Change of plans

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:29 am

I am now going to make my N64p run off of 12v for use in a 12 hour car ride coming up. I'll put a 7808 for the screens power and I have an lm317 for the 3.3v, will the N64 be alright with the power fluxuation in car power? I'll install a battery later, but being plugged in will do for now.
PS: How do smart chargers know that a battery is charged? I have the one for our old video camera that charges 6v nicd of varying mah capacity. Would it possibly work for my 7.2v nimh?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:49 am

with linear regs you should be fine with whatever noise you get on the 12v line (which i suspect wouldnt be much anyways, at leas on the highway)

and it depends about the smart chargers. without more information it would be impossible to tell you if it would work, and even with more information i still wouldnt be sure. (more information would be like "is it a delta-t or a delta-v", "is it constant-current or constant voltage")

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:18 pm

If I just tried to charge my battery with it, do you think it would hurt it? How could I tell if it is delta-v or t?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:59 pm

1) i dont know and 2) i dont know.

if you had an old pack to test it on, worst case it would probably overcharge them (you would be able to tell because they would heat up..). nimh batterys dont usually explode, and when they do its not very dangerous (no flames at least).

personally, i would just spend the money to get a proper charger.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:20 pm

Why spend money when I already have something that might work? I'll test it with an old 9.6v nicd, sometime. I may just get a dvd battery pack so that I can charge and play at the same time.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:23 pm

theres no reason why you cant charge and play with a nimh. its just that everyone seems to be afraid to...

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:12 pm

Is there anything special I'd have to do to play and charge?

Klefmung · Post by **Klefmung** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:11 pm

no, Ni-Mhs and Ni-Cds just absorb voltage. As long as you even send the right voltage into it, it will charge.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:17 pm

What about overcharging it?

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:33 pm

overcharging is bad for anytype of battery , the voltage overloads and the battery actually starts discharging quicker and quicker until it is useless

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue May 16, 2006 7:32 am

So how could I charge and play with my nimh? I'm going to have to make it car powered for now, but I'll get a couple 6A batteries from power101 sometime.
When the car turns on/off, doesn't the power fluxuate? We had a car tv/vcr that would turn off when the car turned on/off. Would this cause my N64p to turn off when the car turns off/on?

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Tue May 16, 2006 12:00 pm

i dont know how to design complicated circuits, transistors and such, but one could probably either add a switch when the batteries are done charging or possible a transistor that switches at certin voltages and have it arranged so that the battery only charges with a certain voltage(that tells it is in a normal charge) is released from it

But like i said i do not know the more complicated circuits ( i plan to fix that later though)

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:38 pm

vskid wrote:So how could I charge and play with my nimh? I'm going to have to make it car powered for now, but I'll get a couple 6A batteries from power101 sometime.
When the car turns on/off, doesn't the power fluxuate? We had a car tv/vcr that would turn off when the car turned on/off. Would this cause my N64p to turn off when the car turns off/on?

So will the car going off/on cause the N64 to turn off?

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:45 pm

the easiest way to charge and play is use a DVD player battery, or at least the charger. just put it in parallel with the car outlet (regulated for the screen). i heard that if you're batteries are lower voltage than the car adapter, then when you plug it in the batteries will turn off and probably charge while the car powers it. a good way to do that is with 7.2v batteries and 8v-9v car adapter.

Post by **Gamelver** » Wed May 17, 2006 11:30 am

if I'm not mistaken (probably am, since I haven't done any prior research on this), to charge and play something, all you need is something with enough current to power the N64 and screen (measure before hand, obviously) and then another source for charging the batteries (nimh or nicad). Add the two current ratings (.33C for 5 hours on most NiMh batteries, I believe) and get/make/mod an AC adapter with that current rating

.

Anyone care to clarify or correct me, please

? Or even....confirm this information?!