Power Your Raspberry Pi With These Low-Cost Battery Add-ons
The PiSugar S and PiSugar S Pro give your Raspberry Pi a sugar rush.
PiSugar Kitchen has released two new low-cost battery add-ons, the PiSugar S and PiSugar S Pro, that promise to power a Raspberry Pi for several hours on a charge.
As spotted by Notebook Check, the PiSugar S is a diminutive uninterruptible power supply (UPS) designed for the Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W. It features a 1,200 mAh battery with 5V 2A input and output said to be able to power a connected Zero W for more than 6 hours.
The PiSugar S Pro is a slightly larger UPS and is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 3B, 3B+ and 4B. This one boasts a 5,000 mAh battery with 5V 3A input and output. PiSugar Kitchen claims the device is able to keep a Raspberry Pi 3B running for over 10 hours.
PiSugar Kitchen hasn't provided exact measurements for either PiSugar S model, but they mounted directly to the connected Raspberry Pi, so they should be the same size. The batteries for both models also seem to align fairly well with their boards.
Both models can receive power over a Micro-USB connection, but PiSugar Kitchen said they can also be expanded to support wireless or solar charging, and the PiSugar S Pro's larger size gives it enough room to include a USB-C port as well.
There's a GPIO button for turning on the connected device by default, but if "the automatic power-on function is turned off," this can serve as a custom button instead. The remaining GPIO pins are left unobstructed for use with your best Raspberry Pi accessories.
Hackster.io noted that both PiSugar S models lack the real-time clock found in the PiSugar 2 but are also more affordable. The sold-out PiSugar S is priced at $28 to the PiSugar 2's $40, and their companion Pro models cost $30 and $50, respectively.
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Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.