Circuit Gem battery

User avatar
SparkySid
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:57 pm
Location: Cali
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Circuit Gem battery

Post by SparkySid » Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:23 pm

Since the Circuit GEM wiki is missing info on the battery and Kite has been on a roll shipping orders like crazy, I'd like to get a battery option figured out.
kite wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:51 am
...
[Circuit GEM Battery recommendations]
403035 - https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=403035 - 450mAh
482953 - https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=482953 - 850mAh

Those codes at the start are the battery size parameters, you can search them on any site to find the exact same battery
Perfect, easy to figure out the sizes then:
403035 = 4.0mm thick x 30mm wide x 35mm long for the 450mAh battery
482953 = 4.8mm thick x 29mm wide x 53mm long for the 850mAh battery

On a Circuit GEM wiki version from Dec, Kite had also listed these batteries with a disclaimer:
Without unsoldering anything from the Pi, you can use a 450mAh comfortably, the following battery codes (search these into Aliexpress) will yield you results: 403035 (https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=403035) - 450mAh

If you follow the parts removal from the Pi to make it as thin as possible, the following battery codes (search these on Aliexpress) will yield you results: 482953 (https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=482953) - 850mAh
There looks to significant updates to the v2.1F board compared to the v2.1c board that was in this older wiki's photos, especially with the much improved speaker mounting on v2.1F. Is it no longer necessary to modify the Pi Zero to fit the 482953 battery pack?

Is the max battery size 4.8mm thick x 30mm wide x 53mm long or something else? Curious as I'm trying to find compatible sized, locally sourced battery packs rather than AliExpress wholesale ones. So far I've found 503035 and 603048 packs that may fit???
Thanks!

gotoid
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:51 am
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by gotoid » Wed Feb 20, 2019 9:39 am

I have the same exact question having recieved the gem in the mail today! :D

User avatar
SparkySid
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:57 pm
Location: Cali
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by SparkySid » Wed Feb 20, 2019 3:40 pm

I'm looking very closely at @satri360's VMU build at https://sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=6917 and see a 503035 battery fitting into the case.
Lots of other good VMU build info there too, especially the case mods as they look to be similar for Kite's board. :D

e39
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:55 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by e39 » Wed Feb 20, 2019 3:48 pm

Add me to the pile of people who received their hardware today but need more info.

User avatar
SparkySid
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:57 pm
Location: Cali
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by SparkySid » Wed Feb 20, 2019 4:12 pm

I needed to order a PiZero W anyway from AdaFruit, so I picked up one of their 503035 500mAH batteries along with some flux for connector removals off of the PiZero.
Also ordered via prime delivery a 503040 600mAH battery.
Hopefully one or both of those batteries should fit...
Really wanted to try a 603048 900mAH battery, but that may be pushing it to far at 6mm thick...

omgitsaheadcrab
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 3:16 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by omgitsaheadcrab » Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:50 am

I've bought one of each. The larger one I got from Aliexpress, which won't arrive for some time, but the smaller one I got from a Spanish eBay seller and it arrived in the UK within 3 days :d

I was going to set about thinning my RPi in preparation but I'm confused about the two capacitors circled in blue. It appears as if Kite has replaced the larger ones that were there with smaller ones, no details on this though. Any ideas?
Attachments
PI_DESOLDER_1.jpg
PI_DESOLDER_1.jpg (133.94 KiB) Viewed 6677 times
GEM_4.jpg
GEM_4.jpg (249.6 KiB) Viewed 6677 times

666dsa666
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 2:20 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by 666dsa666 » Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:30 am

omgitsaheadcrab wrote:
Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:50 am
I've bought one of each. The larger one I got from Aliexpress, which won't arrive for some time, but the smaller one I got from a Spanish eBay seller and it arrived in the UK within 3 days :d

I was going to set about thinning my RPi in preparation but I'm confused about the two capacitors circled in blue. It appears as if Kite has replaced the larger ones that were there with smaller ones, no details on this though. Any ideas?
That's exactly what I was talking about, I removed the connectors but not the capacitors so eveything should be ok but I wonder if it's still needed.

User avatar
SparkySid
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:57 pm
Location: Cali
Has thanked: 18 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by SparkySid » Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:35 am

omgitsaheadcrab wrote:
Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:50 am
I was going to set about thinning my RPi in preparation but I'm confused about the two capacitors circled in blue. It appears as if Kite has replaced the larger ones that were there with smaller ones, no details on this though. Any ideas?
I believe (don't have a Pi Zero yet) the upper part circled in blue (near the composite video output pins) is an inductor, not a capacitor. No idea about the values to use, plus I'm suspecting this was someone's experiment and not something for general consumption. Note that the v2.1c board revision used in these photos still planned on having the speaker in the original case location, rather than the front of the case as in our shipped v2.1f boards. I'm suspecting this will free up more space for batteries, mitigating the possible need for Pi Zero component removals.
I'll be getting the rest of my parts this week and then start having fun with the dremel tool over the weekend so I can test fitments.

pigcheddars
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2019 1:47 pm

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by pigcheddars » Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:16 pm

Has anyone got any updates or insights on this topic?

I got the 482953 battery, and want to know if I still need to take the connectors off the Pi Zero in order to fit it in the case.

I've played around with trying to fit the various components into the case a bit, and it looks like at the very least the HDMI port is going to make things tricky if I don't take it off.

There won't be any way to take the connectors off once I've soldered the Pi Zero to the Circuit Gem board, so I'd love to hear some of this forum's experiences with builds using the 482953 battery.

Cheers!

User avatar
diko_d
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 5:18 pm
Has thanked: 27 times
Been thanked: 18 times

Re: Circuit Gem battery

Post by diko_d » Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:05 am

Hey guys,
I am actually traveling today, but will get back home later today so that I can post some pics for you to see.

I built it with the original recommended 850mAh battery from the original post. It fits great inside the case. The images of the the original build are, however, somewhat misleading...
The RPi Zero W actually has a pretty bulky power regulator next to the camera CSI connector, which you cannot remove if you want the Pi to work correctly. Still, if you push the battery in the case all the way up it fits just above the upper “optional” capacitor recommended to remove. So effectively, There is NO need to remove the optional components. Moreover, you also do not need to remove the CSI connector. You will however need to remove the HDMI and the two Micro USB connector to fit the larger battery in.

As mentioned, I will post a few pics later today.
Hope this helps!

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest