Analog Devices announced the LT8491 Step-boost battery charging controller with features such as maximum power point tracking (MPPT), temperature compensation, and I2C interface for telemetry and control. The operating voltage of the device may be higher, lower, or equal to the adjusted battery float charging voltage. The LT8491 offers three optional constant-current constant-voltage (CC-CV) charging curves, making it ideal for charging a variety of chemical batteries, including sealed lead-acid, gel, overflow, and lithium-ion batteries. All charge termination algorithms are built in, eliminating the need to develop software or firmware to shorten the design cycle.

                                                                                            

The LT8491 operates in the input voltage range of 6V to 80V, and uses a single inductor with 4-switch synchronous rectification to produce a battery float charging voltage output of 1.3V to 80V. The device is capable of providing charging currents up to 10A, depending on the selection of external components. The LT8491 can be connected in parallel with multiple LT8705 (80V step-up-controller) devices to provide higher power.

The LT8491 can scan the full operating range of the solar panel to find the true maximum power point, even if the panel caused by partial shading of the local maximum point. Once the true maximum power point is found, the LT8491 will operate at that point while using perturbation techniques to track slow changes in the maximum point. Through these methods, the LT8491 is able to take full advantage of almost all the power generated by the solar panels, even in non-ideal working conditions.

The LT8491 performs automatic temperature compensation by detecting an external thermistor thermally coupled to the battery. The I2C interface allows complete control of the charger as well as input/output voltage, current and power values. The LT8491 comes in a thin (0.75mm) 64-pin 7mm x 11mm QFN package and operates in a temperature range of -40°C to 125°C.