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How does the onboard battery charging IC work? Can I hook up a 3s li-ion battery and charge it via the 12v power input? Does the battery kick on if the main PSU

How does the onboard battery charging IC work? Can I hook up a 3s li-ion battery and charge it via the 12v power input? Does the battery kick on if the main PSU is interrupted?

qchris 6y ago
I think that this could be an underlooked, but absolutely killer feature for this board. Built-in support for high-capacity li-ion batteries that automatically kick-in for a battery backup would be awesome for homemade NAS set-ups, not to mention a whole host of robotics-y or home automation projects.
- amelius 6y ago
  Yeah, but you'll have to power your modem too.
  - JustSomeNobody 6y ago
    These work really well for that task. Can power a cable modem and a small edgerouter-x using a y-cable. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Belkin-Residential-Gateway-Battery-Backup-REV-B-w-Battery-BU3DC001-12V/274684107792?epid=1600149188&hash=item3ff472dc10:g:fqAAAOSwuuFgFJzX https://www.ebay.com/itm/Belkin-Residential-Gateway-Battery-...
- ac29 6y ago
  I dont see how a battery attached to the board would do much good for powering your drives in a NAS situation - they'd still need their own UPS.
- eqvinox 6y ago
  A killer feature that can be replaced by a 6€ external module? https://www.ebay.com/itm/402641596500 https://www.ebay.com/itm/402641596500 (you can get crappier ones for 2€... this one has a charge controller [MCP73833] from a recognizable brand [Microchip] with datasheets available)
timemachine 6y ago
This feature caught my attention too; can’t wait till I can get my hands on a unit for testing.
MayeulC 6y ago
I imagine you would need to communicate the battery topology (voltages, currents) to the power management IC (PMIC). Probably via a devicetree, or possibly a devicetree overlay? Devicetrees are used to list hardware peripherals, and instruct the kernel load the appropriate drivers with the appropriate parameters (I²C addresses, etc), so it would be the reasonable place to put that info, though it's probably configurable at run-time instead. There might also be some defaults, but I'd expect it to be "power PMIC off" if that chip is only used for the battery circuit (which I doubt). Edit: According to the scematic on the wiki page[1], it's a feature of the main PMIC, RK817-15. I's also indicated "1Cell Li-ion" Interesting features for that chip[2]: Input range: 3.8V –5.5V for USB input 2.7V -5.5V for BAT input Switch mode Li-ion battery charger providing charging current up to 3.5A. Power path controller with 4A current path with optional extended external mos. Accurate battery fuel gauge with two separate battery voltage and current ADC Real time clock (RTC) Low standby current of 16uA (at 32.768KHz clock frequency) Devicetree support has already been submitted, probably merged a while back[3]. [1] https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Quartz64 https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Quartz64 [2] https://rockchip.fr/RK817%20datasheet%20V1.01.pdf https://rockchip.fr/RK817%20datasheet%20V1.01.pdf [3] https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-arm-kernel/patch/1532315945-1094-4-git-send-email-tony.xie@rock-chips.com/ https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-arm-kernel/patch/...

How does the onboard battery charging IC work? Can I hook up a 3s li-ion battery and charge it via the 12v power input? Does the battery kick on if the main PSU is interrupted?

qchris 6y ago

I think that this could be an underlooked, but absolutely killer feature for this board. Built-in support for high-capacity li-ion batteries that automatically kick-in for a battery backup would be awesome for homemade NAS set-ups, not to mention a whole host of robotics-y or home automation projects.

amelius 6y ago
Yeah, but you'll have to power your modem too.
- JustSomeNobody 6y ago
  These work really well for that task. Can power a cable modem and a small edgerouter-x using a y-cable. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Belkin-Residential-Gateway-Battery-Backup-REV-B-w-Battery-BU3DC001-12V/274684107792?epid=1600149188&hash=item3ff472dc10:g:fqAAAOSwuuFgFJzX https://www.ebay.com/itm/Belkin-Residential-Gateway-Battery-...
ac29 6y ago
I dont see how a battery attached to the board would do much good for powering your drives in a NAS situation - they'd still need their own UPS.
eqvinox 6y ago
A killer feature that can be replaced by a 6€ external module? https://www.ebay.com/itm/402641596500 https://www.ebay.com/itm/402641596500 (you can get crappier ones for 2€... this one has a charge controller [MCP73833] from a recognizable brand [Microchip] with datasheets available)

timemachine 6y ago

This feature caught my attention too; can’t wait till I can get my hands on a unit for testing.

MayeulC 6y ago

I imagine you would need to communicate the battery topology (voltages, currents) to the power management IC (PMIC). Probably via a devicetree, or possibly a devicetree overlay? Devicetrees are used to list hardware peripherals, and instruct the kernel load the appropriate drivers with the appropriate parameters (I²C addresses, etc), so it would be the reasonable place to put that info, though it's probably configurable at run-time instead. There might also be some defaults, but I'd expect it to be "power PMIC off" if that chip is only used for the battery circuit (which I doubt). Edit: According to the scematic on the wiki page[1], it's a feature of the main PMIC, RK817-15. I's also indicated "1Cell Li-ion" Interesting features for that chip[2]: Input range: 3.8V –5.5V for USB input 2.7V -5.5V for BAT input Switch mode Li-ion battery charger providing charging current up to 3.5A. Power path controller with 4A current path with optional extended external mos. Accurate battery fuel gauge with two separate battery voltage and current ADC Real time clock (RTC) Low standby current of 16uA (at 32.768KHz clock frequency) Devicetree support has already been submitted, probably merged a while back[3]. [1] https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Quartz64 https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Quartz64 [2] https://rockchip.fr/RK817%20datasheet%20V1.01.pdf https://rockchip.fr/RK817%20datasheet%20V1.01.pdf [3] https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-arm-kernel/patch/1532315945-1094-4-git-send-email-tony.xie@rock-chips.com/ https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-arm-kernel/patch/...