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I have a number of devices that I need to support off of this 11.1v 6400mah LiPo battery:

Venom 20C 3S 6400mAh 11.1V LiPo Battery with Universal Plug (EC3/Deans/Traxxas/Tamiya)

I'm wanting to support a 5v integrated circuit (raspberry pi) and a 12v Kinect via a usb/AC adapter.

My current idea is to use a 5v step down straight to the lipo for the IC and run the Kinect AC adapter to the lipo through an ac/dc inverter. Will that work?

** EDIT **

I'm concerned about adding an AC inverter to the equation. I'd like to get everything compact but this throws me off a bit. I'm leaning toward an inverter like you'd get for a car cigarette lighter.

Jacksonkr
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  • Check out my answer to a similar question [here](http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/215927/is-this-power-switching-circuit-ok-switching-between-vin-and-usb/220273#220273) You'll want a similar scheme most likely. – Brendan Simpson Mar 22 '16 at 16:48
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    I personally would not use a Lithium battery, if your applications are low power, a NIMH would be better suited I would have thought? my reasoning is, LiPos get damaged if they are drained to low, where as NIMH's are indestructible and can be drained down completely. – Alex Mar 23 '16 at 19:47
  • @Alex Great point. The lipo is my drone's battery and I'm repurposing it for this project since the kinect consumes a lot of power. I may switch to NIMH per your suggestion, but that will likely come later down the road. – Jacksonkr Mar 23 '16 at 20:09
  • Add something to cut the power from the LIpo when it gets down to , 3.7V per cell, I believe it is, so you don't damage the lipo, and why do you want to use a Lipo? you will also require a Lipo compatible charger, and they aren't cheap. – Alex Jun 27 '16 at 14:36
  • I've found out 3.7v per cell is nominal and 3.0v per cell is the lowest you EVER want to go. I have my alarm set for 3.3v per cell. I picked up a LiPo and a sweet charger ($30) for a previous drone project so I'm repurposing those for this project. I'm curious though, what would your battery recommendation be @Alex ? – Jacksonkr Jun 27 '16 at 14:59
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    A Nimh, Lipos are great batteries, but they really aren't suited to this application. – Alex Jun 27 '16 at 18:03

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I accomplished this with the following items:

  1. 11.1v 6400mAh 20C LiPo battery
  2. liPo battery voltage alarm
  3. Female cigarette lighter power plug socket
  4. 150 watt battery inverter
  5. Grounded 3 outlet tap

I hooked the items up in order then plugged both of my ac devices into the outlet tap. There's conversion loss going from DC > AC > DC but this was merely a proof of concept. On my next step I will cut out the inverters and run the DC straight using a dc voltage booster & regulator.

Jacksonkr
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