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  3. Powering with LiPo a mini pro without regulator

Powering with LiPo a mini pro without regulator

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  • epierreE Offline
    epierreE Offline
    epierre
    Hero Member
    wrote on last edited by
    #3

    I'm not sure using a battery would be possible, datasheet says "less than 800mW", some other site "Operating current 40mA".

    I've done this test with MQ135 and it lasted... 2 minutes.;.

    z-wave - Vera -> Domoticz
    rfx - Domoticz <- MyDomoAtHome <- Imperihome
    mysensors -> mysensors-gw -> Domoticz

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    • Vladut GrecuV Offline
      Vladut GrecuV Offline
      Vladut Grecu
      wrote on last edited by
      #4

      It lasted 2 minutes because you read the sensor way to often. For an extended battery life you need to put the arduino to sleep for as much as possible and read the sensors value very rarely.

      epierreE 1 Reply Last reply
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      • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

        Did you consider not recharging the battery over 3.3v? The nrf's 3.3v is a must. You can't go over 3.378v. (tested by me, before the poor little guy fried)

        m26872M Offline
        m26872M Offline
        m26872
        Hardware Contributor
        wrote on last edited by m26872
        #5

        @Vladut-Grecu said:

        Did you consider not recharging the battery over 3.3v? The nrf's 3.3v is a must. You can't go over 3.378v. (tested by me, before the poor little guy fried)

        Any ideas then why the spec says 1.9-3.6V ?

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        • Vladut GrecuV Offline
          Vladut GrecuV Offline
          Vladut Grecu
          wrote on last edited by Vladut Grecu
          #6

          The original nrf may support 3.6 but the chinese models that i have die faster :'/

          m26872M 1 Reply Last reply
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          • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

            The original nrf may support 3.6 but the chinese models that i have die faster :'/

            m26872M Offline
            m26872M Offline
            m26872
            Hardware Contributor
            wrote on last edited by
            #7

            @Vladut-Grecu
            Good point.

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            • Vladut GrecuV Offline
              Vladut GrecuV Offline
              Vladut Grecu
              wrote on last edited by Vladut Grecu
              #8

              What I don`t get is why you want to cut the 3.3v regulator when you only get a 220 micro Amps consumption reduction and the resistors that you use to measure the actual voltage over the Analog pin use way more..

              Use the internal arduino voltage measure. You will see 3.3v even if you get over 3.3v but what you actually need know is when the voltage drops under 3.3v so you know when you have to start recharging your li-po.

              m26872M 1 Reply Last reply
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              • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                What I don`t get is why you want to cut the 3.3v regulator when you only get a 220 micro Amps consumption reduction and the resistors that you use to measure the actual voltage over the Analog pin use way more..

                Use the internal arduino voltage measure. You will see 3.3v even if you get over 3.3v but what you actually need know is when the voltage drops under 3.3v so you know when you have to start recharging your li-po.

                m26872M Offline
                m26872M Offline
                m26872
                Hardware Contributor
                wrote on last edited by
                #9

                @Vladut-Grecu
                "the resistors that you use to measure the actual voltage over the Analog pin use way more" ??

                The recommended voltage divider for 2AAs is 1M+470k and e.g. for 4AAs I use 1M+5M with success.. ~1uA is not that much.

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                • Vladut GrecuV Offline
                  Vladut GrecuV Offline
                  Vladut Grecu
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #10

                  The rezistors + the code that needs to be run? The extra cycles for you to read the Analog pin? I go with the idea that if there is allready a measuring in the arduino anyway why do i need to reinvent the wheel? The voltage divider thingy is ok if you want to measure voltages that go over the vcc value

                  m26872M 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                    The rezistors + the code that needs to be run? The extra cycles for you to read the Analog pin? I go with the idea that if there is allready a measuring in the arduino anyway why do i need to reinvent the wheel? The voltage divider thingy is ok if you want to measure voltages that go over the vcc value

                    m26872M Offline
                    m26872M Offline
                    m26872
                    Hardware Contributor
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #11

                    @Vladut-Grecu
                    The internal method is the obvious choice when battery voltage is Vcc. Whether you need regulator, step-up/down etc or not, is determined by things like sensors and battery range etc.

