RPi Surveillance camera power supply

[gseavey]

I am assembling a raspberry pi surveillance camera using a dummy camera housing, the RPi and RPi camera module and have hit a bump. I will be powering it with a 24v supply and using a buck converter at each camera. While browsing the power section of the store (for inspiration) I came across the PowerBoost 500 Charger and thought that coupling it with this Cylindrical battery would be a great UPS solution. The problem is the power draw. The description of the PB 500 warns that a power draw of more than 300mA continuously will drain and not charge the battery. Power consumption of the camera module, alone, is 250mA. I have read that the RPi with WiFi consumes around 210mA and that puts consumption way over the 300mA.

Would it be better to use the USB/DC charger with the same battery above and hope the power comes back on before the battery dies? I did look at another UPS solution, but the board and batt are huge.

Ideas and opinions would be apreciated.

[adafruit_support_bill]

I have read that the RPi with WiFi consumes around 210mA

Last time I measured one, the bare RPi idled at 300-400mA. Doing anything significant pushes it up to 750mA or more.

Would it be better to use the USB/DC charger with the same battery above and hope the power comes back on before the battery dies?

That charger does not have a load-sharing circuit, so the load and the battery will compete for the charge current. A better match is the solar/usb/dc charger which has load-sharing. https://www.adafruit.com/product/390

[gseavey]

Thank you adafruit_support_bill for the recommendation and thank you for the power numbers too. That board makes much more sense and with the solar capabilities, gives me another option for standalone remote cameras. A huge bonus since that will be the next project.

Now if I could just get more hours in a day!