Tinyzero won't run off battery?

[lcpalm]

Hi, I have a TinyZero circuit built, which runs fine off USB but won't seem to run off battery power.

The battery charges (amber light), but when the USB is removed the system doesn't seem to turn on. It's the 3.7V 150mA Li-Ion battery from TinyCircuits.

The circuit is: TinyZero hooked up to micro SD shield and to protoboard leading to an IR sensor pair, which logs beam-breaks.  It works as expected under USB, incrementing the file name on startup (ie every time it's turned on with the power switch on the TinyZero, or the USB is re-plugged in, it starts a new data log on the SD.) But on removing the USB and trying to run off battery power alone, it doesn't turn on and doesn't write any files.

Not sure how to troubleshoot this.... am new to TinyDuino. Thanks in advance for any help!

[lennevia]

Hello there,

I'm sorry this post was sitting for so long - I missed it!

When a board works attached to USB and then doesn't work wirelessly, it is normally something program-wise in the setup() loop that involved Serial communication, or some logical error that prevents the program from continuing.

If you are still having the same problem - can you attach your code so I can take a look?

Thanks!
Réna

[lcpalm]

Hi Réna,

Thanks for your response! Yes, it was something with the serial communication --- I set it to have a 3s delay during startup, and that seemed to take care of it.

I do have another question now -- I would like to set up my TinyZero with an external power switch (like, run wires about 2-3" away so that I can have a power switch on the bottom of my little device I'm building, instead of moving the switch on the card itself.) I bought a little switch but am not sure how to hook it up, or if this is possible...

Should I submit this as a separate question?

Thank you!
Linda