I am thinking to DIY some wires into a Y-sharp stuff so that I can plug two batteries (in parallel) into Zero Lipo simultaneously.
When use, I plug only one battery. When battery is low, I plug in a 2nd battery and then remove the 1st one, so power becomes non-stop. My concern is if this action will induce electric pulse that is harmful to Zero Lipo/Zero W, especially when Zero W is running? Or, any chance it will trigger a reboot or something?
If everything is viable, it will be fun to do something so that my Zero W will notify me when battery is low (thru BT or wifi to my mobile).^^
Another question
I have 10 small LiPo batteries idle; I bought them for my mini-helicopter before. Can I use them on Zero LiPo? My concern is the “10 C” marking which means that they can tolerate higher currency output (low internal resistance?). I think it is good for brushless motor but not sure if it hurts electronics?
I’ll ask our engineers, but it’s my understanding that by quickly plugging in a second battery and unplugging the original one for charging you’re skipping some of the concerns that might arise from running LiPo’s in parallel like this.
A higher current capacity battery should be fine, in the case of Zero LiPo there’s simply no point at which it’s going to draw anywhere near 10A, or whatever the rating of those batteries may be.
Don’t try to run LiPo batteries for a sustained time in parallel, it can be done, but it’s best avoided.
There would be a high current flowing from the full battery to the empty battery while they’re both plugged in simultaneously. The current would most probably be higher than the max charge rating of the empty lipo, though if it’s just for a few seconds i’m not sure if it’d do much harm. If the batteries have overcurrent protection circuitry, it might trigger though and turn the power off.
Sorry I am not familiar with Forum’s interface. Is niko the engineer? or I can expect some more feedback from professionals?
The beauty of the above red-plug is that I can plug and unplug very quickly, probably within 1 second. I don’t care much if it harms the battery, my main concern is if it will burn the boards. BTW, does the Zero LiPo has something to protect itself (then the zero w behind) from such kind of impulse.
fyi, lipo for mini-helicopter does not has any protection circuit, this is to protect the helicopter ;p
btw, what does the “@” sign do? It sends an email or a private message within pimoroni.com?
to pi2003, does this message reply to you? I press the “Reply” button at the right bottom of your message, but looks like I am replying to the thread!
