ESP8266 Community Forum

Im a beginner when it comes to hardware stuff and i would like to run my NodeMCU with a gps module and LCD 16x2 with i2c as standalone device on a li-ion battery lgdbhg21865 18650, can i have some advice on what to do? it will run on 5v battery right? and does running it on 5v powerbank is better? but one lg choco is arround 3.6v right, and im also kind of confuse on regulator stuff. anyhelp is very much appreciated!

this is my nodemcu that i am using :
NodeMCU V3 ESP8266 Develoment Board CH340

Using a development board in stand-alone mode isn't always the best choice. It's fine if you want a quick solution without having to design a PCB, but if you want battery power, it would be the least favourable option to use. Since it being a development board (ie. to develop with) it was never meant to be optimized for power consumption, rather for ease of use. There's a lot to read about this subject, so don't take my word for it and simply ask Google for all discussions (and possible solutions) to this daunting task.

It also depends a bit on how you intend to use it.

If the set up is fully on most of the time when being used and you are separately switching the power on and off then the extra current of a development module compared with a standalone module like an esp-12 is relatively small as the current drawn by the esp8266 will be dominant.

If it is intended to spend quite a bit of its time in standby (deep sleep) and only wake up when being used then it is worth optimising the current drawn in standby and the extra current of the development boards becomes significant.

The power banks that provide 5V are basically a packaged version of a LIPO battery and a voltage converter (boost if operating from a single cell) . You can use one if that is convenient or you can just do your own by using a 18650 and a cheap 5V boost module. You can get boost modules that incorporate a micro USB LIPO charger as well to make in place recharging convenient.

It is also possible to run both a dev board on 3.3V directly in which case you would just need a regular 3.3V regulator from the LIPO battery.