Battery Powering Your Wearable Electronics

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[jrojanome]

You guys are awesome!! Im a dad and an instructor, finally my girls are interested in electronics and coding, and all else dad's world.

[Suncatcher]

Hi there. I just love the work you do at Ada. I'm 43 now and was quite adicted to electronics from the age of 14 to 20. Then we moved and i packed everything in boxes and i forgot the hobby. BUT it's waking up again, stronger than ever. So the adiction is rising.
Chears and greatings from Luxemburg-Europe

[ailaG]

I learned the hard way that voltage isn't enough... I had a servo that just worked weird when on a 9v battery and worked fine when the project was connected to the computer. I kept putting it off because "something weird was going on" (before I noticed it was only acting weird on battery power) until I replaced it with 4xAAs which give less voltage but drive more power. It's connected to an Arduino so it's regulated anyway.

It may be trivial to some, but at my level then it really wasn't.

[MMuraseofSandvich]

If you have an insane portable project that pulls a lot of current, say, a bunch of LED strips or matrices, consider a USB-PD power bank, a Power Delivery "decoy" board, and a high current buck converter. Set the decoy to request the highest voltage the power bank supports (at least 12 volts), place the buck converter as close to your LEDs as possible, and hook them up. If you can get away with running the USB-C cable for most of the length, go for that because good USB-PD cables are rated for high voltage and current. Power banks that can charge laptops are ideal here.

[TheJoeker]

It should be noted that rechargeable AA and AAA batteries are only 1.2V not 1.5V. It doesn't seem like a big difference but it adds up really quick.

[bbarnett]

Wait wait, where can I get that USB cable with the blue moving lights? That's awesome. I found some cables on Amazon but some cables will blow if used with high speed chargers.

[gwiazdapioun]

So in theory could you power everything (in my case, two 12-diode NeoPixel Rings rigged to a Gemma M0) with the USB port and a 5V power bank? I've assumed that since you have a separate JST socket for powering then it means you shouldnt use the USB one for powering the board, but maybe I'm wrong.

[lukider]

Can you make a Video about the LiFePo4 Battery Type. I use them alot for 3.3V boards. They have Voltages of 3.2V-3.6V depending if their empty or full. they have less Capacity then Lipo batterys but because you need no protection or voltage boosters they last longer. Got my ESP8266 current down to 18uA in DeepSleep with one LiFePo4 cell. This make my esp8266 able to sleep 9 years in theorie

[TT_R]

Thanks! I've been looking for this kind of info for a while. However, how do you calculate the power required by the project. I know you mentioned calculating the amperage required by the project but when you have a lot of items connected plus powering the Arduino it can get a bit out of hand and voltages required (if added) exceed 12V by a mile, maybe I'm adding it wrong? Amps, however, seem to add up nicely, but I'm not sure if the calculations are right. Series? Parallel? Thanks for any tips and or guidance on this!

[brunoip]

how do you protect the lipos from being discharged under the safety value?

[marioncatlin]

Thanks for this. I am trying to power a Circuit Playground Express from a powerbank but it keep switching off after a few seconds - presumably because it is not drawing enough power. How can I get around that please? I want to run an outdoor art installation

[PaulHartyanszky]

What do you think of using  3.7v 18650 li ion batteries? Do you think they offer enough advantages over NiMH?

[carlotab]

is it possible to power a lithium coin cell with a wireless charge system? Thanks, by the way! very useful video!

[RichardBronosky]

At 2:22 you brutally unplug that JST connector. I'm pretty cautious with mine because the wires feel so fragile. Clearly you have a lot more experience than I do. What is your recommendation for how to handle JST plugs on LiPo batteries?

[Nixia.u]

What about solar battery chargers? Any idea if tey could work to recharge in real time?

[epiendless]

It bugs me that Neopixel data claims they are 5V, even Adafruit say 4-6V, and then we run them off 3.6V. I like designs to work on paper, before I commit to building them.

[ALZulas]

If I want to put buttons on the sleeves to power turn signals on the back of the garment, does that require more power because of the long length down the sleeve?

[brucecornwell]

Hi Becky, great video on batteries and wearable. My problem is powering my Neopixel WS2812 ring (12 pixel). I have changed the "Strandtest " code for brightness of pixels, that is working good when running off USB port. I try to light them up with 3 AA battery pack (3.6V) and tried higher voltage power supplies. Sometimes several light will turn on and sometime they will not unless I disconnect and reconnect power but the ring will not run the program like when using the USB port. I also used the 3.7v 1200Ah poly battery. Any suggestion as to what I'm doing wrong? Is there another video that might help? I'm using Arduino Uno.
Thank,
shinythings

[danielpspersonal]

You said that you can drive 100 pixels with 2 amps, but in the adafruit website it says the max current if 55mA per LED. so it would take 5.5A to drive 100 neopixels. Am I doing something wrong? why this difference?

[TheGoldenVagabond]

Hello! I'd like to power 3 meters of dotstar LEDs attached to a FLORA platform: 432 LEDs! How much power do I need? And it should be a wearable project, so, is there a portable source of power that you suggest/sell at adafruit to buy together with the dotstars and flora? Thanks, thank you very much in advance!