Does the board manage charging of the battery if plugged in to usb Power source?

[shaybee22]

I have some wonderful solar panels that are waterproof and have a 5v usb port on the side, I looked through the forums but didn’t see an answer to my question which is this. If I have a battery installed and have the unit plugged in to a usb power source, in this case my cool solar panels with usb port, will the board manage the charging like a charge regulator ie won’t over charge etc when it has both a battery and usb power source?

Here’s the specs and pic of the panel
6 watts
5.5v usb output
1.2Amp

[paulcart1]

I guess it depends on which boards you are using?

I have TBeams and they have a built in charging circuit so yes they can change the lipo battery safely and run the device at the same time

[scott1]

Glad you asked I was wondering the same thing. This will make it easy to build a repeater.

[shaybee22]

Reason I’m asking is of course because I want to deploy some out in remote areas without access to power and want them self sufficient so to speak, and not need to be checked all the time. Set it and forget it lol

[shaybee22]

From what I can google, seems the lilygo T-Beam has the IC AXP192 Power system management IC. Guess I’ll have to wait till my boards arrive to fully confirm. Will update post with definitive answer, Thanks for your reply Paulcart1, that lead me in the right direction.

[Tolkien]

LilyGO TTGO T3 LoRa32 868MHz V2.1.6 ESP32

@Tolkien A general problem with powerbanks is that when they see no (or a very small) load they will turn off. Most of them do not work with our IOT gadgets. They are created to charge phones and then turn off. The only thing I have found that works is this: [IMG_20201111_185610] I am sorry but I don’t remember where I got the board and you need to do some soldering. You can charge the battery on on end and power the device from the other. Or connect the 18650’s directly to the device as @…

[shaybee22]

Hmmm Interesting Mr Tolkien, I do have a backup plan that I know will work as I have used it for some portable Pi projects and it uses the same power (USB) as the meshtastic. Basically a charge controller board with Lipo battery with usb out and mini usb in (from solar) so basically the same thing you have but I’d rather just put a battery in the board and then hook it to a solar panel like the one I have that has a usb port on it (convenient) and just let it go. Here’s a pic of the board and battery I use in my Pi projects:

Here’s the solar panel I’m planning on using , this is not where I bought them from but is a pretty good price, I just googled SunStreamPro https://www.amazon.com/SunStream-PRO-COMBO-PACK-Blue/dp/B076YMH9N4

[shaybee22]

Follow up:

Got my boards, loaded the correct firmware etc, placed a few here n there and installed battery and hooked to solar panel. So, the answer is YES the board does manage charging the battery and the solar panel I chose worked perfectly. It took an almost drained battery to full charge in 3 hours of sun! Now to make a mini solar panel mount for a pole or rooftop and I can start to deploy some more units.

Here is a pic of the panel and board setup:

[JustinDouglas]

The problem I have is when I charge my devices it power cycles over and over. ver 1.1.4

[geeksville]

Hmm. What kind of device and firmware version number?

[shaybee22]

https://usa.banggood.com/LILYGO-TTGO-Meshtastic-T-Beam-V1_1-ESP32-433-or-915-or-923Mhz-WiFi-Bluetooth-ESP32-GPS-NEO-6M-SMA-18650-Battery-Holder-With-OLED-p-1727472.html?rmmds=myorder&ID=510803&cur_warehouse=CN

That’s the board and it’s running 1.1.8 Firmware

[JustinDouglas]

I think I need to put the correct software on the board.

LILYGO® TTGO Meshtastic T-Beam V1.1 ESP32 433/868/915/923Mhz WiFi Bluetooth ESP32 GPS NEO-6M SMA 18650 Battery Holder With OLED

I did an update in the app and it caused some other problems.
I’m gona fix that up.

[JustinDouglas]

I bought a new USB to Mini USB and flashed the firmware on all three of my units and they are operating well now. Operating on 1.1.30 now and using the beta version of the android app.

[notivan]

Can you provide an update on how this set up is working? Also, which panel is that exactly? Thanks!

[shaybee22]

Setup has been working perfectly. I got the panel here: G24047 - WEEKEND DEAL! Our Most Powerful 5.5V 6Watt Solar Panel and 3400mA Power Bank/Flashlight only improvement I would add would be to add maybe another battery in parallel to increase the run time.

[Jayhat]

Voltaic systems (sell on their own website and Amazon) make “always on”, IOT specific, usb power banks.