Battery Module for Raspberry pi 0 -w V1
I came across projects like Pwnagotchi for the raspberry pi 0 -w. I liked the hardware side of the project and I wanted to try and make my own version.
I deiced to start with making a battery module for the Raspi 0 -w
From previous projects, I had a boost converter and a battery charging breakout board which I used to make a prototype.
It worked but was messy and fragile.
From there I deiced to make it into a PCB and I had some design requirements:
- 5 volts at the output
- Same size as raspi-zero
- Toggle switch
- Indicator lights to show when charging and fully charged
Luckily I found a video by GreatScott! greatscott documenting making a 5-volt battery charging circuit.12 Which was what I needed. The circuit utilised the same components used in the two breakout boards from earlier.
Using EasyEDA I copied the schematic and changed it to suit my needs such upgrading as to USB-C and changing parts that weren’t available like the switch, LEDs and capacitor.
I then designed the PCB to be the same size as the raspi and to sit on to the 20 GPIO pins.
I assembled the PCB and had noticed I made an error with the measurement of the GPIO pins size. The spacing in between the holes where too small and the PCB did not sit onto the raspi.
Despite this, I connected the PCB to the raspi and it worked the battery module delivered 5 volts to the raspi and it does charge the battery while showing indicator lights red when charging and green when fully charged.
I will be fixing the issues and uploading the files in the next version and hopefully be adding more features like a battery low-level indicator, button inputs and a display to make it more like the pwnagotchi.