I really love the C.H.I.P. computers by NTC. Unfortunately, it appears they’ve stopped selling them as they are developing a new model. I currently have 6 of them and have some future projects coming up. While perusing the forums looking at battery options (the CHIP has a built-in LiPo battery charging controller), someone mentioned that the PS3 controllers used LiPo batteries. I just happened to have one sitting on a shelf so I cracked it open. Sure enough, the battery and connector is compatible with the CHIP. However, you have to switch the pins to correct the polarity! This is easy enough to do by yanking out the pins by lifting up the plastic connector.

I’ve also noticed that battery.sh, which gives you details about the battery, doesn’t actually give you the percentage. All the code is there at the end for it, except the output. I added this line to the end of the battery.sh file to get the percentage:

echo "Battery percent = "$BAT_GAUGE_DEC"%"