Linear Technology announces the LTC6811 high voltage (75 V) battery stack monitor, a drop-in replacement for the former introduced LTC6804 with higher performance and 25 % lower price. The LTC6811 is a complete battery measuring IC for hybrid/electric vehicles that incorporates a deep buried Zener voltage reference, high voltage multiplexers, 16-bit delta-sigma ADCs and a 1 Mbps isolated serial interface. An LTC6811 can measure up to 12 series-connected battery cell voltages with better than 0.04 % accuracy. With 8 programmable 3rd order low pass filter settings, the LTC6811 provides outstanding noise reduction. In the fastest ADC mode, all cells can be measured within 290 µs.

For large battery packs, multiple LTC6811s can be interconnected and operated simultaneously, using a proprietary 2-wire isoSPI™ interface. This built-in interface provides electrically isolated, high RF noise immune communication for data rates up to 1 Mbps. Using twisted pair, many LTC6811s can be connected in a daisy chain to one host processor, enabling the measurement of hundreds of cells in high voltage battery stacks. The LTC6811 is specified for operation from ˗40°C to 125°C. It has been engineered for ISO 26262 (ASIL) compliant systems with extensive fault coverage via its redundant voltage reference, logic test circuitry, cross-channel testing, open wire detection capability, a watchdog timer and packet error checking on the serial interface.

For existing designs using LTC6804 battery stack monitor, the LTC6811 is a drop-in replacement with additional filter cutoff frequencies, added passive and active balancing control features, new ADC commands and enhanced fault coverage for functional safety. The LTC6811 is supported by Linear’s Linduino™ technology, an Arduino-based microcontroller board and software library. The microcontroller board includes an electrically isolated USB port and directly connects to the LTC6811 demonstration board, providing a simple platform for evaluating and developing the LTC6811. The LTC6811 is offered in a 8 mm x 12 mm surface mount SSOP package. Priced at $8.19 each in 1,000-piece quantities, samples and demonstration boards are now available at www.linear.com/product/LTC6811.