PiSugar Battery for Raspberry Pi zero

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Description

Raspberry Pi zero is very small, but it's not cute with a power bank which maybe five times bigger. PiSugar is a battery project designed for Pi zero. It's super easy to use, no need for soldering, no conflict with other piHats. It perfectly matches the size of Pi zero.Github: https://github.com/PiSugar
PiSugar1 Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R7Z2334
PiSugar2 Purchase link: https://www.tindie.com/products/pisugar/pisugar2-battery-for-raspberry-pi-zero/

Details

The Problem

Many software engineers are able to developing products base on raspberry pi, but few of them are good at soldering. Pi zero is very small, it's a good choice when you plan to create a portable prototype. But when it comes with a power bank connected, it's not longer that cute. So we are thinking if there is a portable, solderless solution to supply power for pi zero, it will be very friendly for raspberry pi beginners!

A Pi zero project to control a nikon DSLR, the power bank is much bigger than pi zero. (P.S. This is the smallest power bank I could find) Also the usb cables takes a lot of space.

How It Works (PiSugar 1)

PiSugar battery module use small spring pins to power pi zero from its backside. The 5V power is transited via two bottom pads of pi zero. Therefore it's no need to have a USB cable. Attach the battery board to the back of pi zero is the only thing you need to do.

The Li-on battery and the board have the same dimension, so it will mask the screw wholes. Also placing the battery directly on the board is not good for radiating. Therefore we use a magnet to attract the battery to the board, it keeps enough distance between the battery and the board. In another hand, when you need to use the screw wholes, you can easy move away the battery.

Move the battery slightly when installing

SPEC (PiSugar 1)

same size as pi zero
super easy to install
compatible with other piHats
micro USB charging
on-board switch
magnetic design

Full Introduction

Installation

PiSugar has a on-board switch, you can light up your pi zero anywhere with one click. Double click to turn off. Also you can use it when it is charging.

PiSugar Battery is now available on amazon and mercadolibre.

Purchase links:

US, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK, Brazil , Argentina, Chile, Mexico

PiSugar Cases

As our goal to make Raspberry Pi more friendly to beginners. We also develop 3D print case models for pi and battery. Also we are continuously creating caps for different piHats! It's now open-source. You can download STL files and print your own pi case.

Basic Case: https://github.com/PiSugar/PiSugar/tree/master/model

Use Cases

Download PiHat Caps: https://github.com/PiSugar/pisugar-case-pihat-cap

About PiSugar 2

It has been half a year since we started designing PiSugar 2. This time we have added lots of important features without increasing its size!

How PiSugar 2 Works

In the previous generation we use spring contact to connect pi zero’s bottom pads. However pi zero cannot interact with the battery without data connection.

Therefore In PiSugar 2, we use special designed pogo pin (sugar-pin) to connect gpio from the bottom. By connecting 5V, GND and 2 i2c pins, we are now able to reach to status of the battery....

Files

pisugar_case_pin_cap.STL

cap with gpio opening

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 512.09 kB - 04/06/2019 at 13:31

Download

pisugar_case_button.STL

Button for the battery switch

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 15.90 kB - 04/06/2019 at 13:27

Download

pisugar_nobatt_shell.STL

If you don't have a PiSugar battery, you can use this shell which leaves no space for battery.

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 315.32 kB - 04/06/2019 at 13:27

Download

pisugar_case_common_cap.STL

Common cap for both top and bottom.

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 501.06 kB - 04/06/2019 at 13:27

Download

pisugar_case_shell_xl.STL

A complete case contains a shell, two caps and a button.

