What is the rate at which the Notecarrier F can charge a LiPo battery when plugged into USB? Is there a way I can estimate remaining time to a full charge? This would help me determine what size battery I should use based on available time to charge until it’s full, and it would also give me an idea of how long I should leave it plugged in at a minimum to receive a full charge.
Also, is the charging rate slowed if the device is running while charging?
Here are some general rules of thumb I use with LiPo batteries and chargers. Most LiPo charging circuits default to a maximum charging current of 500ma, which is recommended for single cell batteries.
So with a 2200 maH LiPo battery, it will take around 4 hours to charges to 80-90% capacity. The remaining 10-20% of capacity is charging in trickle charge mode and can take another 4-8 hours to reach 100%.
Different size LiPo batteries may have circuitry in the battery pack to limit the charging circuit.
On a Notecarrier AF, I just verified that charge current in around 500ma and it is not impacted whether or not the notecard is running.
Hope that helps.