External Battery that runs the Pi

[Retroman]

So I've been running my Pi from an external battery pack while I wait for my charger to arrive in the post. It's a Philips Power2Go battery(see below for links) and so far its been running for about 6 hours(few reboots, bit of web surfing and small bit of coding and a lot of idle time) and the battery is currently at 60 percent or perhaps a bit lower than that.

Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone was looking to run theirs from a similar battery. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse hooked up to the Pi and no hub or usb drives so that probably why I'm getting such a long run out of it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philip.....B00167D94U

http://www.philips.ie/c/power-.....pp101-drp3

[Retroman]

This is the current (test) setup. I hacked together the case in about 2 seconds from an old DLT tape case and a bit of stabby action from my SOG Seal knife to make a few holes.



.

[secretreeve]

sorry i just have to state this

LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERIES

these batteries can be EXTREMELY dangerous if not cared for properly and handled correctly. if these batteries are allowed to short out, overheat or sustain other damage they have a slight tendancy to explode with damaging effects. the smoke from them is EXTREMELY toxic.

however, when used correctly, they're awesome batteries lol

[rmm200]

I have been trying to get someone (anyone!) to measure the current to the Pi with no peripherals plugged in - just to give a baseline.

Maybe you could measure the current from your battery pack and post it??

First one to post how much current the Pi actually uses gets - well my thanks anyway...

[Retroman]

rmm200 said:


I have been trying to get someone (anyone!) to measure the current to the Pi with no peripherals plugged in - just to give a baseline.

Maybe you could measure the current from your battery pack and post it??

First one to post how much current the Pi actually uses gets - well my thanks anyway...


I'm no expert on that side of things but I do have a multimeter so if you tell me where to take the readings from I can do it. I mainly use the multimeter to take readings from my arcade machine and arcade pcb's etc.

.

[rmm200]

First - do no damage!

To measure current the multimeter would have to be set on an Amps range. 2 Amps max would be safe. Then the probes would be used in series with either the ground line or +5. Just don't put the probes from +5 to ground - you will blow a multimeter fuse. If these instructions are not clear - don't attempt it. We have enough hardware hackers here that someone can try it. (insert obligatory disclaimers here - I am not responsible if you burn your house down).

[lewmur]

secretreeve said:


sorry i just have to state this

LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERIES

these batteries can be EXTREMELY dangerous if not cared for properly and handled correctly. if these batteries are allowed to short out, overheat or sustain other damage they have a slight tendancy to explode with damaging effects. the smoke from them is EXTREMELY toxic.

however, when used correctly, they're awesome batteries lol



Why do you have to state it?  It's not as if the OP is jury-rigging anything.  Lithium Polymer batteries are used in just about every cell phone and tablet in existence.  Do you bother giving this warning to all those users?

[selsinork]

rmm200 said:


I have been trying to get someone (anyone!) to measure the current to the Pi with no peripherals plugged in - just to give a baseline.


Already done, have a look in the "Requests for you lucky Pi owners" thread, but to summarise, with nothing other than the SD card but booted into Arch, ~330mA

With literally just power, around 70mA - but this leaves you with the GPU not even booted so not exactly useful.

With the SD card in, there's a couple of seconds where you get 100-150mA, then up to 300+ as it starts accessing the card and booting.

IMHO these 'baselines' aren't particularly useful as with nothing plugged in you're not able to actually use the thing.

Even with some stuff plugged in, the measurements still aren't useful - unless you happen to have exactly the same peripherals as I do and that's unlikely

However they do give you some sort of ballpark idea which was why I posted them..

[rmm200]

Thanks!  That is what I was looking for. 500 MA cell phone charger will be fine as long as I am using a powered hub - which I am. Blows away those 700 MA estimates.

[selsinork]

rmm200 said:


Thanks!  That is what I was looking for. 500 MA cell phone charger will be fine as long as I am using a powered hub - which I am. Blows away those 700 MA estimates.



np, but I think someone needs to do some measurements while playing video just to be on the safe side.  I broke 550mA just copying a file off the network onto a usb flash drive, so it's going to get interesting if you're streaming video and adding whatever the GPU needs while it's working.