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 496.47 kB - 04/06/2019 at 13:27

Download

Components

1 × Raspberry Pi zero w

1 × PiSugar battery module

1 × PiSugar 3D-printed case

Project Logs

Collapse

Hello again
Jdaie • 06/15/2020 at 14:43 • 0 comments

Long time without update. It has been crazy busy in the past 6 month! We start shipping PiSugar 2. And the Pro version for bigger Pi is on the way.
There is still one thing we did not satisfy that we can only detect the charging status according to the increasing of the voltage, which is not precise. Therefore we decide the change the charging solution to make it perfect.
Pwnagotchi with clear case
Jdaie • 12/14/2019 at 04:00 • 1 comment

Morning! Looking for new friends around....
PiSugar2 in Beta
Jdaie • 11/25/2019 at 02:39 • 3 comments

We start sending PiSugar2 beta last week for some friends to evaluate!
Since the springs are quite strong, which will make it not that easy to install as the previous version, we are considering solder four nuts on the pisugar board so that you don't have to align them while installing. The case has to be redesigned to adapt this.
The i2c address we are using is 0x32(RTC) and 0x75(power ic). I found that some led phats are using 0x75, it's a disaster to write something wrong on the power ic. But since it's i2c, it seems that we can prevent this from happening, just be careful when you have a 0x75 phat. (some phats allow you to change the address)
some progress
Jdaie • 10/26/2019 at 03:05 • 2 comments

1. We finally get qualified pin samples today... It has been almost two months since we started testing this design. The next thing is to start making new pcbs to intergrate these tiny pins. Then PiSugar 2 is about to release.
2. A working prototype of PiSugar 2 pro! ( Please ignore the 1200mah sticker, it's actually a 5000mah battery, about 12 hours battery life for rpi 3B... ) The otuput chip we used is IP5332, which claims to have 3A output capability. However, we just find out that it has only 2.6A output without charging... Which is inacceptable... So we are now switching to another chip which will have real 3A output.
Wireless Charging
Jdaie • 09/21/2019 at 01:37 • 4 comments

Just found a perfect solution for wireless charging! The size of it fits so well to the pi zero and the battery. Maybe we should add two solder pads and take this coil as an optional sub-module.
New pin samples
Jdaie • 09/18/2019 at 06:39 • 1 comment

Just get a photo of new pin parts from the vendor. These are headers, bases and springs waiting for assembling. They have produced so many units, much more than we expect 0_0'
Use Web Bluetooth to Connect Your Pi
Jdaie • 08/18/2019 at 03:54 • 0 comments
It was three days ago I found that bluetooth can be accessed by web content in Chrome! So I have written a webpage as new client for our previous bluetooth project.

First, install the server-side program on your pi, see how: https://github.com/PiSugar/sugar-wifi-conf

Then you can connect your pi through BLE with your laptop or smartphone by opening this link in chrome app: https://www.pisugar.com/sugar-wifi-conf

Get real time information and config wifi setting by web bluetooth (Android and MacBook)

Since web bluetooth has not been widely supported yet, I have tested on several devices:
- It works well with latest Chrome for MacOS and Android.
- On Win10, Chrome is able to detect the bluetooth but I am not able to open it, which is pretty strange. (If you can open it, please do tell me how)
- Chrome for iOS doesn't support web-bluetooth. There is an ios app called WebBLE which implements the web-bluetooth api. However, it doesn't works. It seems different from the standard api. I will see how to fix this later.
For other compatibility information please see here.

UPDATE

It's able to run on iOS now!

The iOS problem I mentioned above, it's because WebBLE browser only supports the early version of web-bluetooth api, which doesn't include "getCharacteristics" method. (Click here to see more detail) Therefore I had to use the old way to get characteristics when it runs on iOS.

Make sure you have install the latest version of sugar-wifi-conf on your pi. Download the WebBLE app and open this link: https://www.pisugar.com/sugar-wifi-conf

web bluetooth client runs on iOS, with WebBLE browser
Software architecture
Jdaie • 08/14/2019 at 02:56 • 0 comments
Honestly I didn't have a clear view at the beginning of the coding work, but I believe a friendly UI is always needed. As I go deeper, I found some suitable tools to achieve this goal.
The diagram below shows the architecture behind this.
software architecture
There are several ways to interact with PiSugar 2:
- shell script: if you are familiar with linux, or you want write some program that needs information from the battery, you can access it with shell scripts. It's based on UDS and you know have to go across the network layer.
- web UI : you can manage PiSugar2 through a web page. Although pi zero is able to run a desktop but I use it without screens in most of time. Web UI is accessble for other machines in the same local network.
- electron UI: electron is one of my favourites. It can build a really nice desktop app written in html5, also I can use the same code to generate the web UI. Double kill! The problem is that electron does not support armv6l (pi zero). Never mind, I can still use the web UI on pi zero.
- system tray: if you have a desktop raspbian, I do think a battery tray icon indicating power level is necessary. For compatibility with armv6l, I use pyQt5 to build the icon. ( I had tried Qt to build the main window, although it can run on pi zero, it's cumbersome. )
system tray icon
The http sever is just for hosting html and js files, most of the UI communication is based on websocket, which mean we can get realtime data such as button events, whether the RTC alarm is triggered, etc.
To be continue...
Mass production of the first generation
Jdaie • 08/13/2019 at 03:59 • 0 comments

