Up Board Battery Voltage

csinnottUNR

Hey Everyone,

I'm currently working on a project where we are using an UP Board for mobile data collection. Essentially, the subject wears the UP Board on their belt or in a bag while going through their day. To make this process mobile, we have started using the S.USV UPs board supplied by Olmatic seen here:

https://up-shop.org/up-peripherals/256-mobile-ups-wireless-power-supply-for-up-boards.html

Unfortunately neither the stock 300mAh nor the 3000mAh battery run the UP Board long enough for us to complete a data collection session (10-12 hours).

My question: One obvious solution is to use a higher capacity battery, although with the stock voltage being 3.7V these batteries seem to be very hard to find. Is it acceptable to use a higher voltage battery along the original battery connection or the other, external power connection? General insight from others trying to use the UP Board in a mobile capacity would also be great. Thanks.

rreignier

Hi @csinnottUNR
I personally use powerbank to power my UpBoards, up to 26800 mAh, I can last up to 8 hours but with several USB peripherals.
The downside is that the UpBoard cannot get the battery level so the user has to check it manually.

DCleri

The risk with powerbank, if not too powerful is that the voltage level might drop suddenly if the board is requesting peak currents.

Regarding the battery, you would need to check with Olmatic if they can suggest a replacement with bigger battery for that HAT.

csinnottUNR

@rreignier Does the powerbank you use connect via USB, the barrel connector, or something else? If you could send me a link to the powerbank you use that would be awesome as well.

@DCleri Thanks. I'll definitely reach out to Olmatic.

olmatic

Hi @csinnottUNR

Thank you for the Information.

We already had simmiliar Replys from other customers and thus decided to make bigger capacities up to 20Ah available. These are battery packs with single cells in parallel and specific designed for these purposes.

Please get in touch with service@olmatic.de for further Information and quotes regarding the batteries.

Thank you.

rreignier

Hi @csinnottUNR
I do not have the reference at hand but I have used the two 5V pins on the 40-pin GPIO connector with two GND.
It is important to use two pins to be able to pass enough current.

csinnottUNR

@rreignier I'm assuming you are doing this without Olmatic's board; and thus, without any other battery plugged in save the CMOS battery on the UP Board itself?

Also, I'm assuming you are disassembling your powerbank to some extent and running directly from the battery's pos. and neg. terminals to the GPIO pins (i.e. not going from USB to the GPIO somehow)?

rreignier

@csinnottUNR Yes, I do not use Olmatic battery, just a plain powerbank. But as mentionned previously, the battery level is checked regularly to avoid power shortage.

I use the USB connector to get a regulated 5V output and not directly the lithium battery that outputs 3,7V. I have a USB cable on which I use only the Vbus and GND wires, connected to the GPIO.

3cells

@DCleri said:
The risk with powerbank, if not too powerful is that the voltage level might drop suddenly if the board is requesting peak currents.

Regarding the battery, you would need to check with Olmatic if they can suggest a replacement with bigger battery for that HAT.

We use a 50000 mAh battery (power bank) to run our kit for up to 3 days off a USB port. Generally it works fine but occasionally it fails. We have been scratching our heads for sometime on this but think this is down to the fact that the battery output is limited to 2.1A and at times, when loading the UP Board, that is not enough to supply demand. Monitoring voltage and current using a cheap inline USB monitor, voltage doesn't drop below 4.9 and current draw doesn't exceed 1.5A so should be ok, but USB monitor doesn't show peak.

csinnottUNR

Related question: do batteries plugged into the extended voltage plug, seen on top right of the picture in the following link charge/maintain a battery as well?

https://up-shop.org/up-peripherals/256-mobile-ups-wireless-power-supply-for-up-boards.html

My guess is no. My concern here is that I could buy a larger battery (of higher voltage), but need to charge it on a charger separate from this board.