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AEMLIC V2 has 3.3V/400mA output

A project log for Solar harvesting into Lithium Ion Capacitor

A tiny board with AEM10941 solar harvesting IC charging a Lithium Ion Capacitor

jasper-sikkenJasper Sikken 01/08/2022 at 20:303 Comments

I didn't like so much that the AEMLIC V1 has a 2.2V/80mA output while many wireless development boards need 3.3V and a higher current. Therefor I have designed the new AEMLIC V2. It has an TPS63900 buck boost converter that delivers 3.3V/400mA. It is again based on the trusted AEM10941 (there was a problem with the newer AEM10300).

When AEM10941 storage voltage drops below 2.5V STATUS1 pin goes high and the host processor is immediately informed of an impending shutdown so it can gracefully end EEPROM FLASH/EEPROM write operations before it's power is shut off. The buck booster enable pin is controlled from the AEM10941 VHV output that goes low 600ms AFTER the host processor is warned. 

The bare PCB looks like this

The assembled PCB looks like this

And after soldering onto headers and adding a 250F Lithium Ion Capacitor and a solar panel it looks like this. 

I have performed full hardware design verification and found no problem. 

Then I felt confident enough to order the first batch of 50 from Elecrow. They are currently being produced and I expect that they are available for sale end of March 2022. Elecrow already share an image of the bare PCBs

Normally the TPS63900 buckboost converter is $0.80USD in qty1000 but the stocks were drying up at the normal distributors and so in January 2022 I have bought 220pcs from ICSOSO for $2.10 each. 1 Month later all stocks were completely dried up and Elecrow could source it for $39 each! So I was happy I bought some.

I am so excited about this new board because it uses an awesome solar energy harvesting chip, it stores the energy in a truly green storage device and it is can supply high enough current to power most IoT projects, not only BLE or LoRa but also NB-IoT, LTE-M, and wifi.  This week I expect shipping info, which means the board will arrive next week around wednesday. I am so excited!

Discussions

Jasper Sikken wrote 03/12/2022 at 20:12 point

Please note I had AEM10300 ES engineering samples. The ST_STO signal didnt work as expected from the datasheet. I heard from someone else some mornings the chip didnt start harvesting. Then I asked their advice and they suggested to go back to AEM10941. So I think they are fixing problems and that the pmic is not in full production in coming months

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Kevin Stuart wrote 03/12/2022 at 19:21 point

If I could ask, what was the problem with the newer AEM10300 part?

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Kevin Stuart wrote 03/13/2022 at 04:37 point

Thanks for the update - I did just notice that all parts, other than the AEM10941, are only available as engineering samples at present.  I hope all the kinks get ironed out quickly.  Great job on your version 2 of this board.

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