Duration 20:34

Raspberry Pi Battery Power

by ExplainingComputers

321 520 watched

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13 K

Published 2 May 2021

Running a Raspberry Pi on batteries -- specifically a 12V lead acid battery and a USB power bank. Video includes expected battery life calculations and battery life tests and for a Raspberry Pi 4, Raspberry Pi Zero, and other Pi models. The Raspberry Pi Foundation power consumption page is here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/power/README.md If you enjoy this video, you may be interested in my recent Raspberry Pi project videos: Raspberry Pi Weather Station: /watch/02Csg2DpQhCps Raspberry Pi Anemometer: /watch/8t-20ZPEPL1E2 More videos on SBCs, computing and related topics can be found at: /explainingcomputers You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: /explainingthefuture Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:52 Five Pis 02:41 USB power bank 05:34 Power bank tests 12:34 Lead Acid battery 19:37 Wrap #RaspberryPi #Batteries #BatteryPower #ExplainingComputers

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Running a Raspberry Pi on batteries

Raspberry Pi batteries

Raspberry Pi battery

Raspberry Pi 12v battery

Raspberry Pi 12 volts

Raspberry Pi power bank

Raspberry Pi battery life

Raspberry Pi 4 battery

Raspberry Pi Zero battery

Christopher Barnatt

Barnatt

Raspberry Pi

Buck converter

12 volt buck converter

Battery power

Power bank

USB power bank

Belkin USB power bank

Belkin 10K

Comments - 1129

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@qc15pvetter3 years ago These videos are like what Saturday morning cartoons use to be to me when I was a kid. 518
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@kev73453 years ago Rumour has it that Chris is running a P Zero off a car battery .. he hopes to show us the results on his 85th birthday... 183
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@RaviRJoshi3 years ago Videos like this is what makes world a better place, and EC a popular channel. Prof. 64
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@techntell66843 years ago As this experiment went on, you could hear his enthusiasm diminishing with each run 😄 It probably felt like the universe would come to an end before production was finished! Kudos and great video! 47
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@bananus8153 years ago We shouldnt forget Mr.Scissors. He helps to get all reviews 14
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@aryantiwari19453 years ago This video was incredible. This must have taken a lot of effort!
Lead acid FTW! 33
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@msulemanf3 years ago Love it, solar next? Easily one of my top 10 channels - consistently delivering well produced, interesting, accurate, exhaustive & kind-spirited videos. Thank-you. 71
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@BryanBenoit3 years ago I absolutely love every single video on this channel. Thanks a million ! 10
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@An.Individual3 years ago re table at A power bank is rated at it's nominal voltage which is 3.7V for lithiums cells. So the energy in a 10,000mAh battery is 37 watt hours (10A * 3.7V)
The current consumed by the Pi is rated at 5V.
runtime for Pi4 is (3.7 * 10 * 75%) / (5 * 0.6) = 9.25 hours ... 35
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@FuzzyElf3 years ago From one Christopher to another: Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and creativity -- and humor -- in your remarkable videos. 4
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@xjet3 years ago Perhaps the lead-acid results were skewed because without an intelligent voltage cut-off, the lead-acid battery would exhaust its entire capacity, well below the safe minimum. The power-bank is smart enough to disconnect the load when the battery is down to the safe minimum voltage but that simple buck converter will likely keep going down to almost 5V of input voltage. ... 158
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@duytdl3 years ago Can always count on EC for no-nonsense to the point videos on these subjects. Well done sir! 3
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@Uniblab83 years ago ...forgot to mention...my Sunday mornings are not complete unless I view and digest your videos. Well done. 17
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@mikecarlson64163 years ago this is absolutely pure fun to see the experiment result, thanks a lot 3
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@shawn80543 years ago Always enjoy waking up to a new video from you! 2
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@iwinrar52073 years ago I was just researching this topic. This brings it all into one easy place. Thanks! 2
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@deechvogt15893 years ago Awesome practical application testing Chris. I will remember the buck converter if I ever have a need for long term away from main power application for my Raspberry Pi. Thanks Chris. Cheers and as always stay well. 3
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@jeyendeoso3 years ago Excellent video, Chris, I wasn't expecting battery benchmarking hahaha
Now I can't wait for the greenhouse video! 8
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@nathanisip3 years ago Kudos to going through all the effort of testing! I was thinking of some fancy gpio interfacing to a monitor pi and had to do a face palm when you discussed writing to a spreadsheet, simple and elegant! 2
