Finding Parts

I have a project with ESP8266 to run in deep sleep mode with Battery. I did see on your website about LiPo Battery and would like to purchase a suitable one for my project from you. So can you please advise me of the right battery that you have in stock?
And other parts I need.

Thanks .
Johan

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Hi Johan,

Which breakout board were you using, or were you using a bare module?

In either case, many breakouts by Adafruit and Sparkfun feature 2-Pin JST-PH connectors that connect straight to our range of LiPo batteries:

Keen to hear more about your project!
-James

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Hi James,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I am using the following from Jaycar:

The project;

The board will have two buttons and will be in deep sleep mode. It will be configured with a static IP address. When any of the buttons is pressed, It will wake up connect to the WiFi send a short udp Packet and will sleep again. There is no power to charge the batteries where this device will be mounted. If the battery can last for six months or more will be good.

Hoping you will have a battery that will meet my requirements.

Thanks

Johan

2 Likes

Hi Johan,

Unforunately Jaycar doesnt seem to have a spec on the current usage of the board, we could speculate using the datasheet from Espressif although to get a much more accurate estimate it would be best to measure the power usage using an accurate power meter such as the Qoitech Otii Arc. Then picking your battery is as simple as average power draw

Since a LiPo’s voltage drops as it discharges you’ll need a converter to step it up to a usable voltage for the breakout board you are using, I’d recommend one of the powerboost modules, the lower the quiescent current the better

Measuring how much current the system uses at each point is essential for choosing your battery. Sam wraps up the whole topic perfectly in this guide,

Without being topped up a new variable comes into play being the internal discharge of the battery, luckily LiPo’s have a relatively low internal resistance.

Turning on and using the WiFi radio consumes a lot of power, if you can get away with it storing the time/button press status and uploading a whole day/week at once will let you extend the battery life even more.

I won’t be able to spec a specific battery that will be able to last X(without all of the data) amount of time but using the guides and advice linked above you’ll be able to navigate through the maths and select one!

PS: there are lots of other forum topics here that discuss something similar, I’d take a look around and uncover some other nuggest of information, here’s a few good ones:

Liam.

3 Likes

Liam and James have pretty much nailed it, however there is another option if you don’t care about cost: just buy the biggest battery you can and hope it’s enough.

Here’s a 20 Ah - what ever you’re doing, this’ll probably last long enough:

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Hi,

I’m thinking of building a small server using a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board.

Can anyone recommend any cases for this combination?

Thanks,

Phil

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Hi Phil,

Case recommendations for compute modules are a bit tricky as the case is entirely dependent on the carrier board that the compute module is mounted into.
We don’t have a case for the official Pi CM4 IO board as it’s quite large and intended to be used during product development before your CM4 gets integrated into a smaller carrier board.

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Thanks @Trent5487676

It’s a shame that they don’t. I prefer the idea of using a Pi CM4 IO board with a CM4 because there are more and better I/O options with the PCIe slot. Oh well! I shall look for something elsewhere. I have seen some cases but they are truly awful industrial metal designs.

3 Likes

Hi Phillip,

No worries, hopefully as the compute modules get more popular we will see more options available for them. Historically they have been an industry-only product so there aren’t many hobbyist style accessories for them. The release of the GPi 2 Case may go some way to generating hype and interest from hobbyists and change that.

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Welcome Phil!

Another option if you’re still prototyping would be to make an acrylic base plate or 3D printed enclosure - we have a couple services available if you dont have your own tools and tutorials on designing the parts!
(Unfortunately our 3D printing service is offline at the moment - if you click 'get notified we’ll let you know when its available again)

Liam.

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