Wifi battery requirements

tristanlbaileytristanlbailey Australia
edited September 2017 in Wifi Shield
Hey there! I have a Ultracortex Mark IV heaset with a 8-channel Cyton board. I was interested in purchasing one of your new WiFi Shields.

I read the WiFi Shield guide. From what I understand, we take out the existing battery from the Cyton board and place it into the WiFi Shield instead. Correct?

What kind of battery capacity should we need? I note that you have stated the following:

The Wifi shield has a 4-5x larger power draw then the Bluetooth communication system so we recommend using LiPo to save!

I noticed in one of the pictures that a 500mAh battery is being used, but perhaps the 500mAh batteries won't cut it anymore?

Thanks again.

Comments

  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    Many sizes of Lithium batteries at Adafruit,


  • pushtheworldpushtheworld
    @tristanlbailey

    A 500mAh will last about 4-5 hours. 

    A 1200mAh will last 10+
  • tristanlbaileytristanlbailey Australia
    Thanks for the info. I was just concerned that I may have needed to upgrade the capacity of the battery I had, in order to make good use of the headset with the WiFi Shield.

    FYI, I was only just able to squeeze in the 1000mAh LiPo battery I bought, into the octagonal case at the rear of the headset. So, I should be good to go...
  • wliao229wliao229
    I noticed my ganglion board may not power the wifi shield properly. I used a 3.7v Lipo battery, fully charged, on Ganglion. However,  the LED (D3) on the wifi-shield keep flashing. If I separately power the shield with another battery, then it works. 

    I have multiple pairs of Ganglion and Wifi-shield. The above problem happens on some but not all pairs, even though all batteries are fully charged.

    Any thoughts?
  • pushtheworldpushtheworld
    edited September 2017
    @wliao229

    We originally advised to not use the ganglion with one battery but testing showed it worked. Sounds like you will have to power those WiFi Shields with the ganglion with two batteries. Follow the last sentence and image in the tutorial located in the WiFi getting started guide to keep `EXT PWR` to `OFF` and use two separate batteries. Guide link: http://docs.openbci.com/Tutorials/03-Wifi_Getting_Started_Guide#wifi-getting-started-guide-ganglion-with-wifi-shield-powering-the-shield


    How many WiFi Shields does this happen to? I flipped the guide back to recommending two batteries. 
  • wliao229wliao229
    @pushtheworld

    Thanks. I have four ganglions and four wifi-shield. 1 of 4 worked, the other three require two separate batteries.

    Also, I notice that if I keep EXT PWR ON but still use two batteries, and turn ON the wifi-shield's power switch, the wifi shield will work. (maybe overload a bit though). 
  • pushtheworldpushtheworld
    edited September 2017
    I recommend not running both with the EXT PWR to ON at the same time. The Ganglion regulator outputs 3V and the Wifi Shield regulator outputs 3.3V. it was discovered post design that some ganglions could power the wifi module. But it's not as consistent as hoped!
  • tristanlbaileytristanlbailey Australia
    OK... just to clarify, is that now one LiPo battery with Cytons (for powering both the Cyton and WiFi Shield), and two separate LiPo batteries when using Ganglions?
  • pushtheworldpushtheworld
    tristanlbailey

    Yes.
  • OtemoOtemo Japan
    Hi There,

    I used a 3.7v Lipo battery(860mAh), fully charged, on the Cyton with the WiFi Shield.
    To passthrough power to the Cyton, I kept the EXT PWR switch ON.

    I could see the WiFi board in the OpenBCI GUI using the direct WiFi mode.
    However, when I open the WiFi configuration panel, the GUI claims there is no Cyton board connected.

    If I uesed 6v (x4) AA batteries, the Cyton with the Wifi Shield worked.
    Do you have a same problem?

    Thank you.
  • OtemoOtemo Japan

    I could have solved this problem by myself. Sorry!

    The GUI recognized the Cyton board. It seems there was a problem with the charging method of Lipo battery.

    Thank you.

    Otemo

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