Nxp Semiconductors PCA2125 User Manual

Page of 52
 
 
NXP Semiconductors 
UM10301
 
User Manual PCF85x3, PCA8565 and PCF2123, PCA2125
UM10301_1 
© NXP B.V. 2008. All rights reserved.
User manual 
Rev. 01 — 23 December 2008 
32 of 52
evaporation can be neglected. At elevated temperatures of for example 60 °C electrolyte 
evaporation will be much higher. Refer to the manufacturer’s datasheet. Vendors of 
lithium batteries include Panasonic, Sanyo and Varta. 
 
13.2  NiCd and NiMH secondary batteries 
The well known Nickel-Cadmium and Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries can also be used to 
provide backup power to an RTC. In many countries use of NiCd batteries will be 
restricted in favour of NiMH batteries due to environmental considerations (cadmium). 
NiMH batteries also suffer less from the memory effect than NiCd batteries. As a further 
plus, NiMH batteries provide a higher energy density than NiCd batteries, but on the 
other hand have a higher self discharge rate (about 20 % per month at room 
temperature) than NiCd batteries (about 10 % per month). The timekeeping current draw 
of an RTC is so low that often – depending on the selected battery capacity - the self 
discharge is the determining factor for the available backup time, which in that case 
would make the NiCd more suitable for backup applications. The typical operating 
temperature range during charging is approximately 0 °C to +40 °C. During discharge the 
permitted operating temperature range is a bit wider, in the order of  -10 °C to +50 °C. 
Just like lithium cells NiCd and NiMH batteries must be separately soldered or placed in 
a battery holder after the board has gone through reflow soldering. The charging circuit 
for NiCd and NiMH batteries in this application can be very simple; just trickle charge it 
via a resistor or other form of current limiting. Ordinary NiMH batteries are less suitable 
for trickle charging than NiCd batteries which is another reason that often NiCd batteries 
are better in this application. However, as pointed out before, use of NiCd batteries will 
be restricted in many countries due to environmental considerations. Therefore it will be 
harder to find NiCd batteries for backup purposes. They are being replaced by newer 
NiMH batteries in the same form factor and which are suitable for trickle charging. An 
application diagram is given in Fig 13. 
 
001aai848
R1
D1
3.6 V to 4.8 V
NiCd/NiMH
C1
100 nF
V
SUP
V
DD
V
SS
RTC
 
(1)  Due to the low RTC current consumption, a parallel diode over R
1
 (directed from the battery to 
the RTC) will not be of any use. The voltage drop over R
1
 is small 
Fig 13.  Backup circuit using secondary cell (NiCd or NiMH) 
 
The capacity of a battery is expressed as C. The charge or discharge current can now 
also be expressed in relation to the capacity of the battery. Assume a battery with a 
capacity of one ampere-hour (1 Ah). A discharge current of C/10 now equals 1 Ah / 10 h 
= 100 mA. The recommended charge current is also specified as a fraction of C.