Battery Search

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2015-05-10 by Hardware_Hacks

Hi All,

I'm looking to move away from my power bank (via usb) and get a battery that utilises the battery socket on my Espruino. I'd like to keep the power bank for my other prototyping so it's time to hunt down a different power source.

I'd like some help on picking out a battery and a suitable charging unit. My project currently requires me to supply 5V with peaks of 2A to power a GSM board as well as GPS & the Espruino.

My power bank is a 10,000 mAh and supplied 5V/2A I don't mind dropping down to around 6000mAh but anything above and closer to the 10k would be excellent.

Any recommendations? I noticed li-po are mostly at 3.7v so I would need a booster to get the 5v but no ideas on what combinations will work best. I'm currently having a read through the adafruit website.

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2015-05-10 by alexanderbrevig

Have you seen this http://www.espruino.com/Battery ? :)

EDIT: after reading your post more thoroughly I guess you have seen it. Have you tried searching an online catalog for something that meets your requirements?

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2015-05-10 by DrAzzy

What about size and weight? Is it something where that's an issue?

What do you want to charge it from?

[gfwilliams]

Posted at 2015-05-11 by @gfwilliams

I'd have a quick check about the GSM board's requirements... I thought most of them had a 3.3v regulator on-board so you may find you can run them directly off 3.7v, which makes you life a lot easier.

If so that makes your life a lot easier. Just get either some phone batteries and connect them in parallel (Adafruit sell a charger board but it only handles a single cell's worth of voltage)

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2015-05-11 by Hardware_Hacks

@gfwilliams the gsm2 click supports 3.3v io but still requires a 5v line in. This has been brought up a number of times on their forum as their marketing seemed to suggest it would only need the 3.3v in.

@drazzy I'm fitting the whole project into a black vox which is 743 inches. There is probably about 422 inches left after adding all my other components in. Weight is no issue within reason.

[gfwilliams]

Posted at 2015-05-11 by @gfwilliams

Ok, my suggestion would be:

• Get a bunch of phone batteries (or 18650 cells with the protection circuitry in them) and connect them in parallel.
• Get something like this - it's a 5v switchmode supply and a battery charger, all in one.

[espruino-discuss3]

Posted at 2015-05-11 by DrAzzy

18650's would be my choice, with that much space. In parallel, I think, because that simplifies charging...

Don't get the high current ones like they use in ecigs - you want the normal protected ones, so an accidental short doesn't involve as much smoke. They're cheaper too.