The Raspberry Pi line of single-board computers are small, inexpensive systems that you can use to learn to code, set up as a media center PC, or use as the basis for hardware projects line game consoles, home automation systems, or robots.
If you want to use a Raspberry Pi around the house you can just plug it into a wall jack, hook up a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and you’re all set. But if you want to use it as a portable device you’ll need a battery… and that’s where the PiJuice comes in.
It’s a portable battery module designed to power a Raspberry Pi on the go. The creators are running a Kickstarter campaign and you can request a unit for a pledge of £24 ($36) or more.
The basic PiJuice module features a 1400 mAh Lipo battery which should provide up to 24 hours of battery life for a Raspberry Pi. It supports a low-power deep-sleep state, wake on interrupt or calendar event support, and a power management API is available. There’s also a multi-color RGB LED light.
PiJuice uses a 40-pin connector that should work with the Raspberry Pi Model A+, Model B+ and Raspberry PI 2 Model B.
Want to go completely off the grid? There’s a PiJuice Solar which includes the PiJuice module and a 6V solar panel. You’ll need to pledge £115 ($171) or more for the solar kit.
So what can you do with a battery-powered Raspberry Pi? You could build a portable media player, camera, or handheld game console — there are PiJuice Maker Kits with guides for building your own.
The solar version lets you set up cameras, weather monitors, or other outdoor projects that can operate continuously without a power cable running from your garage.
The PiJuice Kickstarter campaign runs through March 31st, 2015.
via Raspberry Pi
Does this function as a ups too?
What is the advantage of using this compared to the thousand external power packs already out there?
The power management api perhaps?
But the problem is that you still need to be able to connect to a Wi-Fi signal, to be able to do interesting stuff.
– If you’re just listening to music then you could buy a handy little mp3 player for $10!
I’d rather see a power pack addition for the Raspi to give the external USB’s more juice.
14?
I might possibly have let out a few zeros…