I use the BeagleBone Black as a low power Linux server that can control temperature sensors and do other systems administration tasks for me. One of the issues the board has is there is no on-board battery, which means the system clock resets every time it reboots. I ran across an article that suggests that the BeagleBone Black has headers and the proper circuitry to charge batteries.

As I move forward with oVirt, I’m going to need ways to manage the power to the oVirt nodes, as I’m planning on building a case and not having traditional things like ATX power supplies or power switches. A BeagleBone with a power relay and a battery that can keep it alive for a long time works for me. Time to make another Adafruit order and get comfortable with soldering very small components.

It also means that I can move forward with a very old project of mine, of having my bike track it’s location and the air temperature with a BeagleBone. I wasn’t happy with the complexity and cost of wiring up a battery charging circuit to my Pelican Panniers, but this looks like a win.