Recharge Question

[HarrisonCreates]

Hello All,

Simple question here. I just want to confirm I'm not about to fry anything.

Is the micro-usb port on the A64 meant to recharge my 3.7v Li-ion battery?

Thanks!

[LubOlimex]

The current from the USB is not usually sufficient to power the board. In order to charge the battery the supply should be powerful enough to power the board + extra current for charging. This note in the document should not be taken lightly:

IMPORTANT! The A64-OLinuXino board is fully powered by applying 5V of voltage over the power jack connector named "PWR1". The board can also be powered by a 3.7V Li-Po battery attached to the "LIPO_BAT1" connector (there is a step-up convertor to 5V, so the USB ports would still work, albeit with lower current output available). For people that want to embed the board in their own designs and find using power jack "PWR1" inconvenient, please use the pad of "FUSE2" to provide power supply (and any on-board "GND" wire or pad – good places for GND are pad #2 from "UEXT1" or pad #2 from "GPIO1" or the GND pad of the "HSIC1").

The A64-OLinuXino board CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT be powered via the micro USB connector "USB-OTG1", nor via type A female USB connector "USB1", nor via any of the "GPIO1" pads, nor via the "UEXT1" pads, nor via Ethernet connector "LAN1", nor via "HDMI1" connector, nor via "HSIC1" pads, nor via nor "IPS1" pad, etc. Some of the pins of the mentioned connectors and interfaces might have wires, pads, or pins marked as "+3.3V" or "+5V" in the schematics or in the board design files but these are outputs only and NOT power inputs.

[HarrisonCreates]

The current from the USB is not usually sufficient to power the board. In order to charge the battery the supply should be powerful enough to power the board + extra current for charging. This note in the document should not be taken lightly:

IMPORTANT! The A64-OLinuXino board is fully powered by applying 5V of voltage over the power jack connector named "PWR1". The board can also be powered by a 3.7V Li-Po battery attached to the "LIPO_BAT1" connector (there is a step-up convertor to 5V, so the USB ports would still work, albeit with lower current output available). For people that want to embed the board in their own designs and find using power jack "PWR1" inconvenient, please use the pad of "FUSE2" to provide power supply (and any on-board "GND" wire or pad – good places for GND are pad #2 from "UEXT1" or pad #2 from "GPIO1" or the GND pad of the "HSIC1").

The A64-OLinuXino board CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT be powered via the micro USB connector "USB-OTG1", nor via type A female USB connector "USB1", nor via any of the "GPIO1" pads, nor via the "UEXT1" pads, nor via Ethernet connector "LAN1", nor via "HDMI1" connector, nor via "HSIC1" pads, nor via nor "IPS1" pad, etc. Some of the pins of the mentioned connectors and interfaces might have wires, pads, or pins marked as "+3.3V" or "+5V" in the schematics or in the board design files but these are outputs only and NOT power inputs.

Okay, so how should I charge the battery connected to the board? What do I plug into? The board description says "onboard battery charging" so I'm curious on how to utilize it. I read the above notice, but it doesn't mention anything about charging, just about powering the board.

So I apologize, I should have specified what I meant by my question: how do I charge my 3.7V Li-ion battery that is connected to the A64?

[LubOlimex]

Battery is automatically recharged when you have another sufficient source of power applied to the board. Good enough supply is usually 5V external power supply applied to the power jack.

The power jack is described here: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/PWRJACK

"The A64-OLinuXino board is fully powered by applying 5V of voltage over the power jack connector named "PWR1"."

USB is not considered sufficient source of power for this board, and can't be used to power the board and it's peripherals:

"The A64-OLinuXino board CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT be powered via the micro USB connector "USB-OTG1", nor via type A female USB connector "USB1", nor via any of the "GPIO1" pads, nor via the "UEXT1" pads, nor via Ethernet connector "LAN1", nor via "HDMI1" connector, nor via "HSIC1" pads, nor via nor "IPS1" pad, etc."