Power a TTGO with an 18650 shield?

[Winfried]

Hello,

I know nothing about electronics.

I ordered this 18650 shield to power a Lilygo TTGO controller and get rid of the power bank I currently use.

1. Can the TTGO actually be powered by this shield, and if yes, through which pin? The 5V pin?

2. I then need to power a sensor, which requires 5V. As shown, the TTGO only has a single 5V output: Should I solder both the shield and the sensor to the 5V pin?

Thank you.

[mikerj]

You don't need the 18650 shield, the TTGO is designed to run directly from a single lithium ion cell using the connector on the bottom side of the PCB.  Using this connector also means the cell gets charged (via a proper charger circuit) when you plug in a USB charger.

That said you should be able to power the TTGO direct from the 5v pin, though stepping the cell up to 5v using that shield will reduce battery life.

[thm_w]

If you don't want to do what mikerj suggests, can also:
- Plug a USBC cable into the 18650 shield "USB 5V output"
- Connect that to the TTGO USB input.
- Solder your sensor to the 5V pin on the TTGO.

[Winfried]

Thanks for the infos.