                    I doubt there are extra cycles compared to the internal method. Besides, I'd say the power loss from extra cycles would be neglectable

                    Regarding the use of voltage divider above and under Vcc, I refer to my answer here.

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                    • Vladut GrecuV Offline
                      Vladut GrecuV Offline
                      Vladut Grecu
                      wrote on last edited by Vladut Grecu
                      #12

                      @m26872 said:

                      the power loss from extra cycles would be neglectable

                      You are right. But 220uA are neglectable aswell. (For me at least)

                      m26872M 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                        @m26872 said:

                        the power loss from extra cycles would be neglectable

                        You are right. But 220uA are neglectable aswell. (For me at least)

                        m26872M Offline
                        m26872M Offline
                        m26872
                        Hardware Contributor
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #13

                        @Vladut-Grecu said:

                        But 220uA are neglectable aswell. (For me at least)

                        Sorry, but the 220uA is drawn continously. Since most of my (and many others) battery applications have long sleep durations, the sleep mode power consumption is the first priority. Second is probably limiting the radio usage (meaning you can do things with just the arduino).

                        AnticimexA 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                          It lasted 2 minutes because you read the sensor way to often. For an extended battery life you need to put the arduino to sleep for as much as possible and read the sensors value very rarely.

                          epierreE Offline
                          epierreE Offline
                          epierre
                          Hero Member
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #14

                          @Vladut-Grecu not really, but keep in mind that some sensors need to reach the needed temperature to be read, so you may need to heat for 10 minutes before reading and thus you will drain your battery. Also, even with a slepp, you may need an on/off on powering the gas sensor for it is continuously powered.

                          z-wave - Vera -> Domoticz
                          rfx - Domoticz <- MyDomoAtHome <- Imperihome
                          mysensors -> mysensors-gw -> Domoticz

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                            Did you consider not recharging the battery over 3.3v? The nrf's 3.3v is a must. You can't go over 3.378v. (tested by me, before the poor little guy fried)

                            V Offline
                            V Offline
                            Viper_Scull
                            wrote on last edited by Viper_Scull
                            #15

                            Sorry, I've been swamped the last couple of days.

                            @Vladut-Grecu said:

                            Did you consider not recharging the battery over 3.3v? The nrf's 3.3v is a must. You can't go over 3.378v. (tested by me, before the poor little guy fried)

                            LiPo batteries should not go below 3V if I'm not mistaken, so charging it to 3.3V would make me recharge it more often. The sensor is for my folks because they still have butane gas for hot water, so I'd like it to last as long as possible. If, like you say, the chinese clon can't operate at more than 3.378V, I'll stick to 2 x AA batteries.

                            As the main power drain occurs when the sensor reads and the radio sends, I thought of measuring the battery just after that happens, which in this case it'd be like a minute or so. Therefore the extra cycles to read the analog input should be negligible.

                            About the step up converter, the store has a couple listed. This one http://goo.gl/1gwmm2 has a usb input and the other one http://www.ebay.com/itm/291352631612?rmvSB=true doesn't. The second one is better to use ion this case, isn't it?

                            @epierre said in Powering with LiPo a mini pro without regulator:

                            @Vladut-Grecu not really, but keep in mind that some sensors need to reach the needed temperature to be read, so you may need to heat for 10 minutes before reading and thus you will drain your battery. Also, even with a slepp, you may need an on/off on powering the gas sensor for it is continuously powered.

                            So you say the sensor would be continuously powered even though we do a gw.sleep?? The heater has a power consumption of 900mW.

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                            • Vladut GrecuV Offline
                              Vladut GrecuV Offline
                              Vladut Grecu
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #16

                              Neither. Those will boost it till 5v. You need something like this.

                              V 1 Reply Last reply
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                              • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                                Neither. Those will boost it till 5v. You need something like this.

                                V Offline
                                V Offline
                                Viper_Scull
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #17

                                @Vladut-Grecu said:

                                Neither. Those will boost it till 5v. You need something like this.

                                But that one wouldn't be enough to feed the 5V that the MQ-2 gas sensor requires, would it?

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                                • m26872M m26872

                                  @Vladut-Grecu said:

                                  But 220uA are neglectable aswell. (For me at least)

                                  Sorry, but the 220uA is drawn continously. Since most of my (and many others) battery applications have long sleep durations, the sleep mode power consumption is the first priority. Second is probably limiting the radio usage (meaning you can do things with just the arduino).