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@HermannKerr3 years ago This is probably one of the most interesting videos you have put out. I am really impressed. Thanks it was very informative and liked how you programmed the test. 1
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@ritmo11303 years ago What a great video! Always wanted to see something like this. Thanks!! 6
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@spiders-tours3 years ago Your next project would be interesting if a solar panel (which should be usable in a greenhouse) can charge the battery whilst it's in use. The application could work for a very long time indeed. Nice tests, thanks for the video. ... 18
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@theoriginaldylangreene3 years ago This is really interesting data, very useful. Thank you for putting in a huge amount of time and effort to collect it!
Every time someone asks about battery endurance with a RPi, I will link them to here.
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@michaelgkellygreen3 years ago Brilliant tests and presentation. I have loved looking back through your older videos. Learned so much, Thanks
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@markdonnelly19133 years ago Your videos never disappoint, well done again. I nearly choked on my coffee with your reasoning for not testing all the devices though, hilarious! 24
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@piconano3 years ago When my daughter moved in her apartment, I garbed the small alarm controller the previous owner left behind.
It had a battery like yours making 3/4 of the enclosure, and it was only 2 years old.
It now provides power to my RPi2B+ Rpi Noir camera, running RPi-Cam-Web-Interface on Raspbian, making the best IP security camera in the world for $50 !!
I connected a beefier 5V @5A buck converter than what you show in your video to power the setup 24/7. That's all I had.
Fortunate for me, the internal 12V SLA charger circuitry can supply 1A to charge the battery (~12W). Running a Rpi is a walk in the park for the built-in charger.
When I lose power the charger will stop, but the 12V battery is fully charged and ready to go.
I never tested how long it would take for the system to run down.
Now I've got a pretty good idea. Thanks to your video. ...
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@alerey43633 years ago Excellent real-world tests and comparison in a key department for SBCs; it also covers both bases: small-portable-lightweight powerbank vs heavy bulky durable lead acid battery
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@xjet3 years ago It is also worth nothing that the mAH capacity of many power-banks is not what you might think. Many of them use the mAH capacity of the battery in the bank and since that capacity is at a lower voltage (nominal 3.7V) then you do not get anywhere near that at the 5V the power bank sends out the USB port. To deliver 1A at 5V the battery will see a drain of (@4V)) 1.2A. This means that a 10,000 mAH power bank has a deliverable capacity of significantly less than the 10,000mAH at which the battery is rated. Then there are the efficiency losses of the boost converter that steps the voltage up from a nominal 3.7V to 5V. ... 78
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@dj_paultuk70523 years ago Great Scott setup a SBC to water his greenhouse a few weeks back. His also manually activates via a txt message from a mobile phone. 4
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@lorderectus18493 years ago Those spectacles look 👀 absolutely electrifying! 1
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@BeOurBee3 years ago This is fantastic, exactly the kind of thing I always wondered about but never found satisfactory information for on the web. Until now! 1
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@W4RR4NTW0LF3 years ago Really interesting figures! In relation to the PiZeroW, I regularly use one running at full load, with an e-ink display off a 12,000mAh LiPO bank and I generally get about 50-55hrs of use from it. It's neat to see your figures fitting in so well with my experience on a number of Pi systems. :) ... 9
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@slawomirkortas3 years ago This was exactly what I was pondering for a remote Pi setup. But that's half of my puzzle. The other half is a small solar panel installation that would charge the battery during the day. Could you include that scenario in your next video? ... 3
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@theflyingsmiley013 years ago I have always wondered about powering R-pis with batteries. You did a great job on this video! 1
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@spikekent3 years ago Fantastic as always Chris. Looking forward to the remote watering project.
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@TheTechieScientist3 years ago Whatever happens in the world ....EC is always there to support us and get our spirits up on sundays.. 😁...thank you 21
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@Evaldas653 years ago I was hoping you'd touch on power level sensing (that is, the pi shuts down safely once the power level gets very low), perhaps in part 2 of this video? :) 14
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@techman24713 years ago You were extarordinarily "Energized" about this project. I learned i can do the projects I want to do on my Pis. Thanks!
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@SuperWiseacre3 years ago This episode is pure gold, I really learnt so much things
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@MicrobyteAlan3 years ago Excellent I’ve been wanting to control my garden railroad with a Raspberry Pi. 11
