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I am designing a low power circuit that uses the TPS61023DRLR for energy harvesting, charging a 1.5F 5.5V capacitor. I am then using an SSP61 voltage monitor to detect if the voltage is above a specific threshold to turn on an LDO powering the rest of the circuit.

In theory this was a good idea, but did not work out that great. What I really want is to have some sort of hysteresis and turn the LDO on at a higher voltage level as well as turning it back off at a lower level.

Since I am quite new to designing low power circuits what is the best option to turn the LDO on/off at specific voltage levels whilst being low power?

Here is the circuit so far: Circuit with voltage monitor

Follow Up: I modeled the circuit in LTSpice to figure out the exact setpoints I want. I then did a Voltage sweep between 0 and 5.5V and realized that the circuit turns on for Voltages between 1 and 2V. Here are the circuit and simulation: enter image description here enter image description here

Here is the simulation with the values provided in the answer: enter image description here enter image description here

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Precisely what are you asking for when you say this: what are the best low power options here? \$\endgroup\$
    – Andy aka
    Commented Nov 3, 2023 at 8:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Andyaka What is the best option to turn the LDO on/off at specific voltage levels whilst being low power? \$\endgroup\$
    – enwi
    Commented Nov 3, 2023 at 8:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ Can't you just connect a voltage divider to the EN-pin? Since the LDO already contains a comparator, why not use it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Klas-Kenny
    Commented Nov 3, 2023 at 9:05
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Klas-Kenny this won't give me any hysteresis though? \$\endgroup\$
    – enwi
    Commented Nov 3, 2023 at 22:13

1 Answer 1

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Since I am quite new to designing low power circuits what is the best option to turn the LDO on/off at specific voltage levels whilst being low power?

Well, this is an opinion and there may be other ways that are equally good or better but, I'd use a low power comparator and low power reference voltage something like this: -

enter image description here

The circuit is taken from my answer here. It uses a low-power op-amp that can work up to 5.5 volts (6 volts is absolute maximum) and, was designed for detecting that a LiPo battery's terminal voltage had dropped below a certain limit.

What I really want is to have some sort of hysteresis and turn the LDO on at a higher voltage level as well as turning it back off at a lower level.

The circuit above has hysteresis that can be adjusted by lowering or increasing R5 (10 MΩ). As show above with a rising and falling supply voltage you get this response: -

enter image description here

If you click on the picture you will see that the output goes positive when the supply is 3.790 volts and, switches to 0 volts when the supply drops below 3.642 volts; approximately 150 mV of hysteresis.

For the actual trigger voltage, you can make this higher by increasing R1 (currently at 6.8 MΩ).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ That is pretty much exactly what I needed. Thanks Andy :) Could you explain what the 0.1 Ohm resistor is for on the op-amp power supply? Also are there cheaper alternatives to the LT1389 and MAX6006 voltage references? \$\endgroup\$
    – enwi
    Commented Nov 3, 2023 at 9:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @enwi it's not needed. I probably just used it to measure current into the op-amp. \$\endgroup\$
    – Andy aka
    Commented Nov 3, 2023 at 9:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have run some simulations in LT-Spice and found that the output is enabled for voltages between 1V and 2V, can this be resolved somehow? \$\endgroup\$
    – enwi
    Commented Nov 4, 2023 at 10:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @enwi something sounds wrong. Maybe you should post a schematic image into your question but, to avoid other users getting confused make sure you clearly indicate that the addition is a follow up to my answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Andy aka
    Commented Nov 4, 2023 at 10:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ I updated the post :) \$\endgroup\$
    – enwi
    Commented Nov 4, 2023 at 11:07

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