I am making a speaker for my sailing dinghy, and I need it to be rechargeable. I am looking to find a board that will recharge a lipo battery through a usb C connection. The board must also be able to output power aswell so I can leave the battery plugged into the rechargeable board.
What is the most suitable board for me to use?
How much current does your speaker draw? Pimoroni has a board called LiPo-Amigo-Pro, but it only delivers a limited amount of current since the charger limits the current (default: 200mA, with a jumper modification 500mA).
Otherwise, there are many more solutions like this on the market, each with a slightly different target current.
Just had a look, my speaker draws 2A, any recommendations for that?
Do you also know what voltage you need and what voltage you have? A LiPo that can deliver 2A is at the upper end of typical LiPos. You might want to google for a power-bank with pass-through charging.
My speaker requires 5V, and the lipo battery i have provides 3.7V. So that is a problem I hadnt realised.
Would a powerbank not be too big? As it would have to fit inside my speaker
Sounds like you need a charge/boost board like the MP2636 Power Booster & Charger Module - MP2636 Power Booster & Charger Module
Yes, this is the big brother of the Lipo-Amigo-Pro and certainly a good choice. Out of stock currently and not USB-C, but you will find similar products on the market.
It might help if you post your complete setup. Usually, a speaker is driven by an amplifier and you power the amplifier, not the speaker. So it would be good to know which amplifier you are using. Can you post a link to your product?
It would also be important to know the real current draw. Even if your speaker draws a max of 2A, this does not really imply it is drawing that much in normal operation. So you should also measure your real requirements. 2A is very much… It would also be good to know how you are using your speaker. Is it just music you want to listen to? Or is it for something else?
These are the two links for the battery and amplifier that im using.
I will only be using it to listen for music
I would go with the MP3626 that @CarlC had posted above. Although not available from Pimoroni currently, you will find it in UK I think. Otherwise: I don’t think you will use full 2A - this would be at maximum volume. Nevertheless, I would also test how long your Lipo will last before you are going on a trip.