Just recieve two boxes of PiSugar (semi-finished) today.

Since our recent work is focused on the development of PiSugar 2, it is perhaps the last mass production of the first generation! It's not easy since from design to PCB, SMT, soldering, testing, if something goes wrong we have to start over.
Coding for PiSugar 2
Jdaie • 08/02/2019 at 07:06 • 1 comment

This week we start coding for PiSugar 2.
There will be a core python program allowing you to interact with it using shell.
Also there will be a system tray icon and a nice UI build in electron.
However, I found that electron has no support for armv6l (pi zero), it can only run on pi 2, 3 ,4.
So I will build a webpage ui for armv6l as replacement.
But wait... why I need to run such program on a bigger Pi? Isn't PiSugar is just for Pi zero?
Well... maybe it will be more than that.

View all 22 project logs

Discussions

E.Arroyo wrote 03/05/2023 at 23:02

Looking for 3D Model cases for PiSugar2 or PiSugarS (I believe they are both the same layout?) with MMDVM hat.

Are you sure? yes | no

Jack wrote 11/04/2021 at 23:25

At what voltage and amperage should I charge the battery at?

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Dr. Mickey Lauer wrote 05/07/2021 at 10:38

this is incredibly amazing. I‘m looking to design some pisugar based appliances. Could you tell me which components you used for the photo with the oled and buttons case?

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johnacostilla wrote 04/12/2021 at 19:02

it would be really clever to have a capacitor on the board to maintain power if the battery was disconnected and also how can i use thi for my juicer blender product at https://bestmasticatingjuiceronline.com/.

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marazm wrote 03/07/2021 at 10:37

Why not put small solar panel on top?

[Im dreaming about offgrid 365 unix]

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Tony Diana wrote 02/23/2021 at 18:41

Great product, I have the Sugar 2 pro for the pi4, would the sugar 2 work in addition to the pi zero for a banana zero? Thank you

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SlowSquirrel wrote 01/25/2021 at 14:02

In you discussion you say you can set an alarm to schedule an auto wake up for your pi. It's now possible to set your pi to work 5 minutes per day and leave it off the grid for a few months. Can you post instructions in how to do that?

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olivier.dlt wrote 10/10/2020 at 14:22

Hi! What if the buttons on the PiSugar are not be accessible? Is there anyway to use a button or switch on wires instead of the built-in switch ?

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Ed van den Enden wrote 11/03/2020 at 07:34

Good question Olivier. My PiSugar is build into a handgrip and it is impossible to use Board pin 5 & 6 for the on/off function. (The only option) This because it's occupied by the PiSugar power management what actual is no power management at all.

The only right way for a RBPi on/off switch (blocked by PiSugar) is having a push button at Board pin 5 and GND (f.e. pin 6) see https://gilyes.com/pi-shutdown-button/

Are you sure? yes | no

meldraknailo wrote 10/07/2020 at 16:39

First of all, this rocks. I have my pisugar 2 up and running. I had to make some adjustments to the position to get it to fit on the screen correctly. In pisugar2.py I adjusted position= as follows: “position=(ui.width() / 2 + 8, 0),” That kept the 0%/0V from overlaying the U in "UP".

My question is this: The RTC only updates the pi clock when I connect my unit to a computer. Is there a way to have the unit automatically update the pi from the RTC when it powers up, or is there a script I can run that enables me to have it update the pi from the RTC when I do a long tap?

Link to a photo of my unit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141734797@N03/50432548357/

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meldraknailo wrote 10/07/2020 at 16:42

Also, a friend of mine ordered the pisugar 2 and his switch broke. He did get a full refund and was allowed to keep the pisugar. Can someone please send me a link to a replacement switch available online? We want to try and solder a new switch on.

