Why LiPo battery 5V supply power booster system board does not charge the battery properly?

Components & Accessories Power
1

Hello, [BallSportsGear

I bought the SparkFun LiPo Charger/Booster - 5V/1A to power my project with a single cell LiPo battery. The board is supposed to charge the battery via the micro-USB port and boost the output voltage to 5V. However, I noticed that the board does not charge the battery properly. The charging LED stays red even after several hours of plugging in the micro-USB cable. The battery voltage remains low and does not reach the full capacity of 4.2V. The board also gets very hot during the charging process.

I checked the connections and the polarity of the battery and they are correct. I also tried different micro-USB cables and power sources, but the problem persists. I measured the current drawn by the board and it is only around 100mA, which is much lower than the expected 1A. I suspect that there is something wrong with the PAM2401 IC or the protection diodes on the board.

Is this a known issue with this board? How can I fix it or get a replacement?

Please help me to fix this issue. Any help would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Nicholas185Smith](https://ballsportsgear.com/)

2

Double-check the internal resistance of the Lipo or try a 2nd battery to rule it out as a cause; if nothing changes: Was it purchased from us? If so head over to www.sparkfun.com/returns (contact vendor if purchased elsewhere) and we’ll get ya squared away