ESP32-C3 Lipo Battery Won't Charge

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
1

I bought a Wemos Lolin esp32-C3 pico see specs here:
https://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/c3/c3_pico.html

I initially had an issue getting it to run on Lipo battery (see Wemos Lolin esp32-C3 pico) but basically, I had to swap the pins on the battery to get it to run off the Lipo (the connector is keyed so it only goes into the connector on the esp32 one way). Now It will run off of the battery - BUT the battery does not charge when I have the usbC connector plugged into the board. The only way I could get the battery to charge is to swap the pins in the connector back and use a separate Lipo usb charger.

Am I doing something wrong? It seems pretty straight forward that the battery should charge via the usb when plugged into the esp32. Am I supposed to do something to enable charging on the board? There is a schematic in the link above that shows the charging circuit....I was wondering if any of the smart people out there could look at it and see if they have a polarity issue with their design? Could it be the battery I am using? There is a small circuit at the base of the connector but not sure what it does.

As far as contacting Wemos directly...I couldn't find any way to do that.
Mark

2

If you even once plugged the battery in with reversed connections, the charger circuitry may have been destroyed.

Battery connectors are not standardized.

3

Hey Jremington...
That is probably good news. It's only a $5 board. I'll buy another and check it BEFORE plugging in the battery. I'll let you know how it goes!

Mark

4

Consider that to be a cheap learning experience!

5

Did you ever get this resolved?

I'm having the same issue (even though I checked the polarity before plugging it in.)

6

Mine was the polarity...BUT when I initially plugged it in backwards it fried my charging circuit. When I bought a new board and checked the polarity, everything worked fine. If you plugged it in backwards even once - you probably killed it. The rest of the board will work, but it wont charge.

Fish

7

@speedpro maybe you board tries to charge the LiPo with a too high current. With a protected LiPo the little protection circuit on top of the LiPo should then prevent charging.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIh8Z7XtVGw ,
time 2:25