M5STACK ATOM TailBat shutdown beause the Atom is not consuming enough current

Pepsi

I've a Atom Lite and the TailBat.
I'm programming the Atom Lite with arduino ide.
the only function (in my code) that I'm using is Bluetooth HID.
after about 35 seconds the tailbat is shutting off. because the current consumption is not high enough.

If I use more features the tailbat stays on.

what can I do the keep the tailbat powering the atom lite?

Pepsi

I did some investigation.
If the Atom Lite or Atom is downclocked to 80MHz the tailbat will turn off because of the to low power consumption .
If I change it to 160MHz, it will stay on.

So how can i alter the tailbat to support the Atom with low power consumption?

findmyname

Hi @Pepsi ,

Did you find any way how to achieve it ? I'm looking for something similar but preferably in micropython.

ModernMelon

Any answer to this? I'm doing the exact same thing as @Pepsi amd would like the atom lite to stay on and connected using the tailbat as power.

ModernMelon

@pepsi how did you change it to 160mhz?

Hafenstrand

I just bought the TailBats to power my Atoms. I'm a bit surprised the battery is only working for high energy consuming scenarios. I planed to use them with deep sleep and it's a bit frustrating seeing them power down after a short while.

What is the use case for this battery?

felmue

Hi guys

according to the IP5303 (used in TailBat) datasheet if the current is below 45 mA for about 32 seconds the output is shut down. So maybe if your code makes the system wake up every 30 seconds the TailBat stays turned on? (Note: not tested myself.)

Thanks
Felix

Hafenstrand

Thanks @felmue, in another post I read that the user did this and was able to extend the battery power from 4 hours to 17 hours.

But I would need the battery to last about 5 days till it drops as I want to use it to track my ebike which is not always powered on.

felmue

Hello @Hafenstrand

ok, I see. Unfortunately I don't think that 5 days (= 120 h) is achievable with the TailBat's 190 mAh capacity. Measuring the power consumption of the M5Atom in deep sleep I get about 11 mA (at 5V). However with 190 mAh in the TailBat you'd need to get the current in deep sleep mode down to about 1.6 mA.

BTW: 1 mA is consumed by the RGB LED even if it is off. I assume the rest is consumed by the USB and 3.3 V converter chip inside the M5Atom.

Thanks
Felix