Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

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Dkuriloff
 
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Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 8:12 am

Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

Post by Dkuriloff »

Is there a way to put a switch somewhere in the circuit to allow storage of 2 AA batteries inside MintyBoost to avoid any drain prior to use?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Yes. You can put a switch in-line with one of the battery leads.

drizzle
 
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Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:15 pm

Re: Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

Post by drizzle »

Can I take this to mean that the kit does in fact drain batteries when not in use?

I would have thought the circuit would not be complete unless a device was connected?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The boost IC itself has an idle current measured in microamps. But to satisfy the charging logic of iPhone and similar smart devices, we need to create a voltage on the D1 & D2 pins. The Minty does this with a resistor divider which results in a few more milliamps of idle current. If you are just using it as a dumb 5v supply, then you can leave off the resistors (R1-R4)and save yourself that extra current drain.

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jsquaredz
 
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Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:08 am

Re: Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

Post by jsquaredz »

Here is an example of what I did. I used the small gap between the battery holder and the back of the minty tin to fit a small switch. Red sticker tells you which position is on.

Image

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Incorporating a switch to prevent battery drain

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Nice looking Minty build. Thanks for posting.

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