Battery Percent on New Battery

I have just bought a new battery for my Electron
A 3.6v 19Ah battery to ensure its lasts as long as possible.
However, when it is plugged in and running, it is not giving me an accurate State Of Charge.
Its a brand new battery and the SoC is coming up as 1.2%
Is the state of charge specific to the LiPo battery?
If so, is there a way of finding an accurate percentage of different batteries?

Kind Regards

Chris

It is specific to the voltage discharge curve of the LiPo single cell.

Have you charged the battery to full yet?

What type of cell are you using?

Hi there,
Thank you for your quick response.

http://au.element14.com/eve/er34615/battery-lithium-3-6v-d/dp/1973584

that is the battery I am using, sitting in a battery holder, plugged into the same plug as the LiPo battery as it would not power the device through the GPIO pins.

It’s a non-rechargeable battery. You’re not going to try to charge it I guess?

No, the battery will not be charged.

You can’t use this battery because it can not handle the current the Electron requires to run.

The Electron can use up to 2,000mA of current and this battery has a max continuous discharge of 230mA which is 10x less than the Electron consumes at its max power consumption.

The SOC reading is low because the Electron is pulling to much power for this cell which drops the cells output voltage.

Okay then thank you.

I need an extremely long life battery (as long as possible) as my Electron does not do much.
It records a high input once a second. But sleeps when nothing is recorded after 10 minutes.
What sort of battery would you recommend? The LiPo does not last long enough and recharging it every day is not an option.

Is this in a place where you can harvest sunlight or close to a light bulb?

Solar energy harvesting is an option that works.

No, it is underground.

I had a look at this;
https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/electron-datasheet/#recommended-operating-conditions-

As my Electron will be using 3G, at least 800mA current is required? Am i reading that right?
And 3.6v is okay?

Sorry for all the questions, I’m new to the field of electronics!

Yea, the power consumption will depend on how high the cellular power is bumped up to communicate with the cell tower and this is done automatically. The max power consumption can be 2000mA so the battery needs to be able to handle that much at least to be safe.

3.6v LiPo is good.

Here is a large selection of LIPo cells http://www.batteryspace.com/li-ionsinglecell.aspx

Just be sure to get a battery protection circuit with the battery to prevent under and over discharge and short circuits just like the battery that comes with the Electron has built in. Batteryspace can supply you with one already installed if you desire, just ask them to add it.

Okay, thank you very much.

Is there any way I can work out how long my device will last?
I.e how much power it will use during normal operation?

Obviously, before I go and buy more batteries, I need to know that they will last as long as possible, without the need for a forklift to deliver it.

It adds up so it’s best to calculate the real world power draw.

You can measure current consumption using a multi-meter and we can probably help you measure sleep current draw once you have your code worked out if your multimeter can not measure uA current well.

Powering the Electron via the 3.3v pin will give you the lowest sleep power consumption because it bypasses the 3.3v regulator.

Once you know current consumption numbers then you can calculate how large of a battery you will need.

Temp plays a role in this also since battery capacity changes based on the batteries temp. Batteries also self discharge at a rate of 3% or more per month or more based on temp so lots to think about.

Learning a lot here. :slight_smile:

So, I should power the device via the 3.3v pin. Do I just plug it into the 3.3v and GND pins?

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Looks like we can’t power the Electron via the 3.3v pin for some reason. This is the first I have read this. I did test the Electron Sleep mode power consumption and to get the advertised sleep current the Electron had to be powered via the 3.3v pin.

Looks like you are just going to have to power the Electron via the VBat pin and the sleep current will be higher.

Post your code and lets see if other can help get it into the best low power state as possible when sleeping.

Me again! :slight_smile:

How is this one for a replacement??

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That would work just fine.

You could parallel them together to get a 5, 10, 15, 20Ah battery pack.

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Sweet!

Thank you very much for your assistance! :slight_smile:

Thanks @RWB for the help here!

Hey, One last question! Sorry!

This states “Although these cells are rated for 2C continuous discharge, the wiring and connectors are only rated up to 1A”

Does that mean these will not be suitable??

It’s probably fine. It’s probably the same connector and wiring gauge as what is on the 2000mAh battery that comes with the Electron. I would check once you get it if you go that route.