Feather with RTC

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_phillip
 
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Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:28 pm

Feather with RTC

Post by _phillip »

I have been wondering about the following:

As everyone knows, Feather MO WIFI boards can be powered by a 3.7V Lithium polymer battery when main power is lost. This battery can also be recharged by the Feather when powered by normal AC. Why then cannot an external RTC be powered by this same battery instead of requiring a coin cell battery? This would eliminate having to replace this coin cell battery since it cannot be recharged like the 3.7V LiPo battery can. IMO, this would be an extremely useful feature for RTC applications where coin cell battery replacement could disrupt time keeping functionality.

Secondly, is it possible to replace the coin cell battery with a rechargeable battery which is charged by a solar panel? I ask this question because replacing a coin cell battery within an enclosure can be problematic to say the least.

I am going to order several of the Adafruit DS3231 RTC's and begin learning how to use them.

Any and all suggestions/comments are most welcome.

Thank you.

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bidrohini
 
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Re: Feather with RTC

Post by bidrohini »

You can take a look at this board design. This is the universal board for ESP8266 (chip ESP12 from AI-Thinker) the board is designed to be used (optionally) with LiOn\LiPo charger based on TP4056 and DW01, DS3231 time chip and a bunch of different I2C devices.

https://www.pcbway.com/project/sharepro ... S3231.html

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_phillip
 
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Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:28 pm

Re: Feather with RTC

Post by _phillip »

Thank you for your post.

Because my board is already hardwired into an enclosure changing boards with a different form factor is out of the question.

I feel as though I have been around the Arduino/Adafruit globe as least twice since I began this thread.

Bottom line is this: For my particular purpose, it makes more sense (now) to simply tie into a timeAPI and get the 'real time' that I will need for this project. This will eliminate the external RTC and coin cell battery changing drama.

I have coded up a rock solid sketch that downloads time and date (date is not necesary in this case) which enables me to send texts as required.

Thanks again.

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