Battery Search

Hi All,

I'm looking to move away from my power bank (via usb) and get a battery that utilises the battery socket on my Espruino. I'd like to keep the power bank for my other prototyping so it's time to hunt down a different power source.

I'd like some help on picking out a battery and a suitable charging unit. My project currently requires me to supply 5V with peaks of 2A to power a GSM board as well as GPS & the Espruino.

My power bank is a 10,000 mAh and supplied 5V/2A I don't mind dropping down to around 6000mAh but anything above and closer to the 10k would be excellent.

Any recommendations? I noticed li-po are mostly at 3.7v so I would need a booster to get the 5v but no ideas on what combinations will work best. I'm currently having a read through the adafruit website.

Have you seen this http://www.espruino.com/Battery ? :)

EDIT: after reading your post more thoroughly I guess you have seen it. Have you tried searching an online catalog for something that meets your requirements?

What about size and weight? Is it something where that's an issue?

What do you want to charge it from?

I'd have a quick check about the GSM board's requirements... I thought most of them had a 3.3v regulator on-board so you may find you can run them directly off 3.7v, which makes you life a lot easier.

If so that makes your life a lot easier. Just get either some phone batteries and connect them in parallel (Adafruit sell a charger board but it only handles a single cell's worth of voltage)

@Gordon the gsm2 click supports 3.3v io but still requires a 5v line in. This has been brought up a number of times on their forum as their marketing seemed to suggest it would only need the 3.3v in.

@DrAzzy I'm fitting the whole project into a black vox which is 7*4*3 inches. There is probably about 4*2*2 inches left after adding all my other components in. Weight is no issue within reason.

Ok, my suggestion would be:

• Get a bunch of phone batteries (or 18650 cells with the protection circuitry in them) and connect them in parallel.
  
• Get something like this - it's a 5v switchmode supply and a battery charger, all in one.
  

18650's would be my choice, with that much space. In parallel, I think, because that simplifies charging...

Don't get the high current ones like they use in ecigs - you want the normal protected ones, so an accidental short doesn't involve as much smoke. They're cheaper too.