                                  AnticimexA Offline
                                  AnticimexA Offline
                                  Anticimex
                                  Contest Winner
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #18

                                  @m26872 said:

                                  Sorry, but the 220uA is drawn continously. Since most of my (and many others) battery applications have long sleep durations, the sleep mode power consumption is the first priority. Second is probably limiting the radio usage (meaning you can do things with just the arduino).

                                  My take on low power measurement.
                                  I have not gotten around to actually build it yet but I hope to do some measurements in my "lab" this spring.

                                  Do you feel secure today? No? Start requiring some signatures and feel better tomorrow ;)

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                                  • Vladut GrecuV Offline
                                    Vladut GrecuV Offline
                                    Vladut Grecu
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #19

                                    Oh.. for the gas sensor they are ok. Last one (green) seems a little bit more polished. The presence of the usb port is not important, you can solder it off. The usb is the output. Check the picture again. It's your choice.

                                    V 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • Vladut GrecuV Vladut Grecu

                                      Oh.. for the gas sensor they are ok. Last one (green) seems a little bit more polished. The presence of the usb port is not important, you can solder it off. The usb is the output. Check the picture again. It's your choice.

                                      V Offline
                                      V Offline
                                      Viper_Scull
                                      wrote on last edited by Viper_Scull
                                      #20

                                      @Vladut-Grecu said:

                                      Oh.. for the gas sensor they are ok. Last one (green) seems a little bit more polished. The presence of the usb port is not important, you can solder it off. The usb is the output. Check the picture again. It's your choice.

                                      Yes, you're right, it's the output. I didn't take a close look to the image. The green one seems more polished as you say. I'll try with those.

                                      @Anticimex said:

                                      @m26872 said:

                                      Sorry, but the 220uA is drawn continously. Since most of my (and many others) battery applications have long sleep durations, the sleep mode power consumption is the first priority. Second is probably limiting the radio usage (meaning you can do things with just the arduino).

                                      My take on low power measurement.
                                      I have not gotten around to actually build it yet but I hope to do some measurements in my "lab" this spring.

                                      That's a very interesting project. In the thread some of you say that if VBatt = Vcc (no regulator like I'd like to have) then using the divider to measure the charge is non-sense and it's way better to use the internal functionality, Am I wrong?

                                      AnticimexA m26872M 2 Replies Last reply
                                      0
                                      • V Viper_Scull

                                        @Vladut-Grecu said:

                                        Oh.. for the gas sensor they are ok. Last one (green) seems a little bit more polished. The presence of the usb port is not important, you can solder it off. The usb is the output. Check the picture again. It's your choice.

                                        Yes, you're right, it's the output. I didn't take a close look to the image. The green one seems more polished as you say. I'll try with those.

                                        @Anticimex said:

                                        @m26872 said:

                                        Sorry, but the 220uA is drawn continously. Since most of my (and many others) battery applications have long sleep durations, the sleep mode power consumption is the first priority. Second is probably limiting the radio usage (meaning you can do things with just the arduino).

                                        My take on low power measurement.
                                        I have not gotten around to actually build it yet but I hope to do some measurements in my "lab" this spring.

                                        That's a very interesting project. In the thread some of you say that if VBatt = Vcc (no regulator like I'd like to have) then using the divider to measure the charge is non-sense and it's way better to use the internal functionality, Am I wrong?

                                        AnticimexA Offline
                                        AnticimexA Offline
                                        Anticimex
                                        Contest Winner
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #21

                                        @Viper_Scull
                                        I have not looked into how internal measurement is done. So I don't know what constraints that type of measurement has. But for external measurement using a voltage divider allows the measurement point to be biased with respect to the ADC reference voltage and my proposal limits the standby current draw of the voltage divider.
                                        But if no regulator is done internal measuring is provable better, how that now can be achieved. I am guessing by using vcc as reference to the ADC.

                                        Do you feel secure today? No? Start requiring some signatures and feel better tomorrow ;)

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                                        • m26872M Offline
                                          m26872M Offline
                                          m26872
                                          Hardware Contributor
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #22

                                          Here's one link about the "internal method".

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