Hi,
Currently I power my LilyPad with a coin battery. I've read online that most LilyPads are designed to run either on 3V CR2032 coin cell battery or 3.7V Lithium Polymer battery. Since this project is not wearable, but a hanging tapestry, I would like to plug it. How to do that? Most adapters are 5V, and I am afraid to damage the board.
Here is a photo of a LilyPad I have, it does not have a JST LiPo battery connector.
Also how can I calculate how long will the CR2032 last? Thank you.
Look at the datasheet of the Lilypad. It tells about Vcc and how much current it uses.
Get the technical data for the battery, how many milli amp hours it contains. Divide this with the current drawn.
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You will need to double check exactly which sort of lilypad board this is, but so long as it is an ATMEGA328P or ATMEGA168 based one then for powering from a 5V wall wart you make sure the wall wart gives a clean and regulated voltage (no big spikes when turning on, and regulated to give the same 5V whatever current draw you are pulling), and then you wire the 5V of the wall wart to the Vcc pin and the wall wart's "gnd" to the board's Gnd.
A 5V micro USB wall wart is a good choice here, any USB one ought to be regulated, and ought to be fully isolated from mains and mains ground. You can get micro USB to header-pin adapter boards easily online, then solder, as appropriate, wires or headers to the 2.54mm pitch output pins of such an adapter. You'll only need the Vcc and Gnd outputs from that adapter, the data-lines won't matter here.
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Thank you so much! Let me just see if I understand correctly, can I use my phone charger and USB cable for that? I cut off the micro usb port, there are four wires, one is Gnd and one is +. Can I connect it directly to my Lilypad Arduino and the other part to the phone charger adapter (5V)?
Also is there and safe option to test this? Or do I have to "sacrifice" one of my Lilypads.. Thank you:)
I thought about another option, could I use FTDI adapter like this one I already have: USB TTL To Serial Adapter FTDI Basic FT232 | 3DSVET.eu Arduino Spletna Trgovina - Spletna Trgovina and connect it to micro USB cable than plug it to 5V wall adapter..?
Yes, but no need to chop off the cable, buy one of these, or equivalent:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/WayinTop-Pinboard-Breakout-Converter-Breadboard/dp/B07W13X3TD
That wil solve which-wire-is-which, as at the microUSB connector they follow a standardised arrangement which that breakout board separates out and labels.
If the Lilypad isn't 5V tolerant this will kill it, but from what I've heard it ought to be 5V tolerant. Double check exactly what it says on your Lilypad, read the text on the main black chip in the middle (hold under a magnifier/microscope and light FROM THE SIDE), if it says it is an ATMEGA328P it is definitely 5V tolerant. You might consider permanently soldering wires from the breakout board to the Vcc and Gnd holes on the Lilypad board.
FTDI boards are un-necessary if you have an uno, you should be able to temporarily link it up to the Lilypad via the correct pins (11,12,13,reset, look at Arduino as ISP tutorials online) and use it as an "Arduino as ISP", which lets you program an atmega328p directly without need for a bootloader.
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Thank you much for this. What I like about FTDI connector is that I can switch it to 3.3V output, so it’t a bit “safer”.. But I will for sure order these adapters from Amazon. Thank you again:)
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