Gadgeteer Tri-Power

Actually, checking my sensor-portfolio, I also need access to 10-12V to power some of them. I am running on car-batteries in the field, and they provide plenty of power, but run out after a few weeks without the solar charge.

I know you might get completely overloaded with feature requests, but I am feeling that you have found a little sweet spot.

Another nice thing to put into the tri-power module might be a ā€œhibernateā€ sort of function. Enabling a wake-up-timer or an interrupt or something.

Hibernate has been a request on Gadgeteer modules for some time, but no-one seem to have cracked the nut yet.

In essence its just to save power, when there is no need for processing.

Am I far out?

I like that idea and will try to add it before I post this module to Creations. What Iā€™m thinking is a mainboard will send a hibernate command to the tri-module over the U port.

The tri-module will kill all output power and go into a low power mode. After the commanded hibernate time it will turn the output power back on.

I like solar too but I have to do some research before I attempt that.

A timeout period might be enough, but an interrupt pin would be very attractive in many cases as well.

I understand your solar priority, I am looking forward to see what you come up with.

Check some of the new posts about overheated USB dp modules as well as the tendency to have all sockets in use!

Howā€™s it going?

Iā€™ve read them. As of now this module will have about the same power as the dp module because my main goal was the 3 power sources, the ability to monitor/charge a LiPol battery, program your mainboard etc.

A higher power option is definitely a future possibility.

The tri-power module is going well. Iā€™m writing the firmware for the module, and conforming the pcb to the Gadgeteer spec.

This is awesome! I have a thread on here a while back asking about a power board that I can plug in and has batteries if the power shuts off. This would be perfect. When you sell I will for sure take some. Good job on this.

How far out are you?

Will it raise an event when a power source runs out or changes? For example it would be nice to get a notification when the local power goes down and the battery is in use.

Thanks!

Probably another month or two until release of the beta version on Creations. Most of that time is to get the PCBā€™s in, then I have to pick and place the boards by hand and test.

Yes. There is a configurable I/O pin that you can set to go high/low based on an event you choose. The board also outputs a string on its U port that reports the power source in use and other data.

Hereā€™s a sample string: $USB,CHG2,A1,4.19,100,0*

This string says: USB power, Battery in charge state 2, Alert 1, Battery 4.19V, Battery Charge 100%, Battery Discharge rate zero.

Check out the pic of my test setup.

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Thank you for the update. I will be anxiously waiting to get my hands on some of these. Great work!

Well I finally have an update on Tri-Power. It is complete. (Check out the picture.) I changed the name to Add-Power because of the changes in features I made to get it to production.

Ii is posted on Creations but it is listed as ā€œdisapprovedā€ and I have not gotten any feedback from GHI. Iā€™m assuming it is because of the color but Iā€™d like to confirm it before I make any changes. Getting red pcbā€™s in panel form is expensive in small quantities.

Can someone from GHI let me know why it was disapproved?

Thanks.

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I am wondering why the power extender module pcb is not red? If colour is the only issue.

Great. Do you have more detailed specs and documentation including usage?

Iā€™m guessing itā€™s not red because it doesnā€™t feed power back into the mainboard, which is what the color is to indicate.

Thanks for sharing your module! iirc, there was a recent post about wanting solar power for Gadgeteer.

Was the taking the USB connector off part of that concession for production?

Looks a useful board.

Are the tabs facing outwards?

Do you have drivers yet?

I will post more info if I can get this module approved. But basically this module allows you to add solar and li-pol power to an SP or DP module and then program and power your mainboard. It automatically switches between power sources to power your project and charge the battery. You can monitor the battery and prioritize the power sources. The battery will also share the load with the other power sources if necessary to increase the overall power out.

I completed the original Tri-Power and Quad-Power and have working prototypes. But they are too expensive to make in low quantities. This module gives you the same functionality but lowers the cost as best I could for the quantities I can afford to produce.

The drivers for Add-Power are done but why release it if the module is not approved / available? I have not received a response from Ghi.

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Have you got a response why your module was not approved?

You could just put it on Tindie.com.

I have not received a response. Its been a few weeks, so I donā€™t think they are going to respond.

That might be the way to go. There are so many small packages on the module so I canā€™t build them in quantity myself. I have to get the pcbā€™s in panel form for a board house to pick and place. Panels are much more expensive if you get anything special like the red color. So I am hesitant to get red pcbā€™s if not necessary.

Also people can send me a direct message to get a module if they really want one.

Check out the pic of the module in action (SP + LiPol, Solar not connected). Thereā€™s also a close up of the LCD. It is outputting some of the data the module produces

The reason we have not responded is that we have not received notification of the posting. Searching our database, it seems as though something went wrong when you first submitted the module. The records indicate that there is no user tied to the creation, so it must have been auto-denied due to this.

Please resubmit the creation :slight_smile:

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