Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

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Totoro17
 
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Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by Totoro17 »

I've got a Flora wired to an LSM303 (v1.0) and a NeoPixel Digital RGB LED Weatherproof Strip (30 LED). Everything works when the Flora is connected over a USB connected to my MacBook Pro.

When I connect the Flora to a 3.7V Lithium Ion Polymer Battery, nothing happens.

I've fully charged the battery using the Adafruit Micro LiPo USB LiIon/LiPoly charger.

Perhaps I have a damaged battery and need to get it replaced.

Do you have any suggestions for troubleshooting?

Should I be using 3 AAA batteries instead?
Photo of my set-up.
Photo of my set-up.
Screen Shot 2013-10-20 at 11.21.49 PM.png (275.64 KiB) Viewed 445 times

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Let's start with a couple of basic tests:

- With the battery plugged into the Flora as shown in your photo, check the voltage between the Flora's 3.3v and GND pads. Given your description of the problem, I'd expect it to be 0v -- or at least close to it -- but electronics has this nasty habit of doing what's possible, not what you expect.

- Next, disconnect the battery from the Flora, insert a couple pieces of wire in the connector so you can make contact with the probes, and check the voltage across the battery's terminals with no load. If you get the same reading as before, the trouble is probably in the battery. If you get different readings, we'll need to take a look at the JST connectors.

Totoro17
 
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Re: Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by Totoro17 »

Thank you Mike for the quick reply!

My multimeter gave me 0V across the Flora's GND and the 3V. I think this is a good thing.

After disconnecting the battery and inserting the wires into the battery connector, I read 0V across the two wires with the multimeter.

Does this mean that the battery is toast?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Totoro17 wrote:My multimeter gave me 0V across the Flora's GND and the 3V. I think this is a good thing.
All things considered, yes. There are other results that are much worse (-0.7v is Bad).
Totoro17 wrote:After disconnecting the battery and inserting the wires into the battery connector, I read 0V across the two wires with the multimeter.

Does this mean that the battery is toast?
That does sound pretty toasty, yes.

Did you get the battery from us, and if so, when?

BTW - for the short term you can use a three-pack of AAA batteries. Those are also listed as having 1200mAh of energy, but that assumes you only want to draw 25mA from them. Running an LED strip at a nominal current of 200mA, you can expect about half that.

Totoro17
 
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Re: Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by Totoro17 »

Did you get the battery from us, and if so, when?
Yep, I bought the LiPo battery in September from Adafruit. Though I'm pretty sure that I'm just doing something silly.

Another Flora and a 3 AAA battery holder (with 2 pin JST) just arrived in the mail from Adafruit, so I was able to run some more tests:
  • - when I connect the new Flora to my MacBook over USB, the red led flashes (yay!)

    - when I place 3 new AAA batteries into the holder, connect the holder to either Flora over the JST, switch the holder to ON, nothing happens. This surprised me. I think I'm just doing something silly.

    - when I stick two wires into my new AAA battery holder JST thingy, my multimeter gives me 0.00 V, which is kinda weird.
Any suggestions for further tests?

If I snip off the JST from my AAA holder to get two bare wires, could I solder those two wires to somewhere on my Flora to power it and a 30 LED neo-pixel strip? If so, where?

Thank you for all the excellent support! And Happy Halloween! :)

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

- when I place 3 new AAA batteries into the holder, connect the holder to either Flora over the JST, switch the holder to ON, nothing happens. This surprised me. I think I'm just doing something silly.
The chances of two completely dead battery packs is pretty small. There must be something else going on here. Make sure that you have the battery switch on the Flora turned on (it's a very tiny little switch just above the "Flora" label on the board).
- when I stick two wires into my new AAA battery holder JST thingy, my multimeter gives me 0.00 V, which is kinda weird.
Can you post a photo of how you are taking that measurement?

Totoro17
 
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Re: Powering a Flora with LSM303 and NeoPixel

Post by Totoro17 »

The Flora has a battery power switch? Oh!
Everything works now. Hooray!
Thank you for patiently walking me through my questions.

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