All,
I picked up a Flora GPS start pack as well as a couple of other gizmos (including the 24 NeoPixel ring) to work on a basic wearable project. I have a couple of questions:
1) I thought I saw in one of the videos that you can plug in a 3.7V LiPo battery. However, I saw somewhere that the Flora does NOT have a recharge circuit, so you can't plug it into USB at the same time. Correct?
2) Is the included 3-AA battery pack enough to power the 24-ring? I tried playing around with it and only got half the ring to light up. If the answer is No, will the LiPo battery do the job?
Flora starter pack, batteries, and NeoPixel 24 ring
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Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
- devinganger
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:09 am
- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67485
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: Flora starter pack, batteries, and NeoPixel 24 ring
It's safe to plug in a USB cable while the LiPo is connected. There's a diode that protects the LiPo from being shorted to 5v. The Flora won't charge the LiPo while a USB cable is connected, like our Feather boards will though.
A 3-AA pack should provide plenty of power for a 24-pixel ring.. AA cells can usually deliver up to 2A, and the worst-case current consumption of a 24-pixel RGBW ring is about 1.9A.
Just to check, have you set the length of the LED strip to 24 pixels in your code?
A 3-AA pack should provide plenty of power for a 24-pixel ring.. AA cells can usually deliver up to 2A, and the worst-case current consumption of a 24-pixel RGBW ring is about 1.9A.
Just to check, have you set the length of the LED strip to 24 pixels in your code?
- devinganger
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:09 am
Re: Flora starter pack, batteries, and NeoPixel 24 ring
Yes, I thought I had, but what I hadn't done was solder some leads on -- I was hooking up with clips. I'll have to make sure I have more secure electrical connections and give it another shot, see what I find this time.
- devinganger
- Posts: 72
- Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:09 am
Re: Flora starter pack, batteries, and NeoPixel 24 ring
Just to report back, I successfully got the battery pack (non-LiPo) powering the Neopixel 24 ring just as you said. Soldered leads and breadboarding for the win! (And applying some of the Neopixel tutorial to reduce the Neopixel intensity to 1/8th of full.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWHRZGjnNO9/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWHRZGjnNO9/
- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67485
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: Flora starter pack, batteries, and NeoPixel 24 ring
Looking good!
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.