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In this Discussion
- SiriusCG November 2017
Charging a Raspberry Pi Rover with Lithium Ion Batteries
I am working on a 4 wheeled rover project. As the rover needs to be operated remotely, I will need some sort of batteries onboard. The major parts that need to be powered by the batteries are:
Raspberry Pi 3 Raspberry Pi Camera 5 MP Arduino Uno 6V Brushed DC Motors The Pi Camera will draw its power from the Pi. The Arduino is to be connected to the via Pi USB. The Arduino is to control 4 x DC Motors for the wheels with an LM2984CT IC (datasheet: http://www.kynix.com/uploadfiles/pdf2286/LM2984CT.pdf )from TI. The Pi will draw its power from the batteries through a 5V Step-Down converter. The Arduino, and the Pi Cam will draw their power from the Pi's USB port, and CSI interface respectively, and the motor voltage pin of the LM2984CT will be directly connected to the batteries.
I believe a battery with a 2A output will be sufficient. I am looking forward to using two protected 18650 3000mah batteries in series. This will give an output of 8.4 V at full charge, which is suitable for my application.
1) How do I charge two 18650 batteries with a single charger?
I found this Li-Ion charger module based on the TP4056.
With an output of 4.2 V and 1 A current, it can easily charge a single cell 18650 battery. However, I need to charge two cells simultaneously.
I came across this design on the Adafruit website for LiPo batteries and a different charging circuit:
Here, the two cells are connected to the charging circuit in parallel during charge mode. When the relay is switched, the charging circuit is disconnected and the batteries are connected in series.
I wish to use this design with a Lithium Ion 18650 and a TP4056 charging circuit. Is a TP4056 charging circuit capable of safely charging two batteries connected to its output terminals in parallel?
2) Are the batteries safe to be used in series configuration?
Since each battery has its own protection circuitry, will the protection circuitry work as it should when the two batteries are connected in series during usage?
3) Which step-down converter should I use for the Raspberry Pi?
I believe I need something which can take 7.4V input and give a 5V voltage and at least 2A current output.
I hope my questions are clear. Thank you for taking the time to read.
Answers
I'd suggest you might try your question in the Raspberry Pi forums: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/ Quite a few folks there are well versed in the electrical aspects of the Pi.
Cheers.