Sure a powered usb hub will help, but at least in my case the keyboard/mouse was only something like 5mA so only a tiny saving.

There's five power hungry LEDs that could be disabled if you're really wanting to save on the power budget

[secretreeve]

lewmur said:


secretreeve said:


sorry i just have to state this

LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERIES

these batteries can be EXTREMELY dangerous if not cared for properly and handled correctly. if these batteries are allowed to short out, overheat or sustain other damage they have a slight tendancy to explode with damaging effects. the smoke from them is EXTREMELY toxic.

however, when used correctly, they're awesome batteries lol


Why do you have to state it?  It's not as if the OP is jury-rigging anything.  Lithium Polymer batteries are used in just about every cell phone and tablet in existence.  Do you bother giving this warning to all those users?


actually i give this warning on forums im a member of when LiPo batteries come up in enviroments where things are DIY assembled. like DIY projects runnign the PI from a LiPo battery.

its good and valid information, i fail to see your objection to it.

and have you ever seen what happens when a cells left in a car, in direct sunlight during the summer?

[DanKegel]

Here are another couple external-ish batteries with USB out that seem like good possibilities:

http://www.amazon.com/x/dp/B004B9ZK4M/ 4xAA (2000mAh), $19

http://www.adorama.com/BYSOCPELS.html 2000 mAh, $20?

http://www.amazon.com/x/dp/B005XJWR5O/  4000 mAh, $36

http://www.amazon.com/x/dp/B005VBNYDS/ 5200 mAh, $34

There are bazillions of these gizmos.   I'd love to find a decent one for $10, but that seems unlikely. http://www.amazon.com/x/dp/B004Z6K0GE looks like a decent one for $4 (remaindered), but it's so poorly described it's hard to tell.

Please post here and let us know which batteries you've tried.

[liz]

Make sure you also calculate for the cost of a 5v linear regulator to stick between the batteries and your Raspberry Pi. You'll massively decrease the lifespan of the PoP package if you put too much voltage through (and it won't trip the clamp until you get to 7v, so there's a window in there in which you might not realise you're doing damage).

[DanKegel]

All the batteries I pointed to have 5v USB out jacks, so they already have regulators built in, I think.

[DanKegel]

I ordered a http://www.amazon.com/x/dp/B004B9ZK4M/, and it does power the pi just fine for the half-hour I tried it.  I'll report on battery life once I get a chance to test it.

[Chris.Rowland]

A mobile phone charger for a car might be a good way to run a Pi off a battery. Just as with the mains chargers they should be regulated to provide the correct 5V supply.

I've got a HP 314 sat nav that I use in the glider and that has 5V 1A chargers for both mains and 12V.

The 12V 7Ah sealed lead acid batteries are readily available.  They like being charged properly and kept fully charged.

[rgmward]

personally, I have recently bought one of htese 7000mah batteries for charging my android phone while travelling

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/produc.....00_s00_i00

i realised last night that this might be an interesting power source for the raspberry, so will be trying this once mine finally arrives.

if someone else is reporting 2 hours use if 40% drain on 2000mah battery pack, i should be looking at about 18 hours of use on a full charge (without powering a screen) - that will be the next challenge

[alexeames]

Retroman said:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philip.....B00167D94U

http://www.philips.ie/c/power-.....pp101-drp3


That's an expensive battery pack. LOL. Nearly 3 Pisworth.

Fortunately I'm in possession of a bunch of lipos and chargers I use in RC planes. Add a £4 5v regulator and I'm good to go. Yours may be a good plug and play solution, but (taking on board all safety warnings) the job can be done for a lot less money. A 2000 mAh 3s (11.1v nominal) lipo costs about £20. You would need a lipo charger though (£20-30).

[tech2077]

Found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-DC-Converter ... 0953393429
Though from china, seems like it would be a great way to power the raspi off a 1000-1500ma lipo battery, making it easily portable.