PowerBoost Shield failure

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dcornejo
 
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PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by dcornejo »

I just got a PowerBoost shield and was using it with an Arduino Uno and a NeoPixel shield. I charged up the battery then unplugged it to see how long it took to run down - after about 90 minutes or so the whole thing died, no lights anywhere on the stack.

I let it cool down then plugged back in the USB cable and the 5-pin device next to the USB connector got very hot within seconds. I tried a fully charged battery next with no success but it didn't seem to get as hot. When I plugged it in I get a charge light, but there's only about 0.25-0.28V on the JST connector and nothing to speak of on the 5V line (pretty obvious).

The fuse seems to be further down the circuit so I think I should be seeing a charging voltage on the JST of ~4V like my other chargers do.

I suppose that it could be that the NeoPixel shield was too much for it, but in this case I would have expected the booster to go. The USB supply is an Apple 12W one, which has been good for everything else I charge from it. The original battery seems to be charging ok and provides the right voltage out.

Either way I guess the charger chip on the PowerBoost is shot - can anyone tell me the exact part # for the charger chip (I see it in the schematic but there seem to be variants)?

Could it be a rogue combo of the battery and this shield?

Is it sane to expect it to drive a NeoPixel shield?

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by Franklin97355 »

Have you tried charging with the shield disconnected from everything else? Could you post clear pictures of both sides of your board showing any soldering you have done and the connections to it?

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dcornejo
 
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Re: PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by dcornejo »

Yes, I did try it disconnected from the Arduino and NeoPixel shield

There are no connections other than the headers. I ran out of solvent so there's still some flux on the board.
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Ber0210
 
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Re: PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by Ber0210 »

It also happened to me, the only difference is that I was using a Bi-Color 8x8 square matrix backpack and I only used it for about 20 minutes. Everything suddently turned off and I was never able to turn it on again.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by Franklin97355 »

@Ber0210, Please start your own thread so we can keep these two problems separate.

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dcornejo
 
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Re: PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by dcornejo »

@Ber0210, please note that this thread is 9 months without resolution, good luck to you.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: PowerBoost Shield failure

Post by Franklin97355 »

@dcornejo are you saying this never got resolved? If so I'm sorry and please email [email protected] with a link to this thread and they will see that you get a replacement shield.

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