4G-IoT Battery Terminals

OrangePi4giotus

So ive spend about a week trying to troubleshoot the 4g-IoTs battery issues. The issue is that we have these very tempting battery connectors on the side of the board labeled + BAT -. The manual says a battery of 3.7 volts can be connected to this. The trouble is no battery works, I've even simulated a battery with a PSU. I have tried 5 different batteries across 2 different boards and the results are always the same, a red light comes on when the battery is connected but the current draw is always 0.02 amps and it never attempts to boot. Ive seen this thing fail to boot from lack of current but that's not whats happening with the battery, it doesn't even try.

Some things I've tried:
- Connecting a battery with a temp sensor - someone suggested that the BAT connector was a sensor input and perhaps the board would refuse to boot without confirmation that the battery is "safe" - no luck
- Connecting a battery and simulating a temp sensor - I attempted to simulate a "safe" signal with a 10k resistor - no luck
- Vary voltages from 3 - 4.2 with a PSU on the battery terminals - no luck
- "Jump Start the board" - I have connected the board to a power source while a battery is plugged in, it did boot however as soon as the power source is unplugged the board dies and does not run off the full battery. (android said battery was at 0% despite being at 4.1 volts)


Has anyone had any luck with getting the board to run with a battery? I read somewhere that the boards shipped without the circuitry needed to use the battery terminals, is that true?

OrangePi4giotus