1. Home
  2. Hobby Electronics Basics
  3. Battery suggestion for handheld unit?

Battery suggestion for handheld unit?

I'm making a handheld unit and the enclosure that was dictated to me does not have a battery compartment door on it...so I have to use internal rechargables. my. The unit will get used 1hr/day, 5V @120mA, so my initial thoughts are to use 2 or 3 AA in series. The product life needs to be 5 years without having to open the unit and replace totally dead batteries.

Anyone know if the Sanyo NiMH Eneloops (low self discharge) will last 5 years with proper care? How about the idea of just trickle-charging (C/10) the batteries overnight? A 13 hour timeout is still recomended for safety reasons - is there an easier way to do the timer than a separate processor?

Li-ion are $$. Are they so 'good' you recommend them?

Are pre-made battery charger OEM circuit-boards available? Somethng powered from a cheap wall-wart.

thanks in advance

Reply to
Joseph
Loading thread data ...

The 5 year issue is going to be a problem. I like NiMHs (perform well and cost-effective) but I don't think you can count on 5 years. Li-ions are often rated at a maximum life of 3-4 years, even if not used (unless stored at a low temperature).

Reply to
Charles Schuler

I've been looking at Li Ion batteries recently as NiMH replacements. Different sellers rate their lifetimes different. Their self discharge is considerably less than NiMH chemistry. Especially after the batteries are a couple years old. Li Ion can also be charged no matter how discharged they are (or are not), NiMH batteries cannot. Li Ion also have a higher capacity by weight and volume. There several companies making and selling charging ICs for cheap. Note that some batteries do not come with over discharge protection. However, ICs are available cheaply to remedy this also. After all the research I've done NiMH batteries lose in the final analysis. Over the lifetime of the battery they are more expensive to use. ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow

Find an old-style "cordless" phone, and hack into it to see how they do it. :-) I've had one where the battery lasted about 5 years, but it was on trickle charge all of the time I wasn't using it. It used a 3-cell (about the size of AA cells) NiCd pack.

Good Luck! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.