1 Watt LED Emergency Lamp Circuit Using Li-Ion Battery

The post describes a simple 1 watt LED emergency light circuit using a Li-Ion cell. The design was requested by one of the keen readers of this blog, Mr. Haroon Khurshid. 


The Request

Hello mr swagatam...please can you help me design a circuit to charge a 
nokia 3.7 volt battery by using regular nokia cellphone charger circuit and utilize that battery for lighting 1watt leds connected in parallel there should be light indicator and also automatic on of system in case of power failure kindly you consider my idea and design one
kind Regards,
Haroon khurshid


The Design

The requested Li-Ion cell operated 1 watt LED emergency light circuit  may be easily built with the help of the below given schematic:

The voltage from the cell phone charger power supply is dropped to around 3.9V by adding diodes in the positive path of the supply. This should be confirmed with a DMM before connecting the cell. 

The voltage should be limited to around 4V so that the cell is never allowed to cros the over charge limit.

Although the above voltage will not allow the cell to get charged fully and optimally, it will ensure the cell doesn't get damaged due to over charge.

The PNP transistor is held reversed biased as long as mains AC stays active, while the Li-Ion cell is charged gradually charged.

In case the mains AC fails, the transistor switches ON with the help of the 1K resistor and instantly illuminates the 1 watt LED connected across its collector and ground.

The above design can also be implemented using a transformerless power supply circuit. Let's the learn the complete design:

Before proceeding with the circuit details it should be noted that the following proposed design is not isolated from mains and therefore is extremely dangerous to touch, and it has not been verified practically. Build it only if you  personally feel sure about the design.

Moving on, the given 1 watt LED emergency light circuit using Li-Ion cell looks quite a straightforward design. Let's learn the functioning with the following points.

It's basically a regulated transformerless power supply circuit which can also be used  as a 1 watt LED driver circuit.

The present design perhaps becomes very reliable owing to the fact that the dangers normally associated with transformerless power supplies are effectively tackled here.

The 2uF capacitor along with the 4 in4007 diodes form a standard mains operated capacitive power supply stage.

The preceding stage which consists of an emitter follower stage and the associated passive parts form a standard variable zener diode.

The main function of this emitter follower network is to restrict the available voltage to precise levels set by the preset.

Here it should be set at around 4.5V, which becomes the charging voltage for the Li-ion cell. The final voltage that reaches the cell is around 3.9V due to the presence of the series diode 1N4007.

The transistor 8550 acts like a switch which activates only in the absence of power through the capacitive stage, meaning when AC mains is not present.

During the presence of mains power the transistor is held reverse biased due to the direct positive from the bridge network to the base of the transistor.

Since the charging voltage is restricted at 3.9V keeps the battery just under the full charge limit and therefore the danger of over charging it is never reached.

In the absence of mains power, the transistor conducts and connects the cell voltage with the attached 1 watt LED across the collector and ground of the transistor, the 1watt LED illuminates brightly....when mains power restores, the LED is switched OFF immediately.

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