battery News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 18, 2026April 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Pironman 5 Pro Max Review – A Raspberry Pi 5 Tower PC case with integrated video and audio capabilities, optional UPS kit

SunFounder has sent us a sample of the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC case for Raspberry Pi 5 for review alongside a PiPower 5 UPS board. The “Pro Max” builds upon the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed last year, but adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, two speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The PiPower 5 is a UPS HAT designed for Raspberry Pi Zero/Model B single board computers, and not directly compatible with the Pironman cases, but we’ll still try to use it. I’ll start this review with an unboxing of the Pironman 5 Pro Max and PiPower 5 packages, followed by an assembly guide for the Pironman 5 Pro Max, a test of the new features (display, camera, audio interaction), and finally, I’ll have a quick test of the UPS HAT with the Raspberry Pi 5 enclosure. Unboxing of Pironman […]

April 7, 2026 by Debashis Das - 6 Comments

SN1 Solar Node – An ESP32-C3-based board with IP67 enclosure, solar charging, ESPHome firmware

Designed by Granz Scientific LLC, the SN1 Solar Node is an ESP32-C3-based IoT node/development board designed specifically for off-grid IoT projects. Development boards like Seeed Studio Wio Tracker, or industrial controllers like DFRobot LoRaWAN Control Terminal, allow you to handle your own battery management and weatherproofing, or on the other end, you have products like SenseCAP Solar Node P1 that come with everything integrated but do not allow adding custom hardware. This is where the SN1 Solar Node is different; it features an IP67-rated enclosure with an integrated solar panel on the lid, 18650 battery support, and prototyping strip-board areas for custom circuitry. It also includes a smart power switch that allows the battery to continue charging from the solar panel even when the board is powered off. Additionally, it provides battery voltage monitoring, breaks out most GPIOs for easy access, and includes optional jumpers for an onboard LED and […]

April 7, 2026April 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

NASA Artemis Watch 2.0 – An ESP32-S3-powered, NASA-inspired wearable kit for education

CircuitMess NASA Artemis Watch 2.0 is a programmable, NASA-themed smartwatch based on an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth module and a 1.14-inch monochrome display. The watch also features an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a buzzer, an RTC, a button, several LEDs, and a USB port for programming and charging the built-in 600 mAh battery. NASA Artemis Watch 2.0 specifications: Core module – ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N4R2 SoC – ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity Memory – 2MB PSRAM Storage – 4MB QSPI flash PCB antenna Display – Built-in 1.44-inch display USB – 1x USB Type-C port for charging and programming Sensors 6-axis LSM6DS3TR accelerometer and gyroscope Temperature sensor (TBC) Misc Lever button 6x user LEDs, 1x power LED, 1x RGB LED Buzzer RTC + backup battery Power Supply 5V via USB-C port 600 mAh LiPo battery, good for 2 to 3 hours on a charge Dimensions and Weight – […]

April 3, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

SupTronics X1208 – A UPS + M.2 NVMe SSD HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5

SupTronics X1208 Raspberry Pi 5 UPS + M.2 HAT

The SupTronics X1208 is a UPS and M.2 NVMe SSD HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 designed to offer fast storage and protect the system against data loss during power outages for Edge Computing, NAS, data logging, and other always-on applications. The HAT draws up to 5V/5A from the USB-C port, which charges a 21700 lithium-ion battery (1.5A) and powers the Raspberry Pi 5 directly through the 40-pin GPIO header, eliminating the need for extra cables. It also features an M.2 M-key NVMe slot supporting 2230/2242/2280 SSDs up to 4TB with PCIe 2.0/3.0 speeds. The UPS supports power switching, auto power-on, safe shutdown on low battery, and GPIO-based power/charging control, along with power loss detection. The X1208 board is also equipped with a Maxim fuel gauge I2C chip for battery voltage and capacity monitoring. SupTronics X1208 UPS + M.2 HAT specifications: Compatibility – Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Storage – M.2 M-key […]

