LoPy - battery

[gdillen]

Hello,

The specs of the expansion board 2.0 says "LiPo battery charger (BQ24040), with options for two different charging currents (100mA and 450mA)". Is there a way to have a bigger battery connected to the LoPy (directly connected to the LoPy is also acceptable) e.g. 6600mAH?

Thanks.

[gdillen]

@bucknall Thanks. Purpose would be to (re)charge the 6600mAH batteries offsite, and replace an empty battery when needed. Any idea how long approximately (is it days, months) a 450mA/6600mA battery will last when only sending every 1 hour a LoRa message?

[jmarcelino]

The BQ24040 has a 10 hour safety timer so you may never be able to charge such a battery fully using the expansion board alone ( 6600 / 450 = very roughly 14.66 hour charging time)

[bucknall]

Hi @gdillen, you can connect a larger battery to the LoPy; the 100mA and 450mA charging currents refer to the charging current of the expansion board via USB. 6600mAH will work just fine as long as the voltage is within the accepted range.

There are no restrictions on the size (mAH) of the battery you may wish to use, however, you might find that a larger battery will charge at a slowly with only a 450mA input.