Battery & Power Management
Chargers, protection ICs, and fuel gauges: termination behavior, load-sharing, and safety pins that cheap modules leave out.
Written and verified by John Merton · verified 2026-07-10
Battery and power management ICs handle the boundary between a rechargeable cell and the rest of the board. This category covers linear chargers like the TP4056 and MCP73831, protection ICs, and power-path management. The gotcha that recurs across every part in this category is shared: the charger IC is not a power supply, and the battery is not a stiff rail. A charger plus a battery plus a load on the same net is a three-body problem, and the solution is either a load-sharing circuit or a power-path manager.
How to choose
The axes below are the criteria you actually weigh when selecting a part in this category.
- Charge current programmability and termination behavior
- Most linear chargers set charge current with a single resistor. Termination thresholds — when the charger decides the battery is full — differ between parts and can leave a battery at 90% if the threshold is too conservative.
- See:TP4056MCP73831BQ24074
All parts in this category
Compare specs
Parts in this guide verified against manufacturer datasheets; latest 2026-07-10.
| MPN | Package | Lifecycle | Headline spec |
|---|---|---|---|
| TP4056 | ESOP-8 (bottom heat-sink pad) | Active | Input range: VCC 4.0 V min / 5 V typ / 8.0 V max (operating); absolute max VCC 8 V |
| MCP73831 | SOT-23-5 | Active | VDD range: 3.75 V to 6 V (UVLO start 3.45 V typ rising) |
| BQ24074 | VQFN-16 (TI package code RGT), 3.00 mm × 3.00 mm | Active | Input voltage range (IN): 4.35-10.2 V operating (BQ24074; '72/'73/'75/'79 grades: 4.35-6.4 V); IN voltage range 4.35-26 V; absolute maximum IN -0.3 to 28 V |
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