Battery Life In Digital Devices

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Mitutoyo Solar caliper. What a brilliant idea.

BUT price in UK around £140 sterling, US around $200 US.

That buys a lot of batteries from ebay!

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Duracells from Babz Media –

**LINK**

Is where mine come from –

Steve

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

G'day.

My phone and camera have a mini-USB port on the side for recharging and data transfer.

Now what if digital calipers and micrometers had a decent hi-tech battery and the same feature? This could be a useful selling point for an enterprising manufacturer.

Regards from the land of the kangaroo (97° today)

* Danny M *

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Danny, you can power DROs and calipers via the 4-pin plug, and the Arc ones use micro-USB (but the same protocol as the old style, not USB data format). If you arrange for a smart current & voltage limited supply there is no reason why you couldn't fit NIMH button cells and charge them this way.

I'm sure that son you will be able to have a cutting-mat like pad for the workshop that, when you place small devices on it, gradually recharges them, just like a rechargeable toothbrush. For items like calipers the charge current would be tiny so low efficiency is not an issue.

Expect to pay £££ for the extra features of a small coil and a few pence worth of extra components, plus they will make them a little bigger.

Neil

Edited By Stub Mandrel on 17/12/2013 09:11:31

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

(1) I’ve often wondered whether it is actually nescessary to power hand held measuring devices with conventional throw away batteries at all .

(1) The power levels used are so low that all types of self charger might be possible .

examples :

by movement of the slider on caliper .

by thermal heating from hand / room

by solar power ( been done but not very well ).

by inertial effect – basically by shaking about in use .

(2) I’ve also wondered whether having the display actually on the measuring device is always the best place . For instance a micrometer or caliper could transmit reading cordlessly to a display unit .

This leads to another set of possibilities for low/non powered hand held devices .

There are now several technologies available for dumb transponders to transmit data back to base unit .

MikeW

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Neil,
I don't think the calipers will work with the lower voltage