Need a USB battery recommendation for Pi 4

monkeybus · 13 Jan 2020, 02:44

It's the battery I use for my Pi's on the go. Kali hacking, mostly.

Weighs a ton, but lasts for days. Crack open any device like a Kindle, phone, tablet, and most of the real estate is battery.

That would squeeze in a case, I could tolerate the weight.

The Pi4 gets plenty hot. A heatsink does it for me, but I don't know if cramming it into a case will do any favours. i'd plan for that. I plan on knocking out a handheld very soon. Let us know how you get on.

VictimRLSH · 13 Jan 2020, 04:02

The Pi 4 is currently in a Canakit case with heatsinks and fan, which I'm going to incorporate into the bottom of the hinged case. It stays pretty cool in there so I'm going to try and keep the airflow. I'll need enough room for it, the battery, the driver board for the display, and keyboard. I have a mini keyboard but trying to find something just a shade larger.

VictimRLSH · 15 Jan 2020, 03:36

I might go with this one https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XQ94ZL9 it appears to be quite a bit lighter, cheaper, and can supply 3.1A (one port at 2.1A and one port at 1A). I can power the display, keyboard, and audio off the 1A port and it should leave enough for the Pi 4.

EDIT 1/27/20: I went ahead and ordered this battery, I've burn in tested my Pi 4 config using my 50,000mAH battery's 2.1 and 1A USB outputs and everything looks good so far.

VictimRLSH · 2 Feb 2020, 04:20

Initial burn in test of this battery (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XQ94ZL9) gave a life over 8 hrs with the Pi 4 running Ergheiz (a very demanding MAME game) in demo mode with a keyboard, two controllers, USB stick, and the HDMI display. Didn't have any power supply issues. I'm going to cobble together a prototype case and see how it fares in portable use.

IceChes1 · 6 Feb 2020, 18:26

Use a 5000 mAh PocketJuice portable charger.

IceChes1 · 2 Jun 2020, 18:28

The problem: They are THICK. Like a centimeter. But you can always cut it open.

VictimRLSH · 7 Feb 2020, 02:11

@IceChes1 That would run a Pi 4 under load for a bit over 2hrs.

IceChes1 · 7 Feb 2020, 16:35

True, A 4 would not be able to deal with a portable charger. Maybe try a Li-Po. They sell them at any hobby shop. That, however, I cannot help you with.

VictimRLSH · 2 Jul 2020, 17:59

Thanks, but don't need anything more, that 25800 mAh battery (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XQ94ZL9) is working very well. I've done 3 day-long burn-ins and it went over 8 hours each time. Parts are arriving today for my prototype portable build and I'm going ahead with that battery.

Mr. Pengin · 16 Oct 2023, 11:23

@VictimRLSH I'm planning on doing something similar, with a battery running a Pi4 and a 5" screen. My question is: How big (physically) are the cells of the battery, what shape are they, and how easy would it be to connect both a screen and Pi4 to it?
Thanks!

mitu · 16 Oct 2023, 12:12

@Mr-Pengin Please don't necro bump very old topics. Open a new topic and explain your issue, if needed with a reference to an old topic. Thank you.