EZBriz BMS Offers Easy Lithium Battery Management, 3A Across 3.3V and 5V Uninterruptible Outputs

Santa Clara-based EZBriz has launched a standalone battery management board, designed to offer 5V and 3.3V outputs at a combined 3A — and supporting uninterrupted battery-side supply during charging, too.

Designed, the company claims, to drive a range of popular microcontroller and single-board computer (SBC) devices, including the Raspberry Pi family, NVIDIA's Jetson Nano, and various Arduino boards, the EZBriz BMS offers an impressive 3A output from a lithium-polymer or lithium-ion battery. This is split across its two outputs: 5V and 3.3V, either one of which can be used on its own or both simultaneously.

The compact board is built around the Injoinic IP5310 power management system-on-chip (SoC), though without taking advantage of the chip's support for USB Type-C connectivity, and the Texas Instruments TPS54331 buck converter. Designed for use with 3.7V batteries, the board includes uninterrupted battery-side power — meaning it's possible to connect and disconnect the bundled power supply to charge the battery without losing power to the target device.

EZBriz says the board has been designed with full protection for over- and under-voltage, over-current, and short-circuit in mind, though "use of a battery protection circuit is still recommended." The board also automatically turns off if there is no load detected for a 30-second period.

The board is now available from EZBriz' Tindie store at a very reasonable $14.98 including DC power supply, though there's one catch: At a 5V 2A rating it's possible to draw more power from the battery management board than the charger can provide, meaning projects which draw on the board's full 3A capability will discharge the battery even when connected to the mains.