Single Cell Li-Ion / Li-Po Module Comparison
Nine single cell (1S) Li-Ion / Li-Po battery modules, compared spec by spec. One of them, Battery Pal, is ours. Every value comes from manufacturer documentation, schematics and datasheets.
Rev B shown. Rev C is coming.
PN Labs Battery Pal
Add battery power to any embedded product in minutes. USB-C PD in, 3.3V or 5V out, with the charging, protection, regulation and fuel gauge already done for you.
$14.99 for the first 500 backers, then $21.99
PN Labs already ships Protect, Protect+, Protect Nano, FlexTrip, PowerPal and NanoBuck through our store, Amazon in the US and Canada, Elecrow, RobotShop and Lectronz.
What the chart shows about Battery Pal
- Battery Pal is the only one built to be soldered into your product. Castellated edge pads reflow onto your own PCB like any other component, and the same board breadboards on 2.54mm headers first. Nothing else here offers reflow pads, so every other module stays a breakout you wire to.
- The only one with a dedicated protection IC. Undervoltage, overvoltage, overcurrent, short circuit and cell reverse polarity, all in hardware. The rest leave it to whatever protection is inside your cell.
- The only one that does all three. A regulated output, charging up to 3A, and an I2C fuel gauge. The closest anything else gets is two of the three.
- The only one here with USB-C Power Delivery. It negotiates 5V or 9V on its own, and 9V brings in enough headroom to run your load and charge the battery at full current at the same time. Four of the eight others are still on Micro or Mini USB.
- The only true buck-boost output. 3.3V or 5V holds flat from full charge down to the 2.8V cutoff. The two other boards with a 3.3V rail feed it from the cell, so it sags as the battery drains.
- The only one with temperature monitored charging included. A full JEITA profile with the NTC Sense Adapter in the box. Two others let you solder your own thermistor.
- Configured with solder jumpers, not code. Charge current anywhere from 0.5A to 3A, where seven of the eight others top out at 1.5A or less. It is also the only board here that lets you charge to 4.1V instead of 4.2V, trading a little capacity for a longer cell life.
← Scroll the table sideways to see every module →
How to read this chart, and how it was put together
The colours. Green means the feature is there. Red means it is not: either the manufacturer says so, or the published schematic and the datasheet for the part actually fitted rule it out. Amber means partial or conditional, including features that are present but need a modification to use. There are no grey cells left in this chart. Every specification has been settled one way or the other.
Where the values come from. Manufacturer documentation first: product page, wiki, hookup guide or learn guide. Then, for anything those leave open, the published schematic or design source and the datasheet for the part actually fitted. A good part of this chart comes from that second pass, including things no vendor states outright, such as which boards ship with their charge safety timers strapped off. Every value was last checked on 24 August 2026.
About the Battery Pal column. Battery Pal is preproduction and has not shipped. Its figures come from our own published specifications and may change before launch. Every other module in this chart is a finished product you can buy today.
Where to be sceptical. We know our own board far better than we know anyone else’s, and that asymmetry does not disappear just because the cells are now filled in. Where a competitor’s cell rests on our reading of their schematic rather than on something they wrote down, we have said so in the cell itself. If you know one of these boards well and we have read it wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
Spotted a value that is not right for a module you know well? Tell us and we will fix it.
Battery Pal launches on Kickstarter in Q3 2026
The launch list gets the $14.99 first backer price and the datasheet as soon as it is ready.
$14.99 for the first 500 backers, then $21.99. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Ethan has designed and scaled battery powered consumer products to mass production, over 100,000 PCBAs now in customers’ hands. Nick came from Tesla battery R&D and trained at a world leading lithium ion research lab.
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