PowerShield is a combination of LiPo charger + 5V voltage booster + voltage monitor + prototype shield. The main function is to provide very efficient 5V boosted power from a compact battery, to those projects that have 1 or more components/sensors that require 5V and the battery/power source is less than 5V.

Battery Connector Polarity

It’s really important that your battery has the proper connector wiring before you hook it up to the PowerShield. There is no polarity protection on this board and so inverted polarity will fry the PowerShield booster!

Below is a highlighted photo of what your connector should look like and how it should be wired. The PowerShield also is marked with + and – above and below to help avoid mistakes.The battery connector is standard JST 2.0mm pin spacing. You can always directly solder the battery/pack to the battery connector pins/pinholes if you don’t have a matching connector.

• Lithium polymer battery charger, based on MCP73831, charging at 500mA through the onboard USB mini-B connector (2K charging resistor).
• Boost regulator provides 5V output up to 400mA (click for LTC3525 datasheet). Please be aware that the booster output current depends on the input voltage (ie you cannot get 5V@400mA from a 1V battery that is mostly depleted), see the datasheet for the expected boost output current graphs.
• Power your Moteino or other projects from a single AAA/AA cell, or alternatively from a rechargeable lithium battery
• Side headers match the Moteino pin layout so you may stack your Moteino on top/below
• Charging status LED: ON while charging
• avoid plugging the USB without LiPo battery attached
• USB mini-B port: for charging lithium batteries only, do not use with any other battery type
• Small prototyping area allows you to solder your small circuits directly on the board and route the inputs/outputs to Moteino pins
• Integrated battery voltage level detector using RC components, read battery level on A7 of Moteino (cut the trace leading to A7 if the trickle current leakage of this little passive voltage monitor is not desired). The ratio is batt>470K*1Meg>GND with A7 connected to the * point. See the schematic for details. This ratio may change in the future.
• JST 2mm connector for lithium batteries, or solderable pin holes for battery holders, etc
• compact layout

John from John’s DIY Playground put together a nice video of setting up a Weather Node powered by a PowerShield from a LiPo battery, watch his assembly and demo below:

The Eagle layout and schematic files are also available in their github repository.

Download Eagle files

PowerShield R2 is a combination of LiPo charger + 5V voltage booster + voltage monitor + prototype shield. This version is discontinued, for the latest revision please visit this page.

Features

• Lithium polymer battery charger, based on MCP73831, charging at 500mA through the onboard USB mini-B connector (2K charging resistor).
• Boost regulator provides 5V output up to 400mA (click for LTC3525 datasheet)
• Power your Moteino or other projects from a single AAA/AA cell, or alternatively from a rechargeable lithium battery
• Side headers match the Moteino pin layout so you may stack your Moteino on top/below
• Charging status LED: ON while charging
  WARNING: AVOID plugging the USB without LiPo battery attached.
• Keep switch OFF while charging whenever possible
• USB mini-B port for charging lithium batteries only
• Small prototyping area allows you to solder your small circuits directly on the board and route the inputs/outputs to Moteino pins
• Integrated battery voltage level detector using RC components, read battery level on A7 of Moteino (cut the trace leading to A7 if the trickle current leakage of this little passive voltage monitor is not desired)
• Integrated SMD on/off switch controls power from battery, also solderable pin holes for an off-board switch if desired. Should be kept off to avoid any load while charging.
• JST 2mm connector for lithium batteries, or solderable pin holes for battery holders, etc
• compact layout

PowerShield is a combination of LiPo charger + 5V/3.3V voltage booster + voltage monitor + proto shield. This version is discontinued, for the latest revision please visit this page.

Features

• Lithium polymer battery charger, based on MCP73831, charging at 500mA through the onboard USB mini-B connector
• Boost regulator provides 5V output (default), adjustable to 3.3V by means of solder jumper, see below, up to 200mA continuous output (click for TPS61220 datasheet)
• Power your Moteino or other projects from a single AAA/AA cell, or alternatively from a rechargeable lithium battery
• Side headers match the Moteino pin layout so you may stack your Moteino on top/below
• Charging status LED: ON while charging
• IMPORTANT: Keep switch OFF while charging
• USB mini-B port for charging lithium batteries only
• Small prototyping area allows you to solder your small circuits directly on the board and route the inputs/outputs to Moteino pins
• Integrated battery voltage level detector using RC components, read battery level on A7 of Moteino (cut the trace leading to A7 if the trickle current leakage of this little passive voltage monitor is not desired)
• Integrated SMD on/off switch controls power from battery, also solderable pin holes for an off-board switch if desired. Should be kept off to avoid any load while charging.
• JST 2mm connector for lithium batteries, or solderable pin holes for battery holders, etc
• compact layout