Is it possible to power Main Board via 2-pin JST without using LiPo?

Development Boards MicroMod
1

Hi!

So, I have a MicroMod main board which I charge via a buck regulated 6V lead-acid battery. I got this working by soldering to the VBAT and GND points on the board. These are adjacent to the 2-pin JST charge spot.

This all works well, but I was hoping to build a few more prototype units and, ideally, I would do that without soldering to the board.

I can power my board fine by plugging in a LiPo battery to the 2-pin JST spot, but this isn’t what I need to ship. My understanding is that the 2-pin JST connector allows for charging the LiPo battery if the device is also connected to USB.

I don’t have a need (nor want) for charging my 6V battery. I did try connecting my non-lipo battery to this spot and the board didn’t boot and a little smoke came out (oops), but the board seems fine. I think I just made the battery charging bit mad. I never passed in more than 4V.

So, it got me wondering if it were possible to use the 2-pin JST spot to power my board without using a LiPo battery - maybe by scratching some connection somewhere to prevent the attempt at charging? Or is the only viable way to solder to the VBAT/GND pins as I’ve done?

Thanks!

2

Eh, you could cut/modify the actual traces https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/7/3/6/d … ematic.pdf (that’s the double, here’s the single https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/c/e/0/2 … ematic.pdf) and or add in wires to a physical switch or something

But it looks tricky, because VIN is tied to the Batt, and the charge circuit is in-between

3

kk, sounds like soldering it is for now! Hopefully will be able to do a custom board sometime in the future.

4

I can confirm this is possible as I’ve just successfully run my MM Main Double Board through the LiPo JST connector using an external power supply, but at only 4 Volts.

Note I originally tried it at 6V (would be more normal) but it didn’t work. That suprised me somwhat. But 4V is fine.

1 Like
5

Blockquote
I did try connecting my non-lipo battery to this spot and the board didn’t boot and a little smoke came out (oops)

Check your battery polarity.