Use 3.6V battery with powerboost 500c?

[pinn3]

Is it possible to use a 3.6V 900mAh LiPo battery with the powerboost 500c to power an old raspberry pi model b?

[adafruit_support_bill]

Yes. But at 900mAh, your run-time won't be very long. I'd guess maybe 30-40 minutes.

[pinn3]

Thanks for your quick answer!
I was actually planning on wiring up two of them in parallell so i should be fine

[adafruit_support_bill]

Generally, you should not wire batteries in parallel. Small differences in cell characteristics can result in large imbalances in the load. This is especially important with LiPo cells which can become dangerously unstable.

[pinn3]

Thanks for the warning. Ill settle with one battery until i get a larger one then

[mzelios]

I have a new 3.7V Lithium-Fe battery (2000mAH) that I'm charging with the Powerboost 500c.
The battery came out of the box with 3.2V, and after several charging hours, the green light lit up, and
the orange (charging) is flickering. Voltage is now a dandy 4.2V

Aside from the flickering, are there any problems charging a LiFe battery with the 500c?

[adafruit_support_mike]

Big problems.. the charger isn't compatible with that battery.

LiPos are picky about their charging cycle, so you need to match the charger to the cell. Our chargers are made for 3.7v LiPos, not the LiFe chemistry.

[mzelios]

Thanks!
I thought the Li-FE might not be the thing, so I went ahead and ordered
two of Ada's 3.7V/2500's to use with the Powerboost 500c, and the FONA.

I'm making a GPS tracking device for a car.
I tore-appart a dollar store BANNED-lighter charger with two USB 5V power ports (1.0A and 2.1A).
The 2.1A USB will go to the Powerboost - with battery, which will dump 5v out onto a
bus for an Arduino Micro and Ada's uFL GPS module.

The 1.0A will go to the FONA (also with Battery).

The whole shebang gets 12V from the vehicle's PDC, but I want a really good battery runtime
in case the battery is disco'd.

I think I'm on the right path at this point.

I'll be able to SMS the FONA, and upon validation,
the Arduino will get GPS location, parse it, and SMS it back to me via the FONA.

Ada has put together some great Arduino libraries for these, and so far, so good.

Thanks Again!

[adafruit_support_mike]

Sounds good. Post photos when you're ready to show off! ;-)