Hello everyone! Today I'm going to talk to you about a super powerful power management chip - AXP2101~ It is like a "power housekeeper" for electronic devices, which can arrange the power supply clearly!
1. What is AXP2101?
In short, it is a power management unit (PMU) designed by X-Powers Tech, which is specifically designed to solve the power consumption problem of modern electronic devices. For example, our commonly used mobile phones, GPS navigators, development boards, etc., all need it to "calculate" electricity.
Its appearance is a small QFN-40-EP package (5×5 mm). Don't look at its small size, it has great capabilities! It can manage the charging and discharging of a single lithium battery, and also supports USB and adapter power supply, which is especially suitable for those devices that require long battery life~
2. Where can it be used?
1. "Star Partner" in the Development Board Industry
Arduino/MicroPython/CircuitPython: These popular development platforms can use it to manage power, and there are ready-made libraries to help, so developers don't have to write code from scratch, which is worry-free!
ESP32 devices: For example, boards using the ESP-IDF library, AXP2101 can be seamlessly integrated to help you monitor battery status and adjust voltage.
Specific examples:
- T-Beam V1.2: Previously used AXP192, now upgraded to AXP2101! However, the new chip needs to be re-adapted to the library, which some developers may find troublesome (such as the scenario of using GPS in the LoRaWAN project).
- Core2 V1.1: With the addition of a real-time clock (RTC) and an independent battery, AXP2101 can accurately control power consumption and is suitable for complex IoT projects~
2. Consumer electronics "all-rounder"
- Mobile phones/tablets: manage lithium battery charging, support multiple voltages from 4.1V to 4.36V, and automatically adjust the current according to the load of the mobile phone, charging is fast and safe!
- GPS navigator: high-precision ADC monitors power consumption in real time, so you don't have to worry about running out of power during long-term navigation in the wild~
- Portable devices: Like digital cameras and electronic photo frames, it can intelligently switch between batteries and external power supplies, so you don't have to worry about sudden power outages!
III. How powerful is it?
1. Power management "Eighteen martial arts"
- 15 output channels: 4 DC-DC converters (high-efficiency step-down) + 11 LDOs (stable low voltage), which can simultaneously power different components such as processors, screens, sensors, etc.
- Smart charging: supports 1.4A high-current charging, and can also be used while charging (for example, when playing games while charging a mobile phone, the power supply will give priority to powering the screen).
- Power monitoring: It comes with an E-Gauge™ system, just like a car fuel gauge, which can accurately display the remaining battery power with a very small error!
2. Safety protection "strict defense"
- Overvoltage/overcurrent/overheating protection: For example, if the voltage is too high during charging, it will automatically cut off the circuit to avoid the risk of battery explosion.
- Multiple ADC monitoring: 14-bit analog-to-digital converter monitors voltage and temperature in real time, and immediately alarms if there is a problem (for example, sending a signal to the processor through the GPIO pin).
3. "Flexible and versatile" communication interface
TWSI/RSB interface: can "talk" to the processor, for example, the mobile phone CPU can use it to adjust the voltage corresponding to the screen brightness, or read the battery data to display in the status bar.
4. What is the difference compared with other chips?
- vs AXP192: more output channels (15 vs fewer before), higher ADC accuracy (14 bits vs 12 bits), and an additional E-Gauge™ fuel gauge.
- vs AXP216: Both have E-Gauge™, but AXP2101 has more LDOs, which is suitable for devices that require more low-voltage components (such as IoT boards with many sensors).
5. How do developers use it?
1. Hardware design
- Patch process: SMT welding, PCB package can be downloaded directly from EasyEDA and other tools
- Reference design: such as the circuit diagram of M5Stack Core2 V1.1
2. Software support
- CircuitPython driver: There are libraries written by big guys, such as controlling the LCD backlight brightness, which can be done with a few lines of code~
- Community resources: There are many practical cases in the Arduino forum. If you encounter problems, just search for solutions!
Summary
AXP2101 is like a "power housekeeper" for electronic devices. It can not only efficiently distribute power, but also provide protection, and can flexibly adapt to various scenarios~ Whether you are a geek playing with development boards or an engineer working on consumer electronics, it can help you solve power consumption problems!