March 31, 2026March 30, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

T-Display-P4 smartphone-like devkit features ESP32-P4 MCU, ESP32-C6 wireless SoC, and SX1262/LR2021 LoRa transceiver

LILYGO T-Display-P4 is a feature-rich ESP32-P4 + ESP32-C6 devkit, but with a smartphone-like design and support for GPS, Ethernet, and LoRaWAN through SX1262 or LR2021 LoRa transceiver, besides the usual WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.x, and 802.15.4 wireless connectivity. The T-Display-P4 is offered with either a 4.05-inch IPS display and a 2MP front-facing camera or a 4.1-inch AMOLED with a 2MP rear camera. The devkit is equipped with 32MB PSRAM and 16MB NOR flash for the ESP32-P4, a microSD card slot, a built-in microphone and speaker, a 3.5mm audio jack, a few USB ports, and a 9-axis motion sensor, as well as a GPIO port and two Qwiic connectors for expansion. T-Display-P4 specifications: MCU – ESP32-P4 CPU Dual-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 360 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) VPU – H.264 and […]

March 27, 2026March 27, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C5 board offers dual-band WiFi 6, Adafruit Feather pinout, LiPo battery support

Espressif has recently released the ESP-IDF v6.0 framework with support for ESP32-C5 and ESP32-C61, so we can expect more ESP32-C5 boards. Following the launch of boards like DFRobot FireBeetle 2 and the Espressif DevKitC-1, SparkFun has now launched its Thing Plus – ESP32-C5, an Adafruit Feather-compatible board based on the ESP32-C5. The timing is no coincidence. Although the ESP32-C5 dual-band WiFi 6 SoC was announced back in 2022, hardware makers have been waiting for stable software support. With the release of ESP-IDF v6.0, the ESP32-C5 moves from “preview” to “stable” and adds key features, such as Safe Bootloader OTA updates. This enables the ROM bootloader to fall back to a recovery partition if an update fails, making it reliable enough for companies like SparkFun to launch hardware for remote deployments and Matter-compatible smart home applications. SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C5 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C5-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C5 CPU Single-core […]

February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

TECNO unveils thin modular smartphone concept with magnetic cameras, battery, and gamepad add-ons

The TECNO will showcase its modular smartphone concept at Mobile World Congress 2026. The company’s “Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology” aims to enable thin modular smartphones with magnetic hardware expansion add-ons. This idea is not new. Motorola’s Project Ara open-source hardware platform attempted that in 2013, and Google (ATAP) took over the project in 2015, before the modular phone project died in 2016. The Fairphone is the closest we have to a modular smartphone nowadays, but while it’s repairable, its modularity is more limited. But maybe time was not just right for a full modular smartphone, and TECNO is giving it another try. Ten magnetic modules have been designed so far. Those include camera modules (ACTION CAMERA and TELEPHOTO LENS), a game pad module, an off-grid communication module (mmWave is mentioned, but maybe a LoRa/Meshtastic will also be provided), and a 4.5mm thick “POWER BANK” battery module to double usable power […]

February 17, 2026February 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Olimex ESP32-P4-PC board offers HDMI video output, Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, and more

Based on an Espressif Systems ESP32-P4NRW32 SoC with a 400 MHz dual-core RISC-V CPU, 768 KB RAM, and 32MB PSRAM, Olimex ESP32-P4-PC is one of the most feature-rich ESP32-P4 boards on the market so far. The open-source hardware board features 16 MB SPI flash, HDMI and MIPI DSI display interfaces, a MIPI CSI camera interface, a 3.5mm audio jack, Fast Ethernet, and four USB 2.0 ports, as well as a UEXT connector and a 20-pin GPIO header for expansion. It takes power from a USB Type-C port, a LiPo battery, or PoE through an add-on board. Olimex ESP32-P4-PC specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-P4NRW32 CPU Dual-core 32-bit RISC-V HP (High-performance) CPU @ up to 400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz Memory 768 KB HP L2MEM (for dual-core CPU), 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM (for LP MCU […]