Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

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harrypower
 
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Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

Post by harrypower »

  • I ordered some PowerBoost 500 Charger - Rechargeable 5V Lipo USB Boost @ 500mA+ PRODUCT ID: 1944 devices with some 2200 ma lipo batteries to use as a basic UPS with my BBB rev C and my Raspberry Pi version B. The power boost works with Raspberry Pi devices ok but not the BBB . It seems with nothing hooked up the the BBB except ethernet still draws too much current to allow the battery to charge!
  • I have tested with several power boost charger devices and battery combinations to ensure i did not have a bad power boost or battery in the test but still no go. I used an inline current measurement on the setup to find out how much is used and the BBB goes from about 200 ma to 300 ma but it stays on the lower side during most of the testing. That would seem like it is sufficient but i think the inaccuracies of the current tester is not giving me correct information. Note the Raspberry pi seems to show about the same readings but it has no problem working with the power boost charger device.
My question is has anybody used this Power Boost Charger for this purpose and had success? Is there a way to reduce power on the BBB to see if i can get it to work? I am not using HDMI nor is it plugged in. In fact nothing is plugged in other then ethernet for headless operation. I even turned off the leds on the BBB with bone script and it still is not enough reduction of power! Online searches of BBB power use seems to indicate 350 ma is about the norm for what i am doing so that still should leave some for battery charging with the Power Boost Charger!
  • What happens if i leave it running with Power Boost Charger plugged in the input power adaptor and plugged into BBB is the BBB just turns off when battery gets to low! Also i can measure the battery voltage dropping as the test progresses. Again Note this does not happen with the Raspberry Pi

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

Post by adafruit2 »

What happens. Does it never turn on? does it turn off after a period of time? Please be more specific than " The power boost works with Raspberry Pi devices ok but not the BBB . " so we can help debug!

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harrypower
 
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Re: Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

Post by harrypower »

Ok what happens is the power boost powers the raspberry pi and the BBB. This is expected because the power boost produces 5 vdc. The yellow led indicating charge stays on for both the raspberry pi and the BBB operation. This also is expected because the battery is used to power the devices and will need charging. Now if the battery voltage is monitored the raspberry pi set up will have the battery voltage increase and then reach a stable voltage around 4.2 vdc. The BBB setup will however have the battery voltage slowly drop from what ever level it starts at to such a point that the red led turns on. This indicates the BBB setup battery is now about to turn off. Once the battery reaches the low threshold the BBB seems to reset or just turn off with out warning. I assume this is because the powering voltage for the BBB is lower then 5 vdc but i have not measured it when this happens. The thing to note is i have now had the raspberry pi setup running on for several days solid now and the battery level is stable at 4.2 vdc. The BBB setup i have tried several combinations of power boost circuit with battery and in each case the voltage of the battery drops causing the BBB to simply turn off with out warning as if the power to it is unstable. Note i have also started the BBB setup with a fully charged lipo battery and i have also used the power boost battery combo that works on the raspberry pi ( that was working ) on the BBB and it still causes the BBB to turn off when the battery drops low.

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

Post by adafruit2 »

Yeah, that sounds like the BBB just draws way more power than the Pi! Not much you can do about it, the charger is limited to 500mA max rate!

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harrypower
 
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Re: Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

Post by harrypower »

Ok.. Well not complaining but i wanted this to be a solution for basic ups for both Raspberry pi and BBB. On the power boost charger shop page is this statement:
Great for powering your robot, Arduino project, single-board-computer such as Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone!
This seems to be true for the Raspberry pi but no the BBB then. Now again i have nothing hooked up to either the pi's or the BBB used in testing other then ethernet so i would think this is almost the lowest use case. This means in my thinking that maybe the shop page for this power boost product should not include the BBB. I understand that we the user should be aware of the power limit of this power boost charger product but on paper it seemed to me that this should work with the BBB and the fact that your shop page even says this made me think it could be done. Anyways great product and keep up the great work. I guess i will need to find another solution for what i want to do!

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Power Boost Charger with BBB Rev C !

Post by adafruit2 »

Ahh, OK! The product does say

Code: Select all

Just be aware that the charge rate is 500mA max, so if you're drawing more than ~300mA continuously from the 5V output side, the battery will slowly drain since the charge rate is less than the dis-charge rate.

We'll update the description to be more clear - if you want a refund just email support@adafruit!

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