LiPo Charger Basic - Micro-USB

Components & Accessories Power
1

I’m using this charger (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10217) along with this battery (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13851) currently in a device I’m developing. The device has a normal idling power draw of between 5-10mA based on what is running in the background, giving this about a 12-24 hr lifespan in idle mode (empirical data). My problem is that when I hook up this charger to the device overnight, once the battery reaches full charge the charger stops charging, but then never turns back on while it’s still attached. I have to physically unplug and replug the power supply into the charger board to get the board to start charging again. This means that when I charge overnight, I wake up and the battery is at <50% or even dead already because the device reached full charge overnight and then drained again.

Is there a board I can change to that will check periodically and begin charging again without me needed to unplug and replug the device? I can’t get this board to work that way.

2

Hi zproddev,

I think the [SparkFun Battery Babysitter will be a better option for your project. The LiPo Charger Basic is just that, a basic charger, so it is not really intended to be used in a circuit that is constantly pulling current from the attached battery.

The Battery Babysitter is a combo LiPo charger and battery manager with some nifty features to dynamically route power to your project and battery as well as options to monitor the battery level. If you would like to learn more about the Battery Babysitter, check out the [Hookup Guide for a full overview of the hardware on the board, an example hookup as well as an Arduino library for the BQ27441 LiPo Fuel Gauge.](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/battery-babysitter-hookup-guide)](SparkFun Battery Babysitter - LiPo Battery Manager - PRT-13777 - SparkFun Electronics)