Electronic – Battery reads 5V but can’t power a 5V sensor

battery-operatedpowersensorusbvoltage

I have a circuit set up similar to that shown bellow which allows readings to be taken from an infrared sensor (MLX90614) using an Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266.

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This works fine when the battery is connected to the USB port on my computer, but not to a 5V power bank (PURIDEA 10). I get readings of 1037.55 Celsius, which is a common error. I have confirmed that the voltage of the power bank is 5V with a multimeter. The sensor needs a minimum of 4.5V.

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This image says there is discharging protection of the power bank. could this cause the voltage to decrease to lower than 4.5V?

I'm really unsure of why the power bank cannot supply the voltage. Thanks

Best Answer

Try putting a load resistor across the power pack output lines and see if it wakes up. Try ~20 Ohm for a short while, that would waste some 1.25 W so don't burn your fingers... If it wakes up, you could easily make a periodic load that keeps the pack alive:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

How often you need to pull the load needs some experimentation. There is of course a possible flaw with this circuit: it's not self starting. But that could be a topic for a new question.