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@ahmad-murery3 years ago Interesting indeed how old-tech lead-acid batteries still performing very well,
That was a very useful formula to calculate the output amps,
for your greenhouse, you maybe can extend your battery runtime by charging it using a small solar panel,
Thanks Chris, ... 6
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@srtcsb3 years ago Really good detail, even for a test like this. I'm not sure I'd have the patience to execute this type of test, but it's good to see how it turned out. Thanks for another great video Chris. 1
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@dakotadanderson3 years ago Excellent forethought on the use case when testing the battery life! 1
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@sandeepkulkarni36953 years ago Due to low space constraints and Higher Power Requirements of Raspi 4 (1GB RAM) I had to design a converter for 3 Li-ION cells in series (3.7*3=11.1V) and then stepping down this voltage to 5V using a buck converter at nearly 2A!
Happy to see similar work Chris!! ... 19
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@pavan133 years ago A raspberry pi video after a long time 5
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@horseradishpower99473 years ago This will be helpful, because it likely help me out in the questions I have in home made portable computing.
Thanks for making this video. 1
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@emilrasmussen74293 years ago This is by far the best video I have found on YouTube, thank you so much!
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@treshanremolano1593 years ago Rushed in to watch this, learned a lot in under 10 to 20 minutes of video! 12
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@lukeearthcrawler8963 years ago Great, informative video, Chris! Thanks a bunch! The Pi is definitely a good solution for battery powered applications, but if you really want performance nothing beats low power microcontrollers like ST's L-series. The problem in that case is the ridiculously long runtime (many years). ... 1
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@roembol2 years ago This is exactly the video I needed. I rarely like a video these days, but this one deserves it!
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@frankligas22493 years ago Thanks for the video. Design experience idea. Back in the mid 1990's I had a project where a laptop needed to run a weather station for one month. This was out in a remote farming location. I set up the laptop to run from two 12 volt marine deep cycle boat batteries. The batteries were connected with wires soldered onto the power connection ports of an APC brand battery backup unit designed to run the computer when the power failed. So by starting with a battery backup unit, that took almost all of the engineering out of the equation. APC battery backups run on a 12 volt, lead acid battery identical to the one you show in this video. The build was simple. Buy a battery backup unit. Open it up and remove the small 12 volt battery and solder longer wires that would connect to the two bigger boat or car batteries. Then take the battery backup apart and cut the alarm buzzer off of the circuit board. When the backup unit is not plugged into the wall, it runs on batteries. the annoying alarm is buzzing as a needless warning. Other than that, the only other thing to do was to put the whole thing in a waterproof box, and connect the ground wire to a grounding rod in the field. We ran these laptops for years this way. The trick of having two batteries was so that when we were swapping out the batteries on a monthly basis, we could keep one battery connected while swapping out the other. This allowed for the laptops to run without needing to be shut down. Later, around 1997 small 12 volt solar pannels started to show up in local auto parts stores. We bought one and connected that to the batteries as well. This allowed us to run the laptops off-grid for six months until the whole thing was blown to a million pieces by a direct strike of a lightning strike. : ) Also, to charge the spare batteries I was swapping out, I used a second modified battery back up as the battery charger to recharge the batteries. This just needed some longer wires with alligator clips soldered onto them. ... 3
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@mohnkhan3 years ago Lead Acid chemistry is strange yet useful. The rate at which we draw the current determines how much useful capacity you can make of it. May be you should run a video series on battery chemistries and how to select a right battery type. Its an interesting subject. ... 60
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@DeusinMachina3 years ago I've been super interested in figuring out the raspberry pi's capabilities on batteries, so this video was perfect!
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@OriginalRaveParty3 years ago Very handy reference for RPI remote project builders. Thank you. 1
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@jub88913 years ago interesting tests! although running down a lead acid battery can reduce its capacity- will you be using the battery for general rasp pi computing? 3
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@adrianschneider19773 years ago Nice video!
According to my knowledge, lead acid batteries should not be discharged below 50% on a regular basis as this would shorten their life. So ideally implement some battery monitoring that prevents too deep discharging. ... 3
