Power Bank Keep-Alive

Name: Power Bank Keep-Alive
Brand: LaSonotheque
SKU: 43
Price: 10.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

This is a small keep-alive board for power banks, to connect to the 5 V supply of your project.

Most power banks switch themselves off when the connected device draws too little current. This happens with an audio player such as the Ambi'Son or the Exposi'Son, but also with an Arduino, a Raspberry Pi Pico, a dimmed LED strip or a small sensor. Your project then stops without warning.

This board solves the problem: every few seconds, it draws a short burst of current, just enough to keep the power bank switched on.

It simply connects to +5 V and ground, with no programming and no adjustment. For more advanced setups, an extra input lets you pause the pulses on demand.

If you'd like help with your project, I can help remotely: contact me.

10,00 €

This article is in stock :)
5 units

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Additional information

The board comes bare, without cables or power bank.

Photos, videos, components, colors, version, etc.: non-contractual.

In detail

When do you need it?

The Keep-Alive is useful whenever your project runs on a power bank and shuts down after a few seconds or minutes. With a mains adapter or a battery box, it serves no purpose.

How it works

A small microcontroller wakes the board up roughly every 4 seconds and briefly (0.2 s) draws a current of about 180 mA. To the power bank, this means a device is still connected: it stays on.

The rest of the time, the board sleeps. Its average consumption therefore stays very low, around 9 mA, with almost no impact on battery life.

How to connect it

+5 V and GND: connect them to the 5 V supply of your project. That's all: the board starts working straight away.
EN (optional): left unconnected, the board pulses continuously. Connected to an Arduino output or to the BUSY pin of a DFPlayer, it pauses for as long as that pin is low.

Caution: only pause the pulses if your project draws enough current in the meantime, for example a speaker at a decent volume. With headphones, an audio player draws too little current, even while playing: leave EN unconnected in that case.

Compatibility

The Keep-Alive works with the vast majority of power banks. However, each manufacturer has its own standby logic, so I cannot guarantee it will work with every model.

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