Which device to use?

@jdubsee There is much to talk about here, but let's do a simple thing. You want a battery to supply power for 10h x 6d or 60 hours. Battery capacity is measured in AmpHours so just 1 amp means a 60Ah battery. However, 1 amp is a lot for microdevices, so let's use the more common milliamps. If we assume 10 ma for 60 hours, then you need a 600 mAh battery. The problem is you mention lights, fans, and speakers, and those use much more power so maybe we are in the 100ma range so that needs a 6,000mAh or 6Ah battery. I found a 6Ah, here is the link https://amz.run/6obL

As far as which MPU/MCU to use, all that you listed will probably work, but the challenges of each will be very different. The Raspberry Pi is a Micro Processor with an operating system and either a GUI or command line interface. It is very similar to your Mac or Windows PC. The Arduino and ESP32 are both Micro Controllers and here the issue may be how many of each type of pin is available.

Any of those will work, it is difficult to recommend any one since 99% of your project is unknown so far.

That's a small start, once you do a proper analyses and design then it will come together quickly. That is the hard part, the coding is usually only 20% and those are old 80's era mainframe estimates, with modern day libraries it could be as low as 1/10 that.

Thanks for the response. You've given me a bunch to consider!  It's certainly not organized in my head just yet, so I apologize if any of what I had posted was vague or poorly explained.

@jdubsee, The start of a project is always tricky. Converting what you are thinking about into something the community can react to is much more art than science. I would start by simply writing and drawing everything I can think of in my mind. Then slowly refine it until you have something the community could comment on. Some of my projects took a few days to do that, some will be months or even years in the 'figuring it out' phase.

Hi @jdubsee,

  As Ron @zander says, the start of a project is tricky. You have suggested you want a number of sub-systems, each of which require power, space, programming and so on. Unless you have already prototyped these sub-systems, which I suspect from your question you haven't, then that should be your starting point. That is, start by assembling the sub-systems on the benchtop and get them working.

Ron has explained how batteries are specified in terms of capacity, but the power demand of the sub-systems is largely unknown. Whilst some microcontrollers can operate on a few milliamps, the actual demand depends on a number of factors which are often difficult to estimate. In particular, the more capable microcomputer boards also tend to require more power, such as the Raspberry Pi 4, is reported as requiring 3-6 Watts. ( https://www.ecoenergygeek.com/raspberry-pi-power-consumption/) Of course, depending upon your design and aspirations, you may or may not need higher capability boards - this will become clearer to you during the prototyping activity.

 So, when you have prototypes of the sub-sytems up and running, you will easily be able to measure the power demands and can estimate the battery requirements. Furthermore you will have shown the microcontroller/microcomputer boards are capable of achieving your requirements.

Good luck with your project, Dave

@davee jdubsee A really simple way to determine the battery requirements is to do as @davee says and breadboard the system. Power ALL of it from a USB supply (either PC or wall wart) and use a USB power meter to determine max and average power or amps to determine the battery needed.

@davee @zander    Yes, I've been toying with this for a couple years now. Some of the design is on paper in list form and in function, the rest is in my head. I just recently started learning Fusion 360, so if there is an abundance of progress a 3d printer will be on the horizon. Doing each function of the helmet individually first instead of all together is a great recommendation. I also wasn't aware that a USB power meter existed. So thanks to you both for the great tips and advice!

@jdubsee Here is an Amazon link to a decent USB power meter, but you can get them for a lot less ($20) on Aliexpress. https://amz.run/6oo5

Here is another on Amazon for a lot less https://amz.run/6oo6