Powerbank charge circuit instead of Powerboost?

[ICMF]

Yet another "can I substitute a Powerboost with..." thread. Sorry.

I've been messing around with the powerbank recommended by DannyJK. And it occurs to me: its charge circuit has a power booster to give me 5V; it does pass-through charging so I can play while it's plugged in; it's got dual outputs so I can directly power both my screen and my Pi... and it's free! It is bigger than a powerboost, but that's not an issue for my usage. Powering on/off will be tricker - I can't do a simple on/off switch for the whole system, but I should be able to get around that with a discrete power switch for the screen + shutdown script.

So is there any reason why I can't just use this board, rather than a powerboost?

[cpeb]

I'm going to be trying this aswell. The only issue I have is fitting it in and extending the power push button to somewhere useful.

There no reason it wouldn't work as you said it powers and charges at the same time.

Mines a 9600mah version but I'll probably reduce the batteries to 2 instead of 3 and mount them either side of the back case.

As always though be careful and test it on kit you aren't bothered about frying

[abrugsch]

the powerboost is just a more breadboard/hobbyist/beginner friendly version of the powerbank board. it has extra design features to be more universal, but ultimately serves the same purpose. charge a Lipo and boost it up to 5v. The biggest difference between them is the supply chain of the components and probably more protection on the adafruit one (they have a reputation to protect, where the generic one is just built down to a low price) it's also documented and supported.

[winnetouch]

I tried this... I had nothing but problems because I dissasembled cheap powerbanks. The chips are flimsy, tear appart easily if you desolder something, etc. I'd advise using this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-7V-Li-ion-Bat ... Sw44BYPCBd

[DannyJK]

The power bank circuit that I used is great, but requires some work-arounds to function properly.

First off, it does not charge and play at the same time, or at least not the ones I receive. For a phone plugged in to the power bank this works well, but for the raspberry pi not so much. When plugged in for charging and powering the RPi at the same time, the Pi and all other accessories get starved for power. The screen flickers and things start to slow to a grinding halt with random resets.

I haven't tested as to why this happens but I'm assuming voltage becomes compromised.

Another issue is when the RPi is powered off and then the unit is plugged in for charging, it will bypass the power switch and boot up the RPi the moment the power adapter is inserted.

I guess a workaround would be to install a hard-switch to sever the connection between the Pi and the power board when charging is required, so charge and play becomes a lost function.

Either way, I used this board in a GameGear with a RPi 3 that I modded and I'm happy with how it's turning out.

[toiletpaper69]

Awesome Game Gear! I'm looking to build one myself very soon. It would be great if you could share some build pics on the forum.

[Rabin]

Please share your build pics here so that we can better understand about the Game Gear building. Thanks.