Been building a mini Cyberdeck for a while now & nearly finished, but need some help on powering the electronics, I’m using an Orange Pi 3 zero W which is 5V 3A & a 5" screen in the lid.
I can just power it off a standard phone power bank which i’ve done in testing, but id like a more “maker” way of supplying a USB port for power.
Is there a way of getting a 5v 3a supply from a Lipo battery to 2 USB port (1 for the screen too)?
I was looking at the LiPo Amigo Pro but looks like its only 4.2v output.
So direkt LiPo power is nothing you can use. You will need a step-up converter that regulates the voltage up to 5V.
But a LiPo is also limited in current it can deliver. Although I don’t believe you need your 3A (and your standard phone power bank is likely to max out at 2A), you will probably need something from 1A upward. This is ok for large single cell LiPos (18650 industry cells), but your runtime will be limited. Multi-cell LiPos is nothing you should build yourself, that is dangerous. Here it is better to buy something from people who know what they are doing.
My suggestion: as a first step, measure your current in normal use. Once we know what your real current needs are, we can think about a solution that fits. On the other hand, if your phone-charger solution is good enough for your needs, then why don’t keep it simple and stick with it?
What he said. If you need a multi-cell Lipo, buy a pre-made. They match the cells up so they charge correctly etc. A multi-cell will give you more current capacity, along with a longer run time. Boosting to 5V can be an issue.
Something like this may work, assuming you don’t need more than 2.5A MP2636 Power Booster & Charger Module (pimoroni.com)
This might also come in handy. Dual microB USB Power Cable (pimoroni.com)
I did wonder about the drop off, I’ve started learning about RC planes so beginning to understand more about LiPo’s. So maybe thats not my solution. I was hoping a 3S that i have might be viable at 11.1v 2200mah but as you say, thats fully charged.
Reports are that at boot the 3 Zero W takes 2.2w then 0.8w idle ( I’ll confirm these numbers).
I kind of wanted to use a solar charger option linked into a Lipo, mainly for space. power banks are still pretty bulky.
I assume this is without the screen? These 2A you see during boot are probably rush-in spikes. The other figures are within what I see with similar boards.
With 350mA average you will have problems with a solar-charger solution. But this really depends on how you operate your cyberdeck (i.e. how long is on-time compared to off-time and so on). When solar enters the game, you need special chargers, just plugging in your panels in a normal charger will not work. Pimoroni has these chargers (from Adafruit), and as far as I have tested them, they work fine. At least outdoors and in bright sun.
