I have built several IoT devices that can be powered by USB. I also bought several USB battery banks/packs, e.g. 20Ah, but it turns out they are not one of the few products that support "always-on". As a consequence, when powering my PCBs with these USB Batteries they shut off after a short time. Apparently they draw too little power and the packs shut off.
Given that "always-on" battery packs seem to be much more expensive and that I have these other packs I want to use, I had an idea for mitigating this issue and wanted some constructive feedback/thoughts:
Develop and build a small USB "dongle", ideally with a Jack and Plug Type-A connector (to start), in case the pack only has one Jack. The idea is to build a "loading" circuit that periodically loads
the VBus with sufficient draw to reset the battery pack's built in timer. I'm sure battery packs will have different timeout but let me set that issue aside for now.
The goal is to trigger a minimum frequency load pulse on the VBus (~10-30sec?) where the draw is minimal power for it's short duration.
Maybe there's such a device/product already that I can buy?
Your constructive thought?
Thanks