Phil Howard from the dev team at Pimoroni shared a glimpse of a new Raspberry Pi Pico board, the Pico LiPo, on Twitter. This little board has the same RP2040 found on the Pico but with the addition of a Stemma QT/Qwiic connector.
This addition makes it very easy to create mobile Pico projects. Removing the burden of soldering a power connector into place, the Pico LiPo can accept power from a lithium polymer battery.
In a demo that Howard shared, the Pico LiPo is seen powering a full string of LEDs using a small LiPo battery. While the battery in this example likely won't last long for any practical measures, Howard's tweet provides a clear demonstration of the board's ability.
This is truly more LEDs than I have any business powering through the @pimoroni Pico LiPo Stemma/Qwiic connector 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/7OmuNSC0j1April 22, 2021
This support streamlines the build process for things like cosplay projects and decor with easily hidden power solutions. Even Howard had no issues cramming all of the components gently under his desk chair to illuminate the underside of it.
Check out Phil Howard's tweets for more updates and a closer look at the new Pico LiPo controller.
Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
It looks like it is pin-compatible with the original Pico, but with the pin numbers printed on the top of the board thankfully.
Weird that the mounting holes are omitted though.
