Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo is USB-C powered and programmable, with a whopping 16MB of QSPI (XiP) flash memory. A stream of RP2040-powered boards are now available in the market ranging from Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 being the smallest while Adafruit’s Feather RP2040 is the largest in terms of form factor. The Raspberry Pi’s RP2040 microcontroller has programmable IOs and many GPIO pins that may be used to emulate a variety of interfaces.
Pico LiPo’s battery charging is the most significant function on this board. Additionally, it adds battery charging, Stemma QT/Qwiic, and a toggle power button. Pico LiPo features the MCP73831 charge controller, which quickly charges the LiPo battery. It uses a continuous 215mA charging current. According to Tom’s Hardware, the Pico LiPo from Pimoroni is a Raspberry Pi Pico on steroids.
Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo peripherals
Pimoroni has made it simple to connect to things without soldering – there’s a Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector for connecting a variety of sensors and breakouts, as well as a debug connector for programming with an SWD debugger. There’s an on/off button and a BOOTSEL button that can act as a user switch. The Pico Lipo measures approximately 53x21x8mm. Furthermore, it has an input voltage of the range 3-5.5V with a maximum current output of 600mA.
Pimoroni Pico LiPo also offers an integrated LiPo/LiIon battery management. This means charging the battery now is as simple as connecting the Pimoroni Pico Lipo in through USB. All credit to the inbuilt charging circuitry. It’s compatible with any of our LiPo, Li-Ion, and large capacity LiPo batteries. Connecting to GPIO 25, the power (lightning icon), battery charging status (battery icon), and a user LED (exclamation point) are all present on the board. All of these LEDs provide a quick status update.
The programmable IOs on the RP2040 are a very exciting feature because they allow users to run custom programs that can try to influence GPIO pins and transmit data among devices. Powered by RP2040, the Pico LiPo is compatible with add-ons provided by Raspberry Pi. Pimoroni even provides a ready-to-use download that works with the Pico LiPo. The Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo could be handy in robotics projects, but motors and motor controller would require an additional power source because the GPIO can only give 3.3V at a maximum of 600mA. Also, Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo is easily programmable using C++, MicroPython or CircuitPython.
Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo is available for purchase £13.50, to shop kindly visit the product page.
Jennifer James is a graduate student in Computer Science Engineering who is passionate about front-end development. She is a content-writer inquisitive about technology. A rising enthusiast in search for optimum knowledge through learning and experiences of the everyday fast-growing Digital Industry through organizational exposure.
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