The BQ24400D is a multi-chemistry battery charger controller in an 8-SOIC package. It handles charge termination for NiCd, NiMH, and Li-Ion cells, using programmable timer and voltage thresholds.
The BQ24400D lets you set charge termination by an external timing capacitor and a voltage reference divider. That means you tune the charge end-point to the cell chemistry without swapping the IC. For a NiMH pack you set the timer to a fixed interval; for Li-Ion you use the voltage threshold. The trade-off: no I²C or SMBus interface, so the profile is fixed once the passives are soldered. Good for a dedicated charger board, less flexible for a multi-chemistry universal charger that needs field reconfiguration.
TI has not announced obsolescence for this base part number. The 8-SOIC package and ROHS3 compliance mean it slots into standard lead-free SMT lines without a process waiver.