# Can I charge from low voltages with an Adafruit Powerboost Charger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Electronics\ **Created:** [August 10, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/can-i-charge-from-low-voltages-with-an-adafruit-powerboost-charger/836 "2015-08-10T02:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![archieroques](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/archieroques/32/1119_2.png) [@archieroques](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/archieroques)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/can-i-charge-from-low-voltages-with-an-adafruit-powerboost-charger/836/1 "2015-08-10T02:46:17Z")
I’m planning an off-grid charging project, which will use a variety of power sources (USB, solar, foot crank etc.) to charge an on-board LiPo battery. Then, there’ll be a USB port, and I can plug in a phone or whatever and charge it. I could use an Adafruit Powerboost 500/1000 to just get 5v from the various sources, which could potentially be quite low (i.e. if I’m using the solar panel and it’s cloudy). However, this won’t charge a LiPo battery. The Powerboost 500C/1000C will charge a battery, but want a micro USB input with which to do so. Will the 500C/1000C models charge a battery if I give them, say, 2 or 3 volts through the micro USB as an input? In other words, does the micro USB on the 500C/1000C have similar circuitry to the power input on the 500/1000? Or would I have to get a 500/1000 to step up the voltage first, and then put that into the 500C/1000C to do the charging? Thanks, Archie ---
**Author:** ![jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jon](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/jon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 8:18am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/can-i-charge-from-low-voltages-with-an-adafruit-powerboost-charger/836/2 "2015-08-11T08:18:15Z")
Hey Archie, I’m not sure of the answer to that question - I’d recommend posting it on the Adafruit forums to see if they know!