I needed an AC powered TH Mote to monitor the temperature and humidity in my crawlspace and, using a one wire probe, also provide an outside temperature reading. The unit needed to have battery backup mainly because monitoring conditions in the winter was essential when AC power is unreliable. The TH Mote part of the project was easy, I had plenty of DHT-22 lying around and One Wire is easy-peasy (once you have the probes connected).
A battery where conditions have gone to 18F (-8C) in the past had to be Lithium so LiPo seemed to make sense, but then I needed a charger circuit. I also needed appropriate resistor dividers to monitor both incoming power and VBat. Pretty soon my little project was becoming a large breadboard.
To the rescue, came a 'Brand New Product' from LowPowerLabs! They now have a nifty neat "Moteino Proto-PCB" that fit my needs perfectly. It is an unpopulated PCB with footprint for USB-MiniB (my AC connection), JST-2 (my LiPo connection), MCP7383x Charger (my LiPo Charger), a small grid of plated through holes that was plenty big enough for my discrete components, and a few other footprints that weren't needed for this project, all wrapped up in a nice little shield that aligned perfectly with my Moteino!
Presenting (an otherwise boring project) the latest variation on the theme, a nice neat TH Mote using the "Moteino Proto-PCB" (the more perceptive of you may recognize the PCB as an unpopulated Rev 1 PowerShield PCB shield):
Enjoy,
Tom
