Inkplate won't start on battery power, flashes black and white

TECHNICAL SUPPORT Inkplate
1

Customer:

I’ve received 2 Inkplates and suspect one may be defective. I installed a LiPo battery with JST connector and uploaded the Basic Grayscale demo sketch. On one Inkplate this works fine and runs fully on battery. On the second, the sketch won’t start on battery—it just flashes the screen black and white repeatedly. If I plug in USB power and start the sketch, then remove USB power, it continues to run to completion. But it won’t start on battery alone. The battery is fully charged. I’ve recompiled and reuploaded the demo sketch with no change. Is this a known issue? Any troubleshooting steps or is this a board problem?

Originally submitted via email support on 13 August 2020. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Soldered Support:

This sounds like a voltage drop causing the onboard power supervisor to reset the controller. Can you tell me which battery you’re using? Since you’re using the basic grayscale code there’s no WiFi or extra power consumption there. That’s the key thing to investigate—why the voltage drop is happening.

3

Customer:

I’ve done more testing and I think you’re right—the problem is with the battery itself. When I move the batteries between systems, the problem follows the battery, so I have a defective battery. I’m getting a new one and will see if that solves it.

4

Soldered Support:

Did the new battery solve the problem when it arrived?

5

Customer:

Yes! The new battery fixed the problem and it’s working perfectly now.