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MetaWear CPRO with LiPo battery

gbeattygbeatty
in General
Due to the issues with the CPro and the magnetometer, it's apparent that if we want to use the magnetometer then we can't power the device with the a CR2032 coin cell battery. What are the options for powering the board with a remote LiPo battery? 

According to the spec sheet, the there is only an input for a 3V power source. Most LiPo batteries can spike up to 5V and it's not apparent that the CPro has the circuitry to operate at the higher voltage that the MetaWear R series has.

Comments

  • EricEric
    Unfortunately no.  As you point out, there is no protection circuitry on the C.  We are working on a R variant with a magnetometer in the next few months and are looking into resolving the magnetized coin cell batteries.
  • lgleasainlgleasain
    Pondering out loud,  what if you used a voltage regulator like this?  https://www.pololu.com/product/2118

    Tune it to 3Volts and you would be good to go.
  • gbeattygbeatty
    Well, seeing as I really had no other option to get the magnetometer working correctly... I went ahead and connected a 3.7v LiPo battery to my CPro. I looked up the spec sheets for the various components and 3.7 v was within the operating range for them. So far everything is working is working well. Of course a voltage spike due to a cheap battery could fry the components. 
  • lgleasainlgleasain
    You might be ok running it in the range that you are,  though if it was me I would put a Voltage regulator on it to be safe.
  • gbeattygbeatty
    I actually really like that regulator that you posted. I hadn't found one that small. (size is a big factor in my application). 
  • gbeattygbeatty
    For anyone else looking into this product, something to consider:
    "During normal operation, this product can get hot enough to burn you. Take care when handling this product or other components connected to it."


  • lgleasainlgleasain
    We recently used it on a smart shirt.  If your driving a lot of current (500mA to 1A) that might be an issue.  The power draw of the board is much lower than that.  On our project we used it to regulate of micro LED's that are drawing about 14mA and it stayed pretty cool.

    Now if you have some high draw components (like some really long strands of neopixels) running through the voltage regulator that might be a different issue :).
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