battery power PocketBeagle

[refa...@gmail.com]

It isn't obvious to me how to power the PocketBeagle with a LiPo battery. 

TP 5/6/7/8 don't seem to be pulled out the way they are on the regular BBB. and the Bat+Bat(temp?/-?) isn't giving me any satisfaction. 

I was hoping that I was overlooking something that someone here could point me to.  Otherwise, I'll try further to compare schematics to find what I'm looking for.
Thanks for any assistance!

[wi...@geomonkey.com]

I, too, am curious about how to do this, while using the on-board USB jack in host mode (maybe with an OTG adapter and a wi-fi dongle?). Has anybody else attempted this yet?

-- Will Bain

[Graham]

You will probably have to come up with a separate 5V power source for the USB Host port.

The Pocket Beagle has three power inputs that will power the CPU:  Vin, USB-VIN and the battery input.

None of these back power the other inputs. 

Any of the three inputs may be switched to the VOUT line, but when on LiPo battery, this will only be 3.2 to 4.2 Volts, which is not within USB spec for Vbus.

So, if you are running off of 4V LIPO battery, there is no on-board source of 5 Volts for the USB ports.

You may have to provide your own boost converter or other 5V source.

--- Graham

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[wi...@geomonkey.com]

Graham --

That totally makes sense. Thanks for the info! I plan to power the board from an external 5V source so that I can also use one or both USB ports in host mode. It appears as though SYS VIN (P1 pin 01) won't do the trick. I guess I will have to power the board through VIN USB1 (P1 pin 07) while also hooking up a USB breakout board there, somehow. Does that seem like it might work?

-- Will

[Graham]

I have USB1 running as a host, which is its default configuration. (running a USB2 to Ethernet interface.)

Since I am powering the board with external +5V going into VIN, I am also using VIN to power the Vbus pin on USB1.

In a proper design, there would be a current limiting switch between +5V and Vbus, under the control of P2-3 USB1 Enable.

P2-5 (USB1-Vbus) needs to be hooked to Vbus, so the Sitara knows when the USB bus is powered.

--- Graham

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