PowerBoost 500 Charger LEDs

[Pnuewm]

I've been looking at the PowerBoost 500 Charger and Shield and one the features I like the most are the LED indicators. I'd like to use a PowerBoost in my project, but I'm going to put it inside of an enclosure and so the LEDs won't be visible. The best idea I can come up with is to remove the LEDs that are already there and replace them each with a 5mm LED. I was wondering if there was any better option or if my idea is acceptable.

[adafruit_support_mike]

You can wire LEDs to the breakout holes along the side of the PCB.

The green power-status LED is connected to the 5v pin. The red low-battery-status LED is connected to the LBO pin.

[Pnuewm]

I didn't notice that. What about the "Charging" and "Fully Charged" LEDs? I see that there aren't any breakout holes for those two.

[adafruit_support_mike]

I'm afraid those aren't broken out.

They're both controlled by a single pin on the MCP73831, and you can solder a tap in at any (or all) of these three points:

taps.jpg (49.98 KiB) Viewed 458 times

A 30 gauge wire across the ends of the resistors shouldn't be too hard to solder, and will give you a strong connection.

Once you have the jumper, connect a yellow or orange LED to VCC and a 470 ohm resistor, and a green LED to GND and a 1k resistor. Connect the free ends of both resistors to the tap from the PCB.

[Pnuewm]

Thanks, that's a good idea. I can do the same thing for the Shield version, correct?

[adafruit_support_mike]

Yep. The resistors and LEDs are arranged differently, but the same idea applies.

For the shield you'd connect the tap between the resistors:

shield.jpg (41.71 KiB) Viewed 440 times

[Pnuewm]

The shield version doesn't breakout the 5V or LBO pins, right? I should be able to solder a tap onto each LED's resistor, correct?

[adafruit_support_mike]

That's right, the signal that controls the status LEDs isn't broken out.

A tap to the point between the two resistors will give you the signal you need.

[Pnuewm]

I think that answers all my questions. Thank you for your help.