FIO v3 Battery Charging

Development Boards Arduino
1

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11520

For this item, is there still an issue with the battery charging circuit? I’ve read that the usb power supplies 5V directly to the 3.7 battery socket.

My application requires the user to plug in the USB to charge the battery and then when sufficiently charged (most likely left to charge unattended for however-long), the user will take the device and run on battery power.

The documentation I read stated that the cutting SJ2 jumper will alleviate the 5V put to the battery, but will render the board dependent on battery power…which i would be fine with as long as the USB port still charges the battery.

I have a 6600mah 3.7v lipo battery in mind and would like to know what to expect. The schematic states only to cut if powering with more than 5.5V…so is it safe to charge a 3.7v battery in this manner?

2

It’s possible to see 5 volts on the battery connector if you have the USB plugged in and the board turned on, so you will want to turn the power switch off before recharging the battery. Cutting SJ2 will fix this though.

It would be fine to charge your battery with SJ2 cut. A 6600 mAh battery will take a considerable amount of time to charge though with the charge on the Fio. You might consider using a dedicated battery charger with a higher charge current and skipping the USB connector on the Fio for charging.