SparkFun engineer Alex Wende reviews the DIY Supercharger Kit - from opening the kit, to building, testing and using it.
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March 22, 2021 1:00 pm UTC
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Last Friday, we released the Elektor DIY Supercharger Kit (by Great Scott!). This kit provides all the materials needed to build a DIY supercharger/booster. Once assembled, it can charge a single-cell LiPo battery; protect it against the effects of overvoltage, overload, and short-circuits; and and can boost battery voltage to 5 V or 12 V. SparkFun engineer Alex Wende spent some time with the kit before we released it and wrote a comprehensive review (as published in ElektorMag - please take a moment to download it and read it.
DOWNLOAD REVIEW (PDF)
Watch the Overview Video
Great Scott! also put together a very helpful overview and build video.
Go to the Product Page
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The Elektor DIY LiPo Supercharger can charge a single-cell LiPo battery and protect it against the effects of overvoltage, ov…
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"As Published in Elektor..."
Alex's review of the DIY LiPo SuperCharger Kit first appeared in the March/April edition of Elektor, which was guest edited by SparkFun. Please check it out: we’re giving away free copies of the English language edition with orders using promo code: MAGAZINE21 (rules and info). In the magazine you’ll see a mix of projects, tutorials, interviews, explainers on some of our product lines, and more!
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Does anyone have a source for the small USB-C breakout that comes with this board? At first glance it looks like it's adapting a USB-C jack to the same footprint as the popular through-hold USB-A jack. That would be handy to have a pile of those.
I'm just a tad bit surprised that the board doesn't include a JST connector for the battery, since so many batteries (at least on this side of the Pond) have those pre-installed.
I'm wondering if something like this might fit?
The holes a spaced for 0.1" headers so it might be better to use a JST wire harness instead. What I did was instead of soldering the battery, I used an 18650 cell and a battery holder.
I think the reasoning they might not have gone with a JST is because it has a charging circuit and a boost circuit, so most of the time it might be better to leave it fixed to the board. Plus it's no fun if you're in the middle of a project and want to use the board only to find out that you "borrowed" the battery to use in another project.