NOTE: Does not come with a Raspberry Pi, but the battery is included!

What is it?

The LiFePO4wered/Pi+™ is a high performance battery power system for the Raspberry Pi. It can power a Raspberry Pi for up to 9 hours from the battery (depending on installed battery size, Raspberry Pi model, attached peripherals and system load) and can be left plugged in continuously. It features:

• A single 3.2 V, 18650 size 1500 mAh or 2000 mAh LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate, LFP) cell or optionally a 14500 size 600 mAh LiFePO4 cell, providing high power density, extended cycle life (2000+ cycles), and safety from fire and explosions.
• Continuous output load current of 2A with the 18650 size battery, both when connected to external power and when on battery power.
• A smart charge controller with over-charge protection, allowing the device to stay plugged in continuously and provide UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) functionality.
• Smart auto-adjusting charge current allowing charge currents up to 1.5 A when used with high power chargers, but automatically reducing current as needed to not overload lower power sources such as a PC USB port.
• Customizable MPPT functionality making it possible to charge the LiFePO4wered/Pi+ from suitably sized 5 – 18 V nominal solar panels.
• Two-way communication between the power system and the Raspberry Pi over I2C bus (to monitor voltages and customize settings) and Raspberry Pi shutdown detection.
• A smart power manager controller and open source daemon working in tandem to provide clean shutdown functionality and over-discharge protection, resulting in long life and high reliability.
• Continuous measurement of input voltage, battery voltage, output voltage and load current with smart user programmable thresholds for boot, shutdown and hard power down.
• An on-board mechanical on/off button providing clean boot/shutdown capability even in headless setups, with convenient connection points to add an external button if desired.
• Press and hold button functionality protecting against accidental button activation and enabling the possibility to use short button presses to control user software.
• A green PWR LED indicating the Raspberry Pi power state, providing feedback to the user and controllable by user software, plus convenient connection points to add an external power LED if desired.
• A separate red CHRG LED indicating charging state, plus convenient connection points to add an external charge LED if desired.
• A wake timer allowing the Raspberry Pi to be off most of the time and wake up as needed for low duty cycle applications.
• Real-time clock functionality, keeping track of time when the Raspberry Pi is off and restoring system time on boot, with the ability to wake up at an absolute time.
• An auto-boot feature maximizing uptime by making the Raspberry Pi run whenever there is sufficient battery power, or when the input power is present or absent.
• An auto shutdown feature making it possible to automatically shut down the Raspberry Pi immediately when input power is been removed or after a programmable amount of time.
• A flexible watchdog timer able to alert a user by flashing the PWR LED or trigger a shutdown if the user application fails to service the timer within a configurable amount of time. In combination with the auto-boot feature, this can greatly improve reliability by allowing the system to reboot to a known state if the user application crashes or becomes unresponsive.
• Out of the box compatibility with Raspberry Pi Model A+, Model B+, Raspberry Pi 2 and 3, Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and Raspberry Pi 4 (with 18650 battery), Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi Zero W.
• Compatibility with original Raspberry Pi Model A and Model B with additional wiring, or by removing the composite video RCA connector.
• Compatibility with other Raspberry Pi style SBCs using time or load current based power off after shutdown, if shutdown detection is not available.
• Convenient connection points for input power, 5V output power and switched battery power.
• A host-side command line tool, shared library and Python and Node.js bindings allowing easy configuration and integration into user programs and scripts.

Why did you make it?

While the original LiFePO4wered/Pi and LiFePO4wered/Pi3 were successful in their own small-scale way, they were limited due to being conceived as add-ons for the LiFePO4wered/USB or LiFePO4wered/18650. With the LiFePO4wered/Pi+ I took a clean-slate approach to address common issues and complaints I saw with the LiFePO4wered/Pi3. The goals were to make it easier to produce at high volume, remove power limitations due to physical size, improve hackabiity with large through-hole pads, make the maximum load current independent of the battery charge current, and improve physical stability.

What makes it special?

Many consider this the best Raspberry Pi UPS on the market. This is a third generation device in a line that started as one of the first Raspberry Pi UPS solutions on the market, and while there are more options now, many of them are still lacking in one way or another. Most are LiPo solutions, using consumer-grade batteries that die after a couple hundred cycles. LiPo cells also can't stand UPS duty, being held at full charge seriously affects their life. Other LiPo solutions don't provide clean shutdown capability, so what's the point? There are power managers that provide on/off button functionality with shutdown, but you're on your own when it comes to the battery and to make sure the power doesn't die. If your battery dies, you still can get SD card corruption.

After shattering its funding goal during the Crowd Supply release campaign, it is now available on Tindie with maximum flexibility in available options.

Disclaimer

When purchasing this product you agree to release Silicognition LLC and all its employees from all liability relating to injuries that may occur (during activity, usage, etc.). You also agree to hold Silicognition LLC and its employees entirely free from any liability, including financial responsibility for injuries incurred, regardless of the circumstances. Although one of the safest types of lithium batteries, LiFePO4 have high power density so think about what you are doing and don't do stupid stuff!