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By bsparked
#196029
Using the battery babysitter, if i'm looking to charge an 18650 and run something like a pi zero, do I need a boost converter to maintain 5v?

If so, would I connect the supply output to the boost converter then to the pi zero?

What else am I missing to do this?

Bryan
By Valen
#196143
Based on this link, Yes.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#powerBatteries

If only the battery is connected then the output voltage will be slightly lower than the battery voltage. Based on this section of the Hookup-guide In short, never higher than 4 volts. And since the RPi will not reliably operate at even 4.8 volt according to the raspberrypi.org site you would need a boost converter to 5 volt.

You might find this nifty hack usefull: https://github.com/NeonHorizon/lipopi

I don't know if Sparkfun's boost converter products are compatible with this idea. But you might be able to integrate them.