Charging is too slow?

[Gorion]

Hi Guys

All the USB sockets and chargers I own are 5-5.2V so slow charging is an issue for me also.

Would a combination of these two items be a good solution to reduce the charging voltage?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122436407957

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152653292349

I also have one of those variable volt chargers. When I use it on 4.5v then the charging seems to work without the LED for "overheating" blinking. However, it takes min. of 10h to charge the big battery.

[Shay]

So moral of the story. We need 4.5v Charger, which could be from an old usb lead / powerbank AND it will take 10 hours to charge? How long does it last after a 10 hour charge with the big battery on say medium use? Would it last the week if say, you picked it up each evening for 30 mins - 1 hour?

[roostaar]

Hi Guys

All the USB sockets and chargers I own are 5-5.2V so slow charging is an issue for me also.

Would a combination of these two items be a good solution to reduce the charging voltage?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122436407957

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152653292349

I also have one of those variable volt chargers. When I use it on 4.5v then the charging seems to work without the LED for "overheating" blinking. However, it takes min. of 10h to charge the big battery.

When my Raspiboy is powered down and cool, my wall socket USB (5v, 2.1a) seem to charge the Raspiboy without the 4th LED coming on too. Just the 3rd light stays on, and after many many hours, goes to full charge (4th LED only). So prob not much point?

However, the 'play and charge' is what would be really useful.

Does your variable voltage charger manage to maintain the battery while in use? If so, it would be worth having!

The fully charged battery does last a long time however! Am doing some long-haul flying soon and this device will be a great distraction for me (and the kids).

[Gorion]

@roostaar:

Concerning charging and playing, I do not think that this will work at all. 2 hours ago my battery was low when I was playing, so I turned the system off and pluged it into my 4.5v charger. For the first 5 Minutes, the system did NOT charge, because the pi zero was to warm. The feature of loading while playing seems to only exist theoretically. To be honest, I start to loose my faith in the raspiboy, first the poorly working buttons, now the fact that you need a special charging device and you can not charge while you play.

[Gorion]

Just a quick update on my charging session: Raspiboy is now charging für 27h straight, still not finished. I started charging with 4.5v, right now I am using an apple USB wallcharger with a cheap usb cable. I don't know what else I can try to charge this thing. If I knew that in advance, I would not have ordered this.

[rolle]

Using regular 5V and it takes easily 12 hours to fully charge, but doesn't mind me, I just plug it in before going to sleep.

[Gorion]

Using regular 5V and it takes easily 12 hours to fully charge, but doesn't mind me, I just plug it in before going to sleep.

Which battery are you using? The small or the large one?

[Admin]

Charge should not take more than ~10-12 hours even with large battery and regular 5V charger. With 4.5V charger it should be lower, about 5-6 hours. There might be a problem with your battery or the PCB. I think we should try replacing them.

[rolle]

I had a faulty charger because other devices also take a long time with that charger... so I guess it was that, because it's been charging fine after I posted that message. Also, usually keeping the raspiboy on while charing (now that I have PCB 1.2, DON'T DO THAT with first generation PCB) so it takes a bit longer...

I'm pleased to see how long the battery lasts. With occasional playing once per day for 30mins or more, I have been able to go without charging for even 2 weeks. Really nice.

[Username123]

I find that putting my raspiboy in front of a small fan while charging does charge faster. This does however make this product seem undesirable because of the odd charging method.