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Power [Analyzing the powerbank]

A project log for Portable Raspberry Pi gaming handheld

Made from a Raspberry Pi 2 B, a 4,3" TFT screen, a powerbank and a modified SNES controller.

lumorLumor 07/28/2015 at 23:590 Comments

I tried both the powerbanks i had bought using only the pi (using the TV instead of TFT screen) . Playing a game worked fine and without crashes. So that's a good start. I have not yet installed the PiTFT drivers on an image, so we'll see how the powerbank will react then, should be fine.

The Anker Astro E5 is obviously the best. The reason i bought two powerbanks is because of the fact that they all behave differently, i hoped to get one that could charge and be charged at the same time but it's not a major loss, it's hard to find powerbanks that can do that. My feeling is that the 'smarter' a powerbank is, the more it's gonna do what you don't want it to do.

Also, 16000 is ALOT. I'm pretty sure this will power my portable for many hours, so not being able to play while it's being charged has less of an impact. I bought a 2A charger, this is the max charging rate of the Anker Astro E5, this will ensure fastest charging speed possible.

Unfortunately the powerbank is very solid, which means it's very hard to take apart. No screws, no gaps, only a thin split along the side. I was hoping to take it apart to reduce the size of my portable but i don't think it can be done without permanently damaging the case.

Anker Astro E5 16000mAh

The powerbank starts charging when usb is inserted, this is good, it means i don't have to rewire the button from the powerbank itself but instead wire the button between the [powerbank] and the [pi, screen and amp].
It won't have a "smart" shutdown button so i'd have to do a hard shutdown every time i wanna shutdown the device which is not good for the pi nor the sd card (but relativly safe). The alternative is to do a software shutdown (which is very easily found in the main menu of the software i'm using) followed by a hardware shutdown (a switch).

Cannot charge and be charged itself at the same time, the charging stops immediately upon inserting the charger.

A bit heavy, but what do you expect from a 16000mAh powerbank...

Trust Urban Revolt 8800mAh

....

Cannot charge and be charged itself at the same time, the charging stops immediately upon inserting the charger.

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