I’m currently looking to power the Electron for a project that I am doing via a solar panel and a MPPT Solar charger. Ideally, I’d like it to be able to run off of a battery for 8 days in case of extended cloud cover. For this, I calculated that I’d need at least an 11,000 mAh battery. I found this battery (connected to the MPPT) which I would use with the LiPro battery given in the Electron kit connected to the Electron directly (to have 12,000 mAh) but realized that it is only 3.7v and the VIN pin minimum is 3.9v.
I assume a battery like the one I linked would not work then. Does anyone else have any recommendations for a rechargeable battery pack that’s around 10,000 mAh or greater?
The battery you are looking at may work. However, always check the battery terminals for proper polarity BEFORE plugging into your device. Most, if not all, single cell LiPo batteries I bought thru eBay or Amazon needed modified termination to work correctly. I think the same will be true for the battery you found. Looks like the wires are reversed from what you need. But, you can fix that.
Thanks for the heads up about the polarity. Just to be sure, I would use a voltmeter to see when the voltage is negative/positive to determine the leads?
So it would be okay to use a 3.7v battery when the Electron VIN’s recommended range is between 3.9v-12v?
When powered from a LiPo battery alone, the power management IC switches off the internal regulator and supplies power to the system directly from the battery. This reduces the conduction losses and maximizes battery run time. The battery provided with the Electron is a Lithium-Ion Polymer battery rated at 3.7VDC 1,800mAh. You can substitute this battery with another 3.7V LiPo with higher current rating. Remember to never exceed this voltage rating and always pay attention to the polarity of the connector.
No. I have looked into it by watching youtube videos. To save myself the time (and potential trouble ), I just cut the wires, strip them, wire connector the properly swapped lines and done. If you don’t want to cut the JST connector off your brand new LiPo battery, get this (or, something like it):
and do the surgery on it. These come in handy when you want to completely power down your device, quickly, without yanking the wires out of your JST connector, accidentally.
You can simply push down the little metal spring of the contact on the connector on the battery with a needle and pull it out of the plastic housing and reinsert them the other way round (30 seconds)
), I just cut the wires, strip them, wire connector the properly swapped lines and done. If you don’t want to cut the JST connector off your brand new LiPo battery, get this (or, something like it):