I just couldn't stand the Adafruit Neopixel LED Strip 30 sitting in its box any longer. It looked so lonely and dark in there. So, I decided to take the risk -- hook up the FLORA with the LiPo (2600 mAh) and strip.
I was so scared a wire would overheat and I pictured all those old movies with the mad scientists pulling the big switch and big puffs of smoke everywhere, but I decided that Tesla and the others must have done their share of crash and burn. My turn.
To make matters even more interesting, I decided to leave the strip running until the battery started to drain. Now granted, I don't know what the starting charge of the battery was, but it was stored in the box for about a week before I plugged it in. Anyway, the awesome news is that it kept 5m of strip running for a little over 2 hrs. I can't imagine walking through Philadelphia with an umbrella open for longer than 30 min., so I'm feeling really good about powering my project right now! On that feel good note, I've decided to embark on a micro experiment tonight using the Micro Lipo USB Charger. According to the question I posed on Adafruit's "Ask an Engineer" show tonight, the battery will probably take about 4-6 hrs. to charge using this unit. Supposedly, charging at a slower rate is actually better for the life of the battery, so I'm crossing my fingers that my old crappy laptop will actually charge this battery correctly. I'll let you know if I get a green light. Did I mention how much I adore, worship and admire the engineering of the LED strip?? Flexibile genius. Talk to you soon...probably from Cape May.
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