Are you sure? yes | no

skirunclimbplaysoccer wrote 10/04/2020 at 23:12

Do you have .step or other CAD files for the pisugar models? I see only the STL files above, which are difficult to work with. Thanks!

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meldraknailo wrote 10/07/2020 at 16:40

You can find cad files on the guthub I think: https://github.com/PiSugar

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Jeff wrote 06/26/2020 at 04:06

My pisugar has been a wonderful companion to my zero w.. but today I broke off the small on/off button by accident, pads went with it. Wish there was a way I could order just the board without the battery..!

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keld.norman wrote 12/26/2019 at 22:40

My PiSugar 1200 mah broke - the usb charging port fell off and took the two middle soldering pads with it when it felt off - does any one here know if I can charge it using some other connections on the board ?

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Jace wrote 06/15/2020 at 18:40

I had the same thing happen to one of my PiSugar's. Just wanted to comment to make the developer aware of the issue.

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meldraknailo wrote 10/07/2020 at 16:44

There is a mod online that adds qi wireless charging for the unit. You can probably modify that for your unit

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Huân Đoàn Ngọc wrote 09/26/2019 at 14:58

What do you think about integrating this module into PiSugar? (https://www.waveshare.com/pi-zero-usb-adapter.htm). Since PiSugar is already occupied the bottom face of Pizero, I cannot install this USB adapter.

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Jdaie wrote 09/28/2019 at 05:38

You can solder this between pizero and pisugar. It won't conflict actually. Someone has done this before.

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Jdaie wrote 09/28/2019 at 05:40

There is a 1.5mm gap between pizero and pisugar.

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Huân Đoàn Ngọc wrote 09/16/2019 at 16:48

Do you have a release date for Pi Sugar 2 yet? I'm a huge fan of it, can't wait!

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Jdaie wrote 09/18/2019 at 06:27

We had some delay on finding vendors and still refining the design. New samples will be arrive this week. We need to make sure everything is ok and decide when to release. I will update the progress asap. Thanks for your support!

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Jdaie wrote 09/21/2019 at 06:03

You can also subscribe PiSugar2 notification here: http://subscribe.pisugar.com/

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Huân Đoàn Ngọc wrote 09/21/2019 at 06:05

subscribed, thank you! ^^

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MisureMeccaniche wrote 09/12/2019 at 09:33

Hello, is there CE marking for PiSugar? Kind regards.

Are you sure? yes | no

Jdaie wrote 09/14/2019 at 11:04

Not yet

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MisureMeccaniche wrote 09/14/2019 at 11:55

Hi Jdaie, please keep us aware about that: it is mandatory to make professional products in EU. Kind regards.

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Jdaie wrote 09/15/2019 at 13:20

Sure. Thanks for reminding : )

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IAMLIUBO wrote 08/19/2019 at 07:54

It looks awesome!

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Jdaie wrote 08/20/2019 at 04:03

Thanks!

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zhuzhe1983 wrote 08/19/2019 at 03:03

bring wings to the pi zero and let the dream fly~

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Jdaie wrote 08/20/2019 at 04:03

haha

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simon wrote 04/21/2019 at 21:43

is the pisugar on taobao (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=590775024604) already available for international orders?

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Jdaie wrote 04/23/2019 at 01:08

Hi simon, it's our own taobao store but it's ready for international shipping. I will let you know as soon as it is available.

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Jdaie wrote 05/04/2019 at 01:52

Hi, simon. It's now available on amazon(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R7Z2334) for international orders.

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george.izard wrote 04/20/2019 at 15:17

This is perfect for a project I've been planning. Where can I buy one? Or even, where can I sign up for a mailing list to lmk when its available?

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Jdaie wrote 04/23/2019 at 01:11

Follow this project and I will update the progress here. Thanks for waiting!

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etomberg26 wrote 04/15/2019 at 18:54

Looking forward to buying a few. Wondering how well it will work with a Joy Bonnet.

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Jdaie wrote 04/19/2019 at 10:19

Good idea!

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PiSugar Battery for Raspberry Pi zero

Description

Details