XIAO ESP32C3 Battery ussage

Hi,

I bought several ESP32C3’s with a battery connector, but there is no info how to use the battery, if u just connect a lipo it doesn’t seem to power up, is there any special config needed to make it run on battery?

Thx,
Jeroen

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Hi, to install the battery for the XIAO ESP32, it is only necessary to solder the positive and negative terminals of the battery correctly to the battery connection pads shown in the picture, nothing additional configuration is needed.

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I did just that, and i think the battery did charge, but if u pull out the usb the device goes off.

If i measure at the battery pads on the board i measure 4v so the connection seems to be ok.

Any update on this?, just connecting it doesn’t work and i can’t seem to find any other documentation about this.

I’m not sure I understand what you mean. Do you mean that the battery can’t power the XIAO if the USB connection is disconnected?

Well the battery charges, but the device won’t run on battery, if power is removed it stops.

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"If power is removed its stop.

I have connected a battery (1S1P, 1200mAh, 25C) to an Xiao esp32c3, and in runs fine, whether connected to usb or not. My circuit includes a couple of leds, drawing enough current to run the battery from 4.1V to about 3.5V after about 12 hours. Connecting to usb recharges the battery in an hour or so.

What is the rating on your battery?

I have connected a NCR18650BD, it is a 3100mAh battery.

Could my XIAO ESP32C3 be faulty then?, the weird thing is it does charge the battery, so the connection must be ok.

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This is a totally off-the-wall suggestion, based on nothing more than a hunch: perhaps the Xiao is not demanding enough current to overcome the internal circuitry that protects the battery from discharging while being stored. This battery is designed for supplying current up to 10 amps! While the Xiao is only asking for, like 100 milli-amps.

To put it another way: before junking your Xiao, I suggest trying a different battery.

Hi,

I am not junking anything, just want a solution.

I did already try another type of battery without success, i now also added a led parallel to the battery and the led lights up, so the battery is able to provide power.

Can somebody provide some kind of manual or schematic for the Xiao?, its quite hard to know why it doesn’t work this way.

Thanks,
Jeroen

Hi,
it seems I have a similar issue. The Xiao is able to charge the battery, but the battery can’t power the Xiao. Any solution would be appreciated.

Any update on this?, or does seeedstudio have another place where we can get customer support?

I have a Li-ion connected to the Battery connections, the script runs without problems (USB is not connected) But, if I now run a Deep Sleep script, this script runs exactly 1 time, the XIAO ESP32-C3 does not wake up anymore. After pressing the reset button the script runs again exactly 1 time. If this Deep Sleep script is used with a connected USB port, the script runs without problems and the XIAO ESP32-C3 wakes up according to my specifications.
Do I have to configure anything additionally on this board when using Deep Sleep?
Does anyone have this board running with Deep Sleep and connected Li-ion battery without USB?

I have three XIAO ESP32C3 boards, and all three show the same symptoms. Since this board advertises low power consumption, the main application should be a sensor in battery mode with deep sleep.
Hope for feedback, greetings italschwob.

I don’t see the code you are referring to but I’m under the impression the very deepest sleep requires a reset button press to wake from ??? otherwise an external interrupt or rtc event. I just got 3 of those so I can test it when time permits. I’m using the double tap sleep demo on the dev board and it’s working perfectly (check the video).
perhaps someone else will chime in what they know.
HTH
GL :slight_smile:

I found a solution that works for me in Arduino IDE ESP32-C3 USB CDC problems · Issue #6089 · espressif/arduino-esp32 · GitHub, in battery mode Serial.begin must be commented out, then everything works.
Have my XIAO ESP32C3 board now 72 hours in battery mode with no errors.XIAO ESP32C3 board Starts up, sends sensor data to my server via MQTT goes into Deep Sleep for 120 seconds, wakes up again and sends, goes to sleep…I am starting a long term test to see, how long this sensor can run with a 16850 cell.The battery voltage and the values from a BME280 are transmitted. Greetings italschwob.

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Nice sluthing that out…I can’t wait to see if I can pair 5 or 8 of the Xiao nRF52840 Sense chips with the Xiao ESP32C3. :sweat_smile: :vulcan_salute:

GL :slight_smile:

Do you have an upload procedure to ensure that the XIAO ESP32C3 is not working on battery? As a reminder, please do not judge the XIAO ESP32 by its LED, which is a “charge indicator” and not a “working indicator”.

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There is no trace wire on the board - You will need to bridge the 3v3 connection to the + terminal on the battery - this has worked for me - I have the same issues - Ignore the comments regarding power draw and start up there is no continuity between the + terminal and the + side of the board…

(this is not a great fix btw but will work - the charging module will have to work slightly harder in this case)

This is pretty poor show on behalf of XIAO - unless they can send some code that shows other wise…

Just to confirm I have one other board where this is not required and a standard bank code works just fine…

Yes. I uploaded code to make sure that I can tell if the XIAO was working or not. On battery it did not do anything and was simply not working.