Lots of new batteries (for mobile devices, MP3 players, etc) have connectors with 3 pins. I would like to know what is the purpose of this and how should I use these three pins?
They are usually marked as (+) plus, (-) minus, and T.
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\$\begingroup\$ Where have you seen the third pin? Im interested in it. \$\endgroup\$– DeanCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 10:14
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\$\begingroup\$ Canon NB-4L for example \$\endgroup\$– MartinCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 13:20
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\$\begingroup\$ Roomba batteries too. Can't gut them and replace the internals without making sure you hook that third contact back up. \$\endgroup\$– AngryEECommented Feb 23, 2011 at 14:51
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3\$\begingroup\$ In addition to all the answers, sometimes it's just to provide a more stable mounting to the PCB. I deal in Varta Mempac memory batteries for an FM tuner, with two positive and one negative pins. They're large enough that two pins wouldn't be secure. \$\endgroup\$– user207421Commented May 26, 2013 at 1:50
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1\$\begingroup\$ I have a battery with + - C T, and I've seen a battery with + - D T. I wonder what the C and D stand for? \$\endgroup\$– jpaughCommented Dec 3, 2016 at 18:44
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5 Answers
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The third pin is usually for an internal temperature sensor, to ensure safety during charging. Cheap knock-off batteries sometimes have a dummy sensor that returns a "temp OK" value regardless of actual temperature.
Some higher-end batteries have internal intelligence for charge control and status monitoring, in which case the third pin is for communications.
answered Feb 23, 2011 at 9:35
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\$\begingroup\$ Ohh that makes sense! I'm retracting my answer. \$\endgroup\$– drxzclCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 9:37
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5\$\begingroup\$ Yep. The "T" stands for "Temperature" (Or "Thermistor"). Normally, it's a thermistor. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 11:26
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9\$\begingroup\$ What about the fourth pin? On some mobile phone batteries there is a terminal for identification. It is wired to a resistor, and by measuring the resistance, the phone know whether the battery complies. I do not remember where I read about that, however. \$\endgroup\$– VoracCommented Jul 4, 2012 at 14:13
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2\$\begingroup\$ Also a possibility: OneWire verification chip, to make sure the battery is one authorized by the manufacturer: maximintegrated.com/en/products/comms/one-wire/… (this example is for printer cartriges, but I'm sure others exist.) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 14:44
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\$\begingroup\$ What is the return/resistor value of "Temp OK"? \$\endgroup\$– CodebeatCommented Dec 18, 2017 at 20:30
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That third contact is connected to an internal thermistor, enabling the charger to measure the battery temperature.
answered Mar 7, 2012 at 15:26
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In mobile phones, some Li+ battery packs have 3 terminals. Two possibilities:
- positive, negative, thermistor (as was already mentioned in previous answers)
- positive, negative, 1-wire bus. The latter is a digital communication bus that’s connected to a gas gauge IC inside the pack.
If you want to explore what’s inside single-cell Li+ battery packs, look-up bq27000 gas gauge IC and associated application notes. Could be a good starting point.
Some packs have 4 terminals: positive, negative, SDA, SCL. The latter 2 lines are I2C or SMBus. Look up the bq27200 gas gauge IC (shares datasheet with bq27000).
EDIT: This was written as an answer to a duplicate question, which got merged with this one.
answered Mar 7, 2012 at 19:32
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\$\begingroup\$ Do you know any actual battery models which carry a BQ27000-like chip inside and expose a communication pin? \$\endgroup\$– KT.Commented Nov 22, 2018 at 13:26
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For Nokia batteries, one of the pins may be a BSI (Battery Size Indicator) pin, which contains a fixed resistor to ground, enabling the handset to identify which battery is connected. Examples of BSI resistor values include:
- BMC-2 3k3 NiMH 640mAh
- BMC-3 5k6 NiMH 900mAh
- BLD-3 22k Li-Ion 780mAh
- BL-4B 68k Li-Ion 700mAh
- BL-5B 75k Li-Ion 820mAh
- BL-4U 82k Li-Ion 1000mAh
- BL-5C 82k Li-Ion 1050mAh
- BL-4J 100k Li-Ion 1200mAh
- BL-5J 110k Li-Ion 1450mAh
See also: BSI - cpkb.org
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\$\begingroup\$ does this mean I can use a 3 pin Nokia battery in a device that needs a 2 pin 3.7v lithium polymer battery, leaving the 3rd pin disconnected? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 3 at 1:05
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The third pin is usually found on Li-Poly, or Lithium Polymer batteries and is required in order to charge the battery safely. Because these batteries are usually multi-cell, the third pin is used for balancing the charge between each of the cells.
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1\$\begingroup\$ the only thing that sounds wrong here is that my balancing LiPo battery charger uses four pins, not one. How can they do the balancing with only one pin in cell phones? \$\endgroup\$– DaveCommented Feb 23, 2011 at 18:19
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9\$\begingroup\$ Cell phones normally use single cell batteries, so it can't be for balancing purposes. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 21:58
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\$\begingroup\$ @Dave/@Fake Name - good points. I stand corrected :) \$\endgroup\$– RichardCommented Mar 1, 2011 at 9:33
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\$\begingroup\$ I have seen dual cell LiPo batteries that had the balancing connection. However these would normally not be labelled T. The OP does not specify only cell phones so we cannot work from that assumption. \$\endgroup\$– KalleMPCommented Dec 27, 2017 at 18:51