Battery power has pervaded everything from our portable electronics to our power tools and even bicycles. It's the high-powered end of that spectrum such as tools that Maxim targets the DS2726. The single chip battery-protection IC is designed to protect and balance the load to 5- to 10-cell rechargeable Lithium battery packs.

The DS2726 offers the cell balancing with fault monitoring. High-side p-channel FET drivers provide comprehensive overvoltage, undervoltage, discharge-current, and short-circuit protection. The high-side protection also allows the host system to communicate with a companion fuel-gauge IC such as the DS2788 -- even when a fault condition causes the protection FETs to switch off.

The DS2726 does not need a microcontroller for configuration. Operating characteristics such as voltage protection are pin programmable. The IC is packaged in a 7x7-mm, 32-pin TQFN. The IC sells for $4.58 (1000) and the company offers an evaluation kit to jumpstart a design. Get more info on the product web page.