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batteries:


Mesh radios can discharge a battery within a few hours or days, but they're useful for short-term use or for
solar or other intermittent power installations.

A very common radio configuration is to have both a battery and USB-C connector. The battery port expects a
3.7v lithium ("lipo") battery, which can be a consumer-grade round cell like an 18650 (or its larger variants),
or you can connect a lithium "pouch" battery. Lithium pouches are available in a huge variety of sizes, shapes,
and capacities. The mesh radio should charge up the battery when power is supplied on the USB-C port. It can
be difficult to estimate power use and battery life, the best way is probably to charge up the battery and run
it till it dies, and record the time it ran. When connecting an intermittent power source such as solar, make
sure to over-engineer it a bit to compensate for the occasional drought of power such as a week of overcast.

The battery listed below is model "103450", the cell is 32x45x9mm. (total battery length is 52mm), and it
uses a JST-2.0 connector.

After a radio died due to low battery, I recharged it on a power monitor, which consumed 9.488Wh of power.
The battery is 3.7v, so 2.564Ah to charge it, although that counts charge inefficiencies. With the battery rated
for 2,500mAh, I'll give that a pass for capacity.

See the Power Connectors page for important information on JST connectors.



2,500 mAh lipo pouch battery (4 for $13 at Ali Express)

3.7v lithium cells (in power)


103450 dimensions:


103450 specs:



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last updated 11/30/2025 at 23:20:53 by make_www_index.command version 2025.11.05.A