It's probably not that the Pi5 draws more than 3A, it's that the battery circuits can't supply 5v *and* whatever current the Pi is drawing at the same time. That's just your first problem. The second is the battery specs. Are you sure it's 3 VAH? most "powerbanks" give rating in mAH (divide by 1000 for AH) without stating that the AH rating is at the cell voltage, which is nominally 3.7v.Can anyone recommend a 5 V battery (the sort used for recharging / powering a mobile phone) that can supply enough current to drive a Pi 5 via its USB-C power socket?
I have a 3000 mVAhr battery that is rated at 3 A, but this is not sufficient to power the Pi 5 - I get a "low voltage" warning even when the battery is fully charged. So presumably the Pi draws more than 3 A.
I'm looking to power a Pi 5, an external SD card (not spinning HDD) and a security or night-vision camera.
There is the separate issue of how long the charge in a battery will last...
If your battery is really 3VAH (aka 15WH), it can only be expected to run a Pi5 for 1 hour, and most likely less. If is really 3AH at 3.7v (= 11WH), the best case is that it would be expected to run a Pi5 for--at most--40 minutes. If it's really 3VAH (= 3WH), it would only be expected to run a Pi5 for--at most--12 minutes.
A Pi5 is spec'd to run on 3A, but will only provide 600mA for the USB ports. So if you don't have any connected USB devices that require significant current, 3A should be sufficient.
Statistics: Posted by W. H. Heydt — Mon Sep 09, 2024 7:24 pm