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Battery Voltage-Monitor ICs for Portables Drive 3-, 4-, and 5-Bar LED Indicators

July 16, 2025

ABLIC’s single-chip, battery-level sensor/display driver saves power and simplifies the design of cordless tools and other portable products.

Lee Goldberg

Related To:

Electronic Design

The S-82x9 family of voltage-monitor + LED-driver ICs developed by ABLIC provides simple solutions for 3- to 5-segment battery status displays in cordless tools and other portable electronics. All devices can monitor multiple voltages while consuming very little power and occupying a very small PCB footprint. They can monitor multiple voltages and don’t require support from an external microcontroller.

Variants of the display drivers are available with “ENABLE” and “SENSE” pins, which allow the designer to select various modes of operation. Depending on the level of resolution required, designers can use the S-82F9 Series to drive up to five LEDs, the S-82D９ Series to drive up to four LEDs, or the 8229A Series to drive up to three LEDs.

About the Author

Lee Goldberg | Contributing Editor

Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.

Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.

Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.

Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.

Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.