's guide in the TI PL536A product folder

Could you please give the schematic diagram for PL536a GUI and interface details

PL536A GUI is software you can down to your PC. 

Evm user's guide explains how to use GUI. 

Hello,

        I was planning to design the PCB in Eagle Cadsoft. There i cant able to find bq76pl536a in the library. So I created the ic in the form of new library file but while compiling in the .BRD format, it was showing lot of errors like overlap, drill distance and clearance. I was trying to clear it but it did'nt . can you please tell is there any possibility of getting eagle library file for bq76pl536a or else where can i find the exact dimemsions to design ic since it was not clear in the data sheet.

Christopher, 

We don't have eagle lib but here is footprint and it might work it out for you.

R536 footprint PADS.pdfeview the attached file.

Roger

Thanks for the reply.
I am designing the circuit in Eagle Software and i am facing small issue regarding the design of the schematic.
In the data sheet, circuit diagram is given for connection of 3 IC's ,since we are designing for 4 series cell,I am using one IC. So as of given in the data sheet www.ti.com/.../slua562.pdf ,we gave connections as mentioned in the pdf i.e. we shorted the top interface pins to Vbat and bottom interface pin to -Vss.But we are getting lot of errors.
Please suggest the right way of connecting these interface pins and let me know whether the Vss is a negative supply of the cell or the ground connection.

Thank you. Here below I have attached my eagle schematic file .Can you please tell me where the mistake is and a solution for it.

bq76pl536a.sch

Here below I have attached the eagle schematic pdf and the erc errors pdf  which i got as errors. please suggest me some solution for this.

Eagle_Schematic.pdfERC_Errors.pdf

Christopher, 

I found few issues. 

1. Connect HSEL to GND NOT LDOD. This is probably THE biggest problem. 

2. Missing a CAP on REG50. 

3. I didn't see VSS (all ground pins) connect to V-.. DId I miss this?

Make these changes and try. You should see better results. 

Check the Cap and resistor values and compare with reference schematic. 

Thank you . We have resolved the first two problems and the third one we are not clear with your answer , we already given all the pins to v- only . do we need to give those connections to ground or v- . and still we are getting the same errors. Here i have attached the corrected circuit. and tell errors i sent you in the previous message. Could you please suggest some solution to solve those problems.

You connected all GNDs to TAP(net),

I want you to connect all GND pins such as VSS1, VSS2, AGND and etc....  to V-. 

Try this

I have connected the pins as suggested by you,still i am facing with the same old errors.

The errors are mentioned below:

1.More than one output pin on net CELL4+

2.OUTPUT and SUPPLY pins are mixed on net V-

3.SUPPLY pin V- overwritten with more than one signal(V-,TAB)

All the above errors are related to the V- signal only,so please suggest me some solution to resolve these errors.

I thought you had issues with board but I guess you are in design stage. 

I made some comments and try that. 

Do you have our evm schematic? 

If yes then use it as reference. 

I suggest you to follow it exactly for now. Eagle_Schematic (2).pdf

Errors in Board circuit.pdf

Hello,

Autorouter can't finish the schematic due to the tight layout and you need to route it by hand.

This is why we spend hrs routing by hands. 

Hello 

       I have done the manual routing as you suggested and its working well now. But still we have errors in the IC,which was generated by TI software only.The main errors are clearance and Overlap in the IC pads. In the attachment i have mentioned the screenshot of the errors. Could you please tell us some measurements or suggestion to resolve these issues. And can you let me know what is the drill distance for bq76pl536a IC              

    Hello

            I have designed the board for my test bench using bq76pl536a  for 4s3p li ion battery. since I am not using microcontroller , I am trying to connect my board to computer using USB to i2c communication module , but these pins and the pins which were given in the ic are not matching. so can you please suggest me how to interface the communication module to the ic board.Below i have kept the image of the communication module.

If you are using TI GUI then you need to use the Aardvark. you need a SPI communicator. Check out TP240141. You need a USB to SPI. 

thank you, is that IC preprogrammed  with any threshold voltage values to balance or do we need to program it on our own by interfacing with MSP430 or with aardvark.

Yes, you have to program them. Default register values are all 0s. 

you can program OTP once then you are done or you can write to the registers. If there is a POR then you have to write to registers again. 

Check out the datasheet. They are all in there.