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@kieran.stafford3 years ago I love these Sunday videos from the "Mr. Scissors" channel :) 2
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@robloxianfilipinocars3 years ago I'm grateful that you did all of these test. Now I know what power source is the best for my raspberry pi project.
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@apflewis3 years ago "Lets go and get started", Noooo, I want to take a closer look! 79
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@Felixvioleta3 years ago Now I'm curious how many Raspberry pi's do you even have? and should make a video about it? 7
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@chriholt3 years ago Very well done as always Chris! I would have been interested in seeing the current out of each battery during their tests. However, it's obvious that lead-acid batteries take the prize, unless you figure in the weight :) ... 1
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@Dweesil3 years ago This video was great! I found it very interesting. I'm looking forward for the raspberry greenhouse video! 2
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@markconger80493 years ago Regarding the small lead acid battery seen in this video they can be found at Walmart stores in the US in the fishing equipment section. Otherwise, I’ve had to order from Amazon. 5
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@ahoj1133 years ago Really looking forward to that! :) 9
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@arthurmint2 years ago im glad you got this video out before the universe came to an end, very helpful ! 1
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@GarretW3 years ago Great video! I think a great addition to this would be a review on power management boards for rpi. For example, omzlo pi watcher. And see how that improves battery life. 2
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@parkamark3 years ago Is the lead acid battery going to be re-charged from sunlight in that greenhouse? That would make an awesome little project! 13
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@ElmerFuddGun3 years ago "Usable capacity" at is not 75% but actually based on the false advertising of USB battery pack manufactures. The manufactures get their claimed capacity from the li-ion battery's capacity at a nominal 3.7V NOT at 5V. You will not get 10,000mAh at 5 or 5.1V on the USB output. You need to convert that 10Ah (10,000mAh) at 3.7V to watt hours (37Wh) then divided it by 5V (or 5.1V) then multiply by the boost or buck converter efficiency (~87-95%). Yes, all USB battery capacities should be claimed in watt-hours. I hope this helps to clarify why you are not getting "10,000mAh". ... 3
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@conicEllipse3 years ago I thoroughly enjoyed this video. It's one of my favorites of yours. I have a tip, though, regarding the Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries. Unless you purchase a "deep discharge" SLA, you are going to ruin the battery quickly with multiple deep discharges. Also, heat kills these things. So you may wish to keep it close to the floor in your greenhouse or keep it out of the greenhouse, if possible. Also, do not place it on a cement floor as I've "heard" that this discharges them more quickly. This may be a myth as I haven't tested this yet. When using SLAs, they like to be kept charged up. If the total power drains are small at each use, you could get hundreds of discharge/charge cycles out of them. If you drain them (something like 80%), you'll only get very few discharge/charge cycles (maybe 8 or 10 -- your mileage may vary). If you drain them more than 80%, the battery is permanently damaged. Also, give them a top-up charge every month as each month without a charge causes a permanent capacity reduction of a couple percent. After 6 months without a charge (and no power taken out of it) the battery will have permanently lost 20% of its capacity meaning that even if it is charged to 100%, the most capacity you'll have is 80%.
SLAs lose capacity with each charge/discharge cycle; more so than LIon and LiPO. I would love to see your results from running the same test 5 consecutive time on the Pi 4b. It would be interesting to see how much capacity (measured in runtime) is lost on each go-around.
YUASA is a middle-of-the-line to upper-line brand. When you completely discharge an SLA, it takes a longer time to charge (obviously). With deeper discharges, the voltage has to be higher to charge it up, which causes the lead plates inside the battery to heat up. The longer the charge, the hotter the plates get. This can cause the plates to warp, causing shorts. Additionally, it can evaporate the acid in the battery more quickly, which causes oxidation on the plates, which causes even less capacity.
Keep making your vids. I get some good ideas from you an expand my knowledge. Thank you. :) ... 1
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@conororeilly54923 years ago I'm really excited to see the greenhouse project video 2
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@OwtDaftUK3 years ago You can buy a USB cable that has a power switch. Which is good for power since they tend to not do data. It might help with the auto on thing. 6
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@plica063 years ago This video must have taken weeks to make.. now that is dedication! 10
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@MrPitki3 years ago My favourite pi video so far! Very useful test indeed
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@larrywebber29713 years ago Immensely and timely video for me Chris. Thanks! 1
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@gigteevee61183 years ago Gratuitous use of Mr Scissors! That bag of "magic beans" had a tear option. 7
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@jmctoob23 years ago I am sure you know this, especially since you calculated this for the lead acid. The 74% of listed capacity is because that is the cell capacity at 3.7v. When running at 5v the mAh will be lower by a ratio of 3.7/5.0=0.74. A better capacity rating is Watt hours (Wh). ... 10
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@ollie-d3 years ago Great video! I recently used a Raspberry Pi 4 running off a power bank and then an 18V Makita battery stepped down to measure the temperature inside and outside of my car during a camping trip. I found that having temperature probes didn't really illustrate how much more comfortable my car was than sleeping outside or in a tent, so next time I'll probably end up bringing a micro weather station and additional probes and will definitely be powering that project with lead acid batteries! ...
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@johnsonlam3 years ago Thanks for the hard work, spent lot of time to get the numbers.
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@Matbombardier69853 years ago a small solar panel (something for automotive since its already small, mobile, and setup for 12v... I've seen 'em with banana clips) should be in your near future 3
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@BQQBIES3 years ago Heat death of the universe, I can wait. 15
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@drewswoods3 years ago Really appreciate these types of videos. Learning more and more about my new computer. 1
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@tanyoivanov-personal3 years ago Thank you. It was useful to me. I thought to use an acid battery and now I know how long should work with it. Great help. 1
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@MWPdx3 years ago Woah! Here I was, ready to take a closer look, and suddenly we're getting started? Idk if I can handle this emotional roller coaster. 3
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@jaykayenn3 years ago You seem to have overlooked the capacity calculation for the powerbank, as they are rated at 3.7v not 5v. Otherwise, fantastic video! That surely took a lot of patience. 7
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@randallmassey16963 years ago Awesome! This is exactly the video I wanted to see. Thanks for all you do. 1
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@Coyotehello2 years ago Your videos are always such a treat! Thank you.
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@BruceWayneReal3 years ago So you're telling me that lead acid batteries store for ages and you can run a pi with them for ages? Noted 4
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@warrengibson78983 years ago My takeaway: the time has come to say goodbye to Fortran and learn Python! 21
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@dreddguy64543 years ago Nice to see the Pi 3A+ making an appearance. Much underrated SBC. 1
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@tonyweavers42923 years ago Hi Chris, thanks for another great video. You really should insert a fuse as close to the 12 Volt battery terminals as possible. If you get a short circuit or fault there is a hell of a lot of current available and it won't end well! ... 2
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@Reziac3 years ago Lesson learned: when testing battery capacity vs a low-draw computing device, run that device at max CPU, because otherwise it won't finish until sometime after the heat death of the universe.
Didn't know Belkin was making that little power bank; I'm looking for another one so there we go. ... 3
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@alextrusk17133 years ago I use a zpm from stargate to power my raspberry pi 4
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@marksterling82863 years ago Absolutely fantastic video, i think you must be a mind reader, I started last weekend thinking about a project to power a raspberry pi4 running retropie in the back of my car, to allow the children to play games on long journeys, the thing i was working on was to have a power bank power the pi after the car ignition was turned off to allow the pi to shutdown nicely. I have designed a circuit that charges the power bank from the car, and the pi from the power bank but when the cars power is lost it signals the pi via a gpio pin to shutdown the pi. Looking at the test results I am tempted to just have the pi’s power from the power bank and then just change the power bank when the car is running. Really great video Chris. Thank you so much. ...
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@martyburgess3413 years ago Perhaps even add a small solar panel to the greenhouse to make it low maintenance 🙂 3
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@davidvantongerloo19073 years ago fun it's sunday again nice video have a nice week sir Chris !! 2
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@littlechestnutorchard3 years ago Great subject as always , I am definetly looking for RP to be used in real time applications like green house automation, remote telemetry , climate control, irrigation etc. 1
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@TradersTradingEdge3 years ago Tremendous testing :)
Thanks so much, it's exactly what I needed TODAY ...can't believe you posted this video. I need it for a PiZero Bird Motion Recording Cam. Now I know what I really need :) Until next time, continue your amazing great work. ...