my snesp only ran for EIGHT MINUTES on 6 AA

pbutter13 · Post by **pbutter13** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:30 pm

So i finally got my portable working again. I'm using a Zenith gamecube screen (ps1) w/ 4 LED and 10 Ohm resistor. These LED's are the same ben recommended. When i test my snesp on a power supply i get around .65amps which i thought was normal.

Now when i thought i should try some batteries. Im using 6 fully charged of these

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/nh15-2500.pdf

which are 1.2V 2500mAh. When i first turned it on i was getting around 7.5V. Within that 8 min i was down to 6.5V and my system was reseting itself. i was thinking before test that i would prob go with 8 batteries but now im thinking there is no point.

newguy101 · Post by **newguy101** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:34 pm

well something must be wired wrong because i get 1.5 hrs from just crappy non rechargeable batteries, and i also am using 6 AA on a psone led mod screen(3 leds not 4) on a snes mini system. i know its tedious and annoying work but jusy check all the wiring for a loose connection. do you have a wall unit port on it? what does it do if you run it from the wall? mine also would reset and the screen flash and distort when the batteries were low, try using just some reg AA batteries and see what happens, could be some crap batteries

pbutter13 · Post by **pbutter13** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:53 pm

i just bought the batteries so they shouldn't be crap. I have been using a power supply that i made in school that can be set to any voltage. when i play it off of that it reads about .65 amp which seams about right.

Dr. KillGood · Post by **Dr. KillGood** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:05 pm

The batteries could just be duds, try different ones like he said.

pbutter13 · Post by **pbutter13** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:10 pm

i have tested all of them and im getting over 1.2V for each so they should b good, i guess i could go out any buy some others 2maro

APHawkes · Post by **APHawkes** » Thu May 22, 2008 7:40 am

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should have charged them first before using them.

Sometimes rechargeable batteries get what's called a "surface charge". If you grab a volt-meter you'll see the proper voltage. However, once you put a load on it (try to power something) the battery isn't able to maintain that voltage. Turn power off, and the voltage magically goes back up to normal levels. It'll drive you crazy. What you should do is measure the voltage while under load. If that's too low, then cycle the batteries (fully discharge, then fully charge) to work out the funk.

pbutter13 · Post by **pbutter13** » Thu May 22, 2008 8:24 am

APHawkes wrote:Another thing to keep in mind is that you should have charged them first before using them.

Sometimes rechargeable batteries get what's called a "surface charge". If you grab a volt-meter you'll see the proper voltage. However, once you put a load on it (try to power something) the battery isn't able to maintain that voltage. Turn power off, and the voltage magically goes back up to normal levels. It'll drive you crazy. What you should do is measure the voltage while under load. If that's too low, then cycle the batteries (fully discharge, then fully charge) to work out the funk.

hmmm, very very interesting, i think i will try this before buy another 10$ worth of batteries

Post by **Triton** » Thu May 22, 2008 9:27 am

your problem isnt current its voltage, the zenith/verge/psone screens dont run worth a crap on anything less than about 7v and will start cutting out at around 6.5 or before, and with AA batteries your going to get a significant voltage drop under a heavy load like the snes and zenith combined. but if your current measurements are correct and the snes and screen together are only drawing 650ma then you should get almost 4 hours out of it

pbutter13 · Post by **pbutter13** » Thu May 22, 2008 7:06 pm

I dont think i would ever get 4 hours because once the batteries are like half dead (guesstimate) they cant supply enough power, i was looking for about 2 hours though. I'm going to retry my system now with all my batteries charged and see what i get.

(hopefully not back in 8 minutes)

Metroid fan · Post by **Metroid fan** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:21 am

Just get a couple of these babies http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?P ... rodID=4325
Those'll power you for a good long time

pbutter13 · Post by **pbutter13** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:33 pm

Metroid fan wrote:Just get a couple of these babies http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?P ... rodID=4325
Those'll power you for a good long time

not that those wouldnt last a day or two, but i think i had what APHawkes was saying with the "surface charge". I recharged them all and ended up playing for at least 2 hours that night b4 i went to bed (still had power left).

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:34 am

I got fed up with rechargable NiMH cells, use Li-ions!