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What voltage range can it accept? What sort of batteries are appropriate?

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Do you consider this question to be unanswered? If so, could you tell me how to improve what I've contributed? – Andrew Larsson Jun 29 '12 at 16:22
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@AndrewLarsson, I was hoping for some concrete information about the acceptable voltage range. I know this has been asked elsewhere too though, and remains unanswered: raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/q/341/68 Until that question is answered, I don't really think this one should be finalised. – Highly Irregular Jun 29 '12 at 22:14

7 Answers

up vote 24 down vote

Standard USB uses 5V, and the Model B Pi claims to need 700mA. Taken from the Rasperry Pi FAQs:

The device should run well off 4 x AA cells.

If you were using 1.5V alkaline batteries, you would be oversupplying the board. As with most SoC-based computers, you should use NiMH batteries, as they supply an average 1.25V. This would leave your board at a safe, more controlled, 5V. The Pi will draw the correct amount of Amps it requires from the batteries, so you don't need worry there.

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NiMH batteries when freshly charged give an output of roughly 1.4V I think, and it drops to 1.2V after some use... will this be harmful? – Highly Irregular Jun 12 '12 at 21:06
@HighlyIrregular Most of them max out at 1.3V at full capacity and go down to 1.2V when needing to be charged. This won't be harmful. In fact, you may experience a slight performance boost when they're fresh off the charger. – Andrew Larsson Jun 12 '12 at 21:09
@Joe The batteries themselves don't need to be rated for amperage is what I'm saying there. The Pi will draw the correct amount of amps from the batteries. I'll clarify that in my answer. – Andrew Larsson Jun 12 '12 at 22:01
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In my understanding, alkaline batteries have a high internal resistance so aren't suitable for devices drawing substantial current. This is why they aren't very suitable for digital cameras. I don't know whether they would be adequate for a Raspberry Pi or not though. – Highly Irregular Jun 13 '12 at 1:29
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I'd suggest using 5 batteries (7.5V alkaline, or ~6V NiMH) and a 5V LDO regulator. Of course, if you want longer runtimes, use larger batteries (like "C" cells) or hook more up in parallel! – Doktor J Jul 31 '12 at 19:28
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up vote 6 down vote

Here's some comparison of various cheap options for battery power, that will all supply the Pi well within its specs:

http://www.fanjita.org/serendipity/archives/60-Running-a-Raspberry-Pi-from-batteries.html

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Looks like some great info, @Fanjita. To avoid link rot, summarising it in a post is considered important though. – Highly Irregular Jul 3 '12 at 20:15
up vote 4 down vote

I got this battery powered USB cell phone charger, and a couple of lithium 18650 batteries. It did a pretty good job and ran for 5.5 hours when idle and over 4 hours when running a Quake 3 demo loop. You can read about my testing methodology here. These 18650 lithim batteries work great because they are high enough voltage that just 2 batteries will easily do the job, and they are also rechargeable. They also provide quite a bit of power and allow you to use the Pi for many hours even under full load. I would think that these batteries would be a good choice for anybody looking to power their Raspberry Pi from batteries.

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up vote 3 down vote

It is inadvisable to run the RPi on batteries, as it has been designed to be powered by USB; USB power is regulated and accurately 5V. Most USB ports can supply ~500mA, whereas most USB chargers are designed to supply 1A. The RPi requires a minimum supply capable of 700mA, otherwise it may not boot properly.

It would be advisable instead to use a battery powered, emergency USB phone charger or wait for a LiPo shield, which will undoubtedly be developed.

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My understanding of cellphones is that they'll accept a range of voltages... I guess this would mean I'd need to look for an emergency USB phone charger that regulates the voltage – Highly Irregular Jun 12 '12 at 21:24
Yes, maybe I should remove that hint or find an example? – Alex Chamberlain Jun 12 '12 at 21:25
While it is purely anecdotal evidence every USB charger I've seen is regulated so should be pretty good for running a RPI from. Probably better than a PC's USB power as the PC's has lots more devices causing noise on the +5V rail. – LovesTha Jun 12 '12 at 22:34
Most USB2 ports on computers can only supply ~500mA – Alex L Jun 16 '12 at 9:05
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@Alex Better? Most chargers are 1A. – Alex Chamberlain Jun 16 '12 at 11:00
up vote 2 down vote

http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Troubleshooting_power_problems suggests that the voltage needs to be between 4.75 and 5.25 V, suggesting that 4 NiMh batteries at 1.2V each should be 4.8V, within range. However, fully-charged NiMH batteries can go up to 1.4V * 4 = 5.6V, well over the maximum. If you test your batteries and find that they only go as high as 1.3V when fully-charged, they should be OK. The best solution is probably to use a switching DC-DC converter to convert from whatever your batteries put out to 5V.

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Have you got a particular DC-DC converter in mind? Or maybe, a specific circuit? – Alex Chamberlain Jul 4 '12 at 6:34
up vote 2 down vote

I am using Rpi with cheap DC-DC converter. Used it with airsoft batteries and RC models batteries (7.2V and 11.8V). Works as a charm. Look like my 5000mah 11.6V battery can power it for days.

Just be careful to configure it prior to using. I am testing it with every new battery before connecting to Rpi.

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up vote 2 down vote

Here is what I did and it seems to work well: You will need a 8xAA battery pack with a 9v battery like power connector. A 2Amp USB car adapter Optional - A plug to plug into the car adapter, otherwise just take the adapter apart.

Solder the center pin on the car adapter to the positive from the battery pack, or if you used the cable the appropriate wire. And solder the negative to the outer on the adapter

I then got 8xAA 2500mAh rechargable NiMH for a total possible of 24wH's. This should be good for a while.

I am measuring a steady 5.08v on the usb plug from the adapter. This will depend on the quality of the one you buy/have. I used a rayovac adapter.

The batteries will put out around 10-11V before the adapter.

The pi needs 5V if not a little more. The adafruit adapter is 5.25V

http://elinux.org/RPi_5V_PSU_construction is helpfull too.

I also measured the current draw from the battery pack when it was 10V at 0.54A. The device had a hub, Logitech Quickcam 9000, Netgear N150, and a USB2Serial adapter and the CPU was at 70-100%. At idle it was 0.38A. At poweroff it measured 0.14A. With only the Pi it idled at 0.24A. Under Load at 900Mhz, it only used 0.27A. When the device is idle it clocks down to 250Mhz. It does not look like the clock speed makes much difference or the cpu load.

So at 5W with all devices I should get about 4-5hrs, give or take, but 8-9hrs with just the Pi and ethernet.

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I forgot to mention. This also powers my USB2 hub which has a serial to usb adapter, a web cam, and a 802.11N adapter. – Beached Dec 1 '12 at 5:10
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Don't forget you can edit your own answer ;) – Morgan Dec 1 '12 at 10:30
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I'd like to pick a nit here if I may. If you arrange the batteries in series, the current capacity of the assembly is the same as that of one battery, not the sum of the capacities of the individual batteries. However, for a parallel arrangement, the capacity would be the sum. Think of it this way. If one battery can supply 1.5v x 2500mAh = 3750mWh, 8 (in any arrangement) can provide 30000mWh. 30000mWh / (8 x 1.5v) = 2500mAh. For the parallel assembly, 30000mWh / 1.5v = 20000mAh. 20000mAh / 8 = 2500mAh. QED – CPRitter Dec 2 '12 at 12:49
I wonder if the car adapter would supply the required 5v if it itself were fed with less than the 10v or so in your rig-up. Have you tried it with fewer batteries? It may result in less waste heat which in turn would retard global warming, the inexorable increase of entropy and the Universe's march to its own heat death. – CPRitter Dec 2 '12 at 13:15
Crap, you're correct. I'll update. It's only going to be about 5hrs. I measured the current @10V to be 500mA. So 5W of power are needed. 1.2V(The rechargeable) x 8 will give 24wH, so 4.8hrs. Either way, if you want to use a AA battery pack, it will probably be 8 batteries. – Beached Dec 8 '12 at 0:11
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