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+-- Forum: PinePhone (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=120)
+--- Forum: PinePhone Accessories (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=123)
+--- Thread: Hardware switch for the PPKB battery? (/showthread.php?tid=16853)
Hardware switch for the PPKB battery? - theResonant - 06-17-2022
Has anyone opened up their PPKB to add a hardware kill-switch for its battery? This way, the USB port of the phone could be used safely (when the switch is off).
Would this make sense?
Alternatively, a slider-switch could be added to the back of the phone, made accessible from the outside (by drilling), which would slide under the Pogo pins that feed power from the battery, disconnecting them when desired.
No matter how it's done, it really looks like the battery inside the PPKB needs some sort of hardware switch. This way, it will truly behave as what it really is: a powerbank, not just an extra battery. A powerbank which you manually connect and disconnect, and charge separately on its own port.
RE: Hardware switch for the PPKB battery? - magdesign - 07-13-2022
(06-17-2022, 04:25 PM)theResonant Wrote: Has anyone opened up their PPKB to add a hardware kill-switch for its battery? This way, the USB port of the phone could be used safely (when the switch is off).
Would this make sense?
Alternatively, a slider-switch could be added to the back of the phone, made accessible from the outside (by drilling), which would slide under the Pogo pins that feed power from the battery, disconnecting them when desired.
No matter how it's done, it really looks like the battery inside the PPKB needs some sort of hardware switch. This way, it will truly behave as what it really is: a powerbank, not just an extra battery. A powerbank which you manually connect and disconnect, and charge separately on its own port.
This is quite a great idea!
Do you know which cables we would have to solder to this switch?
Would the keyboard as a keyboard still work?
There was this other guy, adding a "ideal diode":
https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/vw4s8t/using_a_usb_device_with_the_pinephone_keyboard/
RE: Hardware switch for the PPKB battery? - theResonant - 07-17-2022
(07-13-2022, 09:13 AM)magdesign Wrote: There was this other guy, adding a "ideal diode":
https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/vw4s8t/using_a_usb_device_with_the_pinephone_keyboard/
Wow. I didn't see their post.
Having such a diode within the keyboard is definitely more convenient than having a kill-switch to keep in mind.
(07-13-2022, 09:13 AM)magdesign Wrote: Do you know which cables we would have to solder to this switch?
Would the keyboard as a keyboard still work?
I don't know exactly, I have never opened the PPKB and I'm bad at soldering. I'd start with adding a switch directly on the battery outputs. This means that when the switch is 'off', the keyboard literally has no battery.
And the keyboard would still work as a keyboard, as far as I understand.
But if the keyboard stops working when the switch is 'off', then the solution is simple: put the switch on the 5V wire that goes to the Pogo pin going to the phone. This way, the power from the battery cannot reach the phone, but the keyboard itself still has power. However, this might confuse the power controller in the keyboard because it thinks it is delivering power to the phone, but the current to the phone is 0 mA.
RE: Hardware switch for the PPKB battery? - magdesign - 07-19-2022
Instead of a switch, I soldered an USB-A female plug to the keyboard, to charge the phone its now possible to connect the regular usb-c cable and its also possible to charge other devices:
see: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=17015