MAX17043: BAT+ and VCC Connected?

Components & Accessories Power
1

I’m using a MAX17043 fuel gauge module to monitor a single-cell Li-Ion battery. While inspecting the module I received, I noticed that the BAT+ and VCC pins are directly connected on the PCB (they show full continuity with a multimeter).

From what I understand, BAT+ is meant to be connected directly to the battery (which can range from ~3.0V to 4.2V), and VCC should be connected to the 3.3V logic supply (I’m using a raspberry pi). If these two are tied together, wouldn’t that risk backfeeding the Pi’s 3.3V line with higher battery voltage?

I suspect this might be a clone board, but I wanted to double-check whether this kind of design is ever intentional or acceptable for use with 3.3V systems like the Pi.

Any insights or confirmation would be appreciated before I contact the seller.

2

Here is the schematic and PCB layout. Check if it matches with the board that you have
received. SparkFun LiPo Fuel Gauge

3

Looks there are 2 versions of the board. On V1.1 Battery was connected to VCC :LiPo Fuel Gauge (MAX1704X) Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn. On V1.2 it is not..

4

That’s it. Thank you!