Topic: Microtracker battery options

[chitaper]

for the DIY's in the house:

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000270029372/

Hmmm, if you substitute a Walmart 9v lithium for the 9v transistor radio battery, should work, no?

[jhirte]

I just wonder if there is a way we could connect a USB cable to 4pin XLR and then run off a SLA...

[kskreider]

I am acutally building an all-in-one converter box.  It is a 7805 chip and a chunk of breadboard inside a small project box.  I am going to make it so that it can connect in on either a 9v alkaline (internal), a 4-pin 6v SLA(external) or a 7.2v-9v RC pack (external).  For the out's: USB, 1/8" mono, and an adapta-plug connectorfor JB3 or my IPAQ PDA.  I'll snap a few pics once it is done.  I just have a lot of other crap going on right now and it is only about half built.

[cmoorevt]

As a followup, I found what appears to be the same USB battery box Nick linked in post one, only for $3.99. 

I have no clue is dealsonic.com is a legit place or not, but here is the link.

http://www.dealsonic.com/usbbapabapof.html

[WiFiJeff]

As a followup, I found what appears to be the same USB battery box Nick linked in post one, only for $3.99. 

I have no clue is dealsonic.com is a legit place or not, but here is the link.

http://www.dealsonic.com/usbbapabapof.html

Using that box with 2500 mAh NiMH cells I found that the voltage drop meant that they cut off power to the MT prematurely.  Though the cells showed as good on my Radio Shack meter, and the lttle green light on the box lit up, the MT shut down after 5 hours, not a big improvement over the 3 hours I got without it and nowhere near the promised 8 hours for the internal battery alone (Hah!).

I will be trying lithium AA cells tomorrow, that should work better.  The USB box is speked for 1.5 V cells not 1.2 V.

Jeff

[Ed.]

can you take off one pack and put on another half way thru or before the MT shuts down all while recording at the same time?  or do you need to turn the unit off and then swap the packs?

[F.O.Bean]

what packs ed
theyre talking about using the 4xAA to power the internal lithium, so there is essentially no swapping

[Ed.]

i thought that these were little packs that held 4aa batteries and they just connected to the usb power thing.

i was wondering if you could unplug the dying one and plug a fresh one in, all while continuing to record uninteruppted.

i think i'm going to go the leegeddy vr box route tho, that way i can use my walmart batts.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Ed, you should be able to switch packs on the fly.  It would just require a new cable that has a split connection (so two packs can be plugged in at the same time in parallel).


DON'T order from this place: http://buyfromscott.com

They charged me $10 for shipping (which was fine) but then only shipped my pack first class mail.  Their website says UPS and USPS on pkgs less than 2 lbs. I assumed they'd ship it priority mail (which is generally great and costs $3.85, that includes packing materials)...

[WiFiJeff]

can you take off one pack and put on another half way thru or before the MT shuts down all while recording at the same time?  or do you need to turn the unit off and then swap the packs?

I have unplugged the USB box to see what the meter readings on the MT were (when the box is feeding power it shows only CHG for charging) and it does not stop or pause the unit.  I have not checked to see if it gives burp in the recorded sound, though.  I'll try that once I get a fix on the battery life.

Jeff

[kskreider]

for the DIY's in the house:

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000270029372/

Hmmm, if you substitute a Walmart 9v lithium for the 9v transistor radio battery, should work, no?

Yes, you could.  You could also use a 7.2v battery pack.  That 7805 chip converts low voltages like 7-24 down to 5v.  Actually mine was kicking out 4.95v.  I have yet to figure out if that is enough for the JB3 or not.  I tested it out on a 9v alkaline and a 6v SLA which is really something like 6.65v (don't recall of top of head)

The only thing that you need to keep in mind is that the excess voltage is dissipated as heat so that little chip will get hot as hell if you are throwing something like 12v at it.  I have seen some folks place a small heatsink on the chip to keep it from overheating and shutting down.

I just wonder if there is a way we could connect a USB cable to 4pin XLR and then run off a SLA...

Yes, there is.  In fact, you can solder in any kind of connector that you'd like.  In my case I am using a small project box that is big enough to house the chip and several types of connectors.

[F.O.Bean]

for the DIY's in the house:

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000270029372/

Hmmm, if you substitute a Walmart 9v lithium for the 9v transistor radio battery, should work, no?

Yes, you could.  You could also use a 7.2v battery pack.  That 7805 chip converts low voltages like 7-24 down to 5v.  Actually mine was kicking out 4.95v.  I have yet to figure out if that is enough for the JB3 or not.  I tested it out on a 9v alkaline and a 6v SLA which is really something like 6.65v (don't recall of top of head)

The only thing that you need to keep in mind is that the excess voltage is dissipated as heat so that little chip will get hot as hell if you are throwing something like 12v at it.  I have seen some folks place a small heatsink on the chip to keep it from overheating and shutting down.

I just wonder if there is a way we could connect a USB cable to 4pin XLR and then run off a SLA...

Yes, there is.  In fact, you can solder in any kind of connector that you'd like.  In my case I am using a small project box that is big enough to house the chip and several types of connectors.

i am using 7.2v NIMH packs and i will be using them w/ this thing if it ever pans out!

[cmoorevt]

Newbie question:

What would produce longer runtimes?

1.) 4xAA batteries at 1.5 volts each (so 6 volts total) regulated down to 5volts
or
2.) A single 9volt battery regulated down to 5 volts?

I know mah comes into play here, but am unsure how to adjust for overall mah based on the voltage of each battery.

[Nick's Picks]

#1

[kskreider]

Newbie question:

What would produce longer runtimes?

1.) 4xAA batteries at 1.5 volts each (so 6 volts total) regulated down to 5volts
or
2.) A single 9volt battery regulated down to 5 volts?

I know mah comes into play here, but am unsure how to adjust for overall mah based on the voltage of each battery.

I don't think that the 7805 works right unless the voltage delta is > 2v.  I did find that it will run fine off of my 6v SLA, but it's true voltage is 6.something.  Even though that is below the 2v delta and I have not run any tests, but it might be possible that as it drops down closer to 6v it may shut off. 

paging leegeddy.