Xabi Alaez asked 6 years ago
Hi Rui and everyone!
I’m trying to power my DOIT ESP32 with a 18650 battery but it isn’t working. I charged them and their voltage is actually 4,12V. If I power the ESP by the micro USB (without the battery) it works perfectly. Also if I power it by Vin and GND pins with a 9V charger and a 5V regulator it works perfectly. But if I connect the 18650 battery to Vin and GND it looks like it doesn’t give enough energy. The ESP LEDs turn on for some seconds but then they turn off and the ESP stops working. Other times the LEDs don’t even turn on for a second.
I’m using the 18650 battery with this holder and I’m also using this module to control the battery charge/discharge. I have tried with and without this controller module, and it doesn’t give enough energy in any of both configurations.
The specifications say the Vin voltage must be between 3.3 and 5V. Mine is 4.12V so, what am I doing wrong?
Do you have any experience powering the ESP32 board using a 18650 battery?
Thanks very much in advance,
Xabi
Rui Santos Staff answered 6 years ago
Hi Xabi,
I hope you are doing well. That’s a perfect timing. Sunday, I’ll be publishing the last project that shows how to build a LoRa Sender solar powered with lithium batteries and that exact TP4056 module.
I’ll have all the details on how to power the ESP32 through the 3.3V pin using an LDO and 18650 Li-Ion batteries. I’ll let you when the new project is posted. I think the new post will answer all your questions!
Regards,
Rui
Rui Santos Staff answered 6 years ago
Hi Xabi, have you seen the new Unit on how to power the ESP32 with solar panels and lithium Li-Ion batteries?
https://rntlab.com/esp32-lora-sender-solar-powered-part-4/
Xabi Alaez answered 6 years ago
Hey Rui, I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll do it this evening for sure! Thank you very much 🙂
Anyway, I think my problem is different. I’m using FireBeetle ESP32 board and 3V3 pin is only for output.
I tried with Vin pin and the battery connector but they are not working. The ESP32 is getting 3.28V non of them are working. It only works powering the board via microUSB. I tried everything and, after a long research, I came to the conclusion there is something wrong with the MOSFET or one resistance of the power circuit of the board
I made a short circuit between Vin and +5V (microUSB) and then it worked with batteries! But it is very dangerous since it can damage my laptop when the batteries are connected.
It is not a problem of just one board since I have 2 of them and it happens the same with both…
Do you have any of these boards so you could help me with this issue?
Thanks in advance mate! 🙂
Xabi
Rui Santos Staff answered 6 years ago
Hi again. The 3V3 is not an output pin, but when you power the board through the Vin it goes through a regulator that drops the voltage to 3V3 to power the ESP32.
If you power the ESP32 exclusively with a 3.3V source directly on the 3V3 pin, you can power the ESP32 board (like I did in that project).
Do you have a bench power supply? Try to power your FireBeetle ESP32 board directly through the 3V3 and GND pins at 3.3V. The ESP32 should power just fine and run your sketches.