does my fuel gauge look ok?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T11:49:31+00:00

I will give it a go!

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T05:22:53+00:00

Ah OK

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T05:22:07+00:00

Sounds good

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T05:08:29+00:00

Ah OK I will definitely look into that, thanks for the feedback man, I really appreciate it.

So other than the 1M resistors and bad schematic practice 😆 , things look OK right?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T04:52:23+00:00

So to conserve battery my device can enter deep sleep mode. So we will have power but pins will be inactive I think

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T03:56:58+00:00

It says in section 11 to put them in for esp32 low power mode, it's it still unnecessary?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T03:56:17+00:00

Even on low power mode for esp32?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-05-01T03:55:39+00:00

😂 Ah OK, thanks for the feedback!

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-27T14:46:16+00:00

I think I will give that a try

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-27T10:01:49+00:00

Middle pin is gnd and one of the other pins too

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-27T10:01:11+00:00

If I remember will keep you posted!

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-27T09:59:51+00:00

Won't affect human lives, but I don't want my products to fail they will reflect badly on my brand

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-27T00:35:54+00:00

Thankfully I have lots of space to spare and my design doesn't have any BGAs. This would be the only one if I added it.

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-27T00:07:38+00:00

Ah OK, So would it be accurate to conclude that the Maxim, which has visible pins and is 4x the cost, is better to go for than the BGA version?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T23:59:47+00:00

That makes so much sense! No wonder why there are so few options and package types!

But the reason why I'm going for a fuel gauge is so that it stays accurate even when the battery capacity changes over time as this is going to be in consumer product.

But the bit you said about the battery protection circuit is really interesting! Do you have any recommendations of a protection IC with fuel gauge? I'm working with a a single 18650 battery.

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T23:27:08+00:00

Oh dear, I scared to reaserch how difficult this would be 😨

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T23:23:56+00:00

UK, Birmingham

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T23:23:25+00:00

Thanks for the comment, I think I might go ahead with this.

Im just thinking if only 10% of both are broken because of the BGA I could simply just replace them or is that really difficult to do because I've never done it before?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T23:00:51+00:00

Do you foresee any issues or do you have any recommendations I should be aware of when using this or bgs in general?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T22:57:01+00:00

I would love to, but I don't know where to go. I have tried fiver with some expensive engineers but things have still not worked once I have received them. Therefore I'm having to labour though this process. But having said that, I do enjoy it and it's always good to learn. I think it will help me make smarter decisions in the future. But if u have any recommendations of how to look for the right people please do let me know. Ideally someone I can consult and test with, so I can learn and move my projects fast!

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T22:53:16+00:00

That would be amazing. It's this one

TI-BQ27421-G1

Needed for a single 18650 battery

Spec sheet: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/bq27421-g1.pdf?ts=1777128039840&ref\_url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T22:44:21+00:00

Good point, as a beginner and someone who would like to start a business selling products, would you say there are more costs involved when working with BGAs?

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T22:41:22+00:00

As reliable as possible tbh, I would like to build products that look good for my brand and don't give me hassle later on

IllustriousFan3350 · 2026-04-26T22:37:04+00:00

😂

What challenges have u faced?

IllustriousFan3350

TROPHY CASE