[Kenneth Finnegan] took the focus of a fantastic style as well as redirected it to solve his own problem. What results is this lead acid battery charger based on the 555 timer. It’s not a top-of-the-line, all the bells as well as whistles type of charger. however it gets the task done with a easily offered IC as well as no requirement to code for a microcontroller.

The original concept came from a solar battery charger went into in the 555 timer contest. The primary difference in application between that as well as [Kenneth’s] application is the source. A solar array or wind turbine is restricted on exactly how much juice it can produce. however mains power can push a shocking (har-har) amount of present if you’re not paying attention. Herein lies the alterations to the circuit design. To manage this he’s utilizing a laptop power supply as an intermediary as well as only implementing the constant present part of the custom 3-stage lead acid charging profile (those stages are explained in his write up).

He did a talk on the charger at his regional radio club. You can see the 90-minute video after the break.