We've been wanting to checkout Adafruit's Lithium Ion charger and Lithium Ion Polymer Batteries for a while, and we finally had a chance to do so!
We built a TV-B-Gone a while back and were having loads of fun with it. What is a TV-B-Gone you ask? It is a small device that will turn off nearly any TV. Perfect for going to restaurants or bars and turning off TV's with things you don't like, such as a rival sports team or obnoxious news channel.
Adding a rechargeable battery to the TV-B-Gone could not be easier. Basically we just unsoldered the existing 2 AA-cell pack, used our solder sucker to remove the excess solder, and then soldered the power and ground from the LiON charger. The charger requires no assembly! We then connected the TV-B-Gone to the Load circuit and the LiON battery to the BATT circuit.
The charger comes with a MiniUSB port that you then use to charge the battery. It has indicators for CHRG or DONE, which is good because you know it regulates the charge. There are also additional through holes for LOAD, STAT, PROG, and THERM. You can use those in lieu of the on board connectors, and I assume you can add additional inputs and outputs. We will have to play with those another day!
Check out our video overview:
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