PiJuice Hardware Updates - USB C etc

[shawaj]

Starting this issue to track hardware updates of PiJuice HAT / Zero surrounding the Pi 4 upgrades - USB C etc.

These are already included updates of PiJuice and Zero boards from last year, but not finished...waiting for confirmation to be released (see attached images):

• LED off-board header added
• Removed unreliable fuel-gauge IC. Will use firmware to measure battery charge and temperature (already exists in V1.4 firmware)
• USB -Type C connector
• LED color mixing improvement with independent driving
• Added opamp for more precise current measurement of 5V GPIO current to Rpi
• Silkscreen updates
• Added run pin location for Pi4

These are other proposed updates:

• Potential update to add battery connector on HAT like on zero (probably under PCB so we do not need to redesign the battery surround parts)
• uprate for 3A input / output
• rework for STM32F030CCT6 alternatives - see #579 also
• support for multiple cells / other battery technologies
• support for wider input voltage (up to ~16v or 26v for car / truck usage)

Miscellaneous:

• change battery capacity storage in firmware to uint32
• any other firmware / RTC / other updates?

Images...

@tvoverbeek @ryanteck any other ideas / thoughts on potential hardware updates / upgrades?

[leighghunt]

Hi @shawaj I'm coming into this quite late compared to everyone - been putting together some kit for some remote long-term timelapse cameras with a Pi High Quality camera - and the one thing I didn't anticipate being so as difficult to source as it's been is LiPo batteries!

Granted, it's probably not helped by me being in NZ and Covid and all - I've managed to find one place that's willing to ship larger LiPos - but is something like the 18650 or 26650 format supported by the PiJuice Zero? I could get these locally tomorrow vs waiting 4-8 weeks for something to be shipped from China.

Thanks for the great project.

cc @devicenull @alpapak

[leighghunt]

... but is something like the 18650 or 26650 format supported by the PiJuice Zero?

And to answer my own question in a non-official - no-blame-if-it-fries-your-board kind of way, it appears that the 18650 works perfectly fine with the Pi Juice. I'm using a PowerTech 2600mAh 18650 battery with protection circuit - model SB-2299, and it is happily powering the Pi, and being charged by solar.

Power draw is around 175mA whilst being continuously powered, averaging about 90mA if powering on for 1-2 min in every 10 and taking a picture, and 20mA if powering up once an hour and just logging battery status. More tuning to be done, but this looks like it can potentially keep my project going for a couple of days with no sun.

Thanks again!

[OhSoGood]

What's the status for this hardware update?

For my, to accept 12V and/or directly POE (802.3af/af) would be very welcomed.

[ralf-krause]

When do we get PiJuice with USB-C?

[uGiFarukh]

Any update on this guys?