How do I charge the battery of my SnapperGPS receiver (V1.0.0)?

[JonasBchrt]

How do I charge the battery of my SnapperGPS receiver (V1.0.0)?

[JonasBchrt]

To charge the lithium-ion polymer (LiPo) battery, you need to disconnect it from your SnapperGPS receiver and connect it to a LiPo charger.

Which LiPo charger can I use?

The charger needs to have a female JST-PH connector with two pins. Here is a table with examples:

name	charging current	USB connector	link
SparkFun Adjustable LiPo Charger	100 mA - 500 mA*	Micro-B	SparkFun, DigiKey
SparkFun LiPo Charger Plus	1000 mA*	C	SparkFun, Amazon, DigiKey
SparkFun LiPo Charger Basic - Micro-USB	500 mA*	Micro-B	SparkFun, DigiKey, AliExpress
SparkFun LiPo Charger Basic - Mini-USB	500 mA*	Mini-B	DigiKey
SKU:DFR0668 Lipo Charger-Type C	50 mA**	C	DigiKey, Amazon, DFROBOT, Onecall-Farnell
SKU:DFR0667 Lipo Charger-MicroUSB	50 mA**	Micro-B	DigiKey, DFROBOT
Adafruit MicroLipo Battery Charger	100 mA***	Micro-B	DigiKey, Adafruit
Adafruit MiniLipo Battery Charger	100 mA***	Mini-B	DigiKey, Adafruit, Amazon
Adafruit USB-C Battery Charger	100 mA***	C	Adafruit, Amazon

*Down to 15 mA with soldering, see https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/adjustable-lipo-charger-hookup-guide or https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/lipo-charger-plus-hookup-guide

**Up to 500 mA with soldering, see https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/DFRobot%20PDFs/DFR0668_Web.pdf or https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/DFRobot%20PDFs/DFR0667_Web.pdf

***Up to 500 mA with soldering, see https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruit-microlipo-and-minilipo-battery-chargers.pdf

Ideally, a LiPo is charged at a rate of 1C per hour, where C is the battery capacity. For example, a LiPo with a capacity of 110 mAh should be charged with around 110 mA. Less than 1C as also fine, it just takes longer. Charging a battery at more than 2C, e.g., more than 220 mA for a 110 mAh battery, can reduce the life time of the battery. So, we recommend that you select a LiPo charger whose charging current does not exceed twice the battery capacity per hour.

Anything I need to take care of when charging the battery?

Make sure that the black battery cable is connected to the pin marked with - on the charging board and the red cable is connected to the + pin. Some batteries and chargers sell with inverted colours and connecting one of those may be hazardous.

[JonasBchrt]

The table above previously showed this charger from AliExpress, too. Please do not use it since it seems to have the incorrect polarity and you would need to invert the battery's polarity to avoid a short.