Hi all,
How long should it take to charge the LiPo to 100% via USB on the rover v2.0? Should the little LED near the charging circuit go out when this point has been reached?
Many thanks,
alec
Also:
- I’m using an ordinary USB charger to charge it up (it’s rated at 5v 1A output). Is this sufficient?
- Does it matter if the rover’s main power switch is on or off when charging? Is either position “better”?
- When the rover’s power switch is off and USB is connected, the blue LEDs and the Arduino power LED are all on. This doesn’t sound very “off” to me - what does the on/off switch actually do?
Many thanks,
alec
Hi Coleman,
I have the same question - will the light go out at full charge?
Sorry to resurrect an old thread; but I’m just wanting to be sure I have this correct. I have the DF RobotShop Rover V2.0 Xbee kit with the 2000 mAh 3.7V LiPo battery.
Upon plugging in LiPo to the board with switch off, and USB to Mini B cable connected to board & PC: I have 6 nice blue, 1 Red PWR, and 1 Green (back of the board, near the mini USB port) LEDS lighting up.
All good so far. So:
- The green LED means what? that it is successfully charging the LiPo - but does NOT indicate charge state? i.e.it just indicates charger circuitry active?
- I am charging the battery as it shipped - I have only used it to test the board (powered on, then off) - assuming it’s ~50% charged. Is it safe to let it charge for 5-6 hours as Carlitos indicated below? Or should I have discharged it 1st…
- Can you damage this LiPo battery by over-charging? like if I forget to disconnect my Rover after 6 hours…
Thank you very much 
Geoff
I have an update for the group:
After ~4.5 hours… the green LED went out!
As we are still building the Rover (XBee header soldering day!), I haven’t had a chance to discharge the battery a bit, and see if it would come back on when re-connected to USB.
I just thought that interesting. I wonder if later versions of the board do use it as a charge status indicator?
Geoff
Just means the circuit is receiving power.
LiPo batteries do not have a memory effect, so you can charge them whenever you want without discharging them (same as your cell phone).
Nope. You can leave it plugged in forever if you want (ideally don’t though 
)
No, although that is a good idea.
It depends on how discharged the battery is, but it can take about 5-6 hours.
Sure.
If the main power switch is on, then the microcontroller (and possibly the LEDs) are on, and therefore consuming current.
Yes, the Rover is wired that way.
When you disconnect it from the USB, the ON/OFF switch turns the rover On or Off.
Correct. You can test this using the Blink LED program. The microcontroller alone does not consume a lot of power, and the 6xLEDs are also low current. We do appreciate the feedback and may change this in a future version. The rationale was that if you are connecting the rover to the USB port, you’re more than likely programming it.
The light will remain on as long as the charger circuit cs powered. It does not indicate the state of the charge.