jon wise
Posts: 49
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 8:21 pm

Battery power

Tue May 09, 2017 8:44 pm

I would like to use battery power. Would it be simply a USB power pack connected to the 5volt connectors on the Voice Hat?

richcreedy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:59 pm

Re: Battery power

Tue May 09, 2017 9:01 pm

providing it provides enough amperage your 5v powervault/bank or whatever you want to call it, should be ok, will need the recommended 2.5 amp. may work on less, but may not be stable

Pipecock
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:35 pm
Location: South Wales

Re: Battery power

Tue May 09, 2017 9:12 pm

I've been using a Pebble Verto and a short USB cable into my AIY for several days now, I'm using a RPi2 with Edimax nano wifi and wireless keybd/mouse. The battery ratings say 5V 1000mA, I haven't had any problems running it yet, no odd behaviours or low power warnings.

jon wise
Posts: 49
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 8:21 pm

Re: Battery power

Wed May 10, 2017 10:44 am

Thanks for feedback on the amount of power, but I am wondering about powering via the Voice Hat. Is there anything more to do than just connecting 5v to the unused solder pads?

LeoWhite
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:20 am
Contact: Website

Re: Battery power

Wed May 10, 2017 11:46 am

jon wise wrote:Thanks for feedback on the amount of power, but I am wondering about powering via the Voice Hat. Is there anything more to do than just connecting 5v to the unused solder pads?
That should be all you need to do. I soldered a 2 pin terminal block to mine (As I couldn't find an appropriate barrel jack socket) so that I could provide a 3A power supply for driving servos. Been running that way for a few days and it hasn't gone up in smoke!

Leo

Bodestone
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 7:14 pm

Re: Battery power

Tue May 16, 2017 10:17 pm

I quite like the idea of http://www.samplerbox.org/article/howto ... iwith18650

Drop an industry recognised 18650 in and recharge the device like a phone.

Of course you could just glue a single battery power bank on but the USB cable is thicker and more cumbersome.

Disclaimer:

Don't buy cheap unbranded batteries.

3400mAh is the current recognised maximum for lithium cobalt batteries. You want button top not flat top too. The decent ones have overcharge, surge and short protection (and don't fit in vape devices so you need to ensure your enclosure is for the correct type if going down this route).
The power banks for phones all contain this type.

You can generally harvest these out of old laptop battery packs but for safety and reliability I would recommend buying new.

The ones people buy for vape devices are flat topped lithium magnesium. They tend to 2500 mAh max but have a much higher current discharge rating that is not needed for powering a pi/torch/laptop. They have no safety circuitry.

If there is a better card for use of this battery let me know (maybe one with a charge indicator) but the standing battery advice follows.

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