What is the Pi18650 HAT?

The Pi18650 is an add on HAT which plugs into the 26/40 pin connector on the Raspberry Pi. This HAT allows you to operate your Raspberry Pi without a power cable and can use various capacity 18650 Lithium Ion batteries. On board is a 1A battery charging circuit for charging the battery. The Pi18650 development board also includes a 4x2 100mil header for use with a ESP8266 (ESP-01) wifi module for remote monitoring and CLOUD integration. Included is one additional stacking header for extra clearance when stacking other HAT's on top of the Pi18650.

How Long Can The Pi Last?

As an example the Raspberry Pi Zero uses approximately 87mA without and 103mA with a USB dongle plugged in. With a fully charged 3000mAh battery, the Pi would last 34.5 Hrs with nothing attached.

How It Works?

The Pi18650 holds a single cell lithium Ion 18650 form factor battery which should have an integrated battery protection circuit. The boost circuit maintains the voltage to the Pi at 5.1V for battery voltages of 3.7V to 4.2V. The jumper allows you to disable power to the Pi and Isolate the battery circuit or start the Pi. It also includes a charging IC which can charge up to 1A from the USB Micro connector and has a battery monitoring IC which communicates to the Pi via I2C. We have coded a Python script using I2C SMBUS for you to read the battery status. Charging LEDs show the status of the charging process. The Pi18650 can also be used with other development and SBC boards. Any DC power supply, adaptor or solar panel up to 18V max can be used with the charger. Use a good quality USB Micro cable as we found the flat style thinner cables did not work well with the charger and current was limited. The thicker round USB Micro cables work well.

STAT1 (ON) STAT2 (OFF) - Pre-Conditioning or Fast Charge Mode

STAT2 (ON) STAT1 (OFF) - Charge Complete

PWRGD (ON) - Power Is Good For Charge

Technical Specifications

1A Charge Current Max Up to 3A for Raspberry Pi via Li-Ion Battery Up to 18V DC Input for UPS and Charging I2C Battery Monitoring (Python Script) 18650 Single Cell Lithium Ion Holder 26/40 Pin Connector for Raspberry Pi USB Micro Connector for Charging Jumper for Pi On/Off/Charge Voltage Regulation 5.1V Use as a UPS or with Solar Panel Wifi Header for ESP8266 (8 Pin Board) Power Robots, Motors and More Note: May be in a different color than shown Note: User Manual and Scripts in External Doc Links