With portable-equipment manufacturers demanding ever smaller, higher-efficiency solutions, today’s portable-power-management ICs tend to be highly integrated devices developed for specific applications. Manufacturers’ datasheets often focus on the main application for which the part was designed and ignore other ways in which the circuit could be used. In many applications it is quick and cost-effective to modify the standard circuits by changing their topology and adding a few discrete components to extend functionality. This topic describes a number of ways in which some of Texas Instruments portable power management ICs can be used in nonstandard configurations to solve various application problems.