Rechargeable battery solutions for Raspberry Pi and Pico projects – PowerBoost & LiPo Shim

Instead of relying on a fixed power cable, several of my projects use rechargeable LiPo batteries with various members of the Raspberry Pi family, and in this video I show how I set two of them up using inexpensive charging units. First, for the Raspberry Pi Zero in my ‘WagonCam’ I fitted an Adafruit PowerBoost 500C, wired direct to the Pi’s GPIO pins, adding a power switch for greater control. While much of the footage for this section is adapted from my WagonCam video but there are some extra bits in there too. Then, for Raspberry Pi Pico powered projects – my compact water monitor and level crossing light controller – I used a Pimoroni LiPo Shim, specially designed for the Pico. Here I demonstrate how this can either be soldered to the headers through a circuit board, or directly to the back of the Pico. Both units also feature the ability to charge while the programs are running and, of course, are not the only ones, with many other adaptor boards available. Shopping List: Adafruit PowerBoost 500C – c.£15 Pimoroni LiPo Shim for Pico – c. £7.50 500 mAh LiPo battery – c. £5 - £6 Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 0:37 Overview 1:06 Pi Zero + Adafruit PowerBoost 1:46 Power output options 3:11 Adding a power switch 4:47 Pi Pico + Pimoroni LiPo Shim 5:17 Headerless installation 7:49 Projects in action