Which battery pack could I use to power a gaming Raspberry Pi 3 ?

[natinusala]

Hello,

I'm currently building a retro gaming console, based on the same parts as the Portaberry Pi Ultra but with some tweaks. There are multiple devices powered by the Raspberry Pi 3B itself :

• A 5" HDMI Touchscreen with backlight

• A mini amplifier with 2 little speakers

• A Teensy LC

• A PiRTC clock with its coin cell battery

I am also using an ATXRaspi to provide a power button (with a status LED) to the console, it is between the Raspberry Pi and the power source. Software side, I use a modified version of Lakka (to add a sleep mode with the power button). This is basically everything in the project right now.

Now, I am currently using a PowerBoost 1000C with a 6600mAh battery, but it doesn't seem to be enough. When sending a game via WiFi or running an emulator, the low power icon can be seen in the top-right corner of the screen. When running a heavy core (such as PPSSPP, a PSP emulator), the FPS drops when the low power icon shows up. The low power red LED of the PowerBoost also flickers. When directly using my Raspberry Pi power supply, I don't have any problem.

How could I solve this problem ? Is the PowerBoost faulty, or is it normal that it cannot provide enough power for all this ? What alternatives could I use, a smartphone power bank maybe ?

Thanks !

[YaYa]

Your issue is not battery related but it’s current draw related !

The power boost can only handle 1A current draw and from experience, just your screen is drawing 600mA... so if you add the Pi and the rest, the Powerboost is struggling zzzZzZzz

You should go with something stronger or reduce current drain.

[YaYa]

By the way, why do you need RTC in your faming project ? I have a GBZ and completely deleted the ntp service, my time and date are wrong but who cares

[salami738]

Your issue is not battery related but it’s current draw related !

The power boost can only handle 1A current draw and from experience, just your screen is drawing 600mA... so if you add the Pi and the rest, the Powerboost is struggling zzzZzZzz

You should go with something stronger or reduce current drain.

YaYa is correct. One possible solution would be to use a charger (e.g. TP4056) in combination with a step up converter, that can handle the load (would look for a 3A or more rated one).

Links:
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-MICRO-USB ... Swb7NZzeeW
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/3A-30W-DC-DC-B ... SwevdZ7rfR

[cainkirisgai]

I run a Pi3b and the official 7inch touch screen with a 2500mAh battery (waiting for my 3800mAh to come in) with the Powerboost 1000 with no issues, the 1000c as was stated before does not output enough power to run both try to get the PB1000 and see if that works. If you would like a picture of my build I will be more than happy to show it, all im missing now (besides a better case) is the on screen battery display which i have been looking into recently just trying to see how to adapt it to the PI3 as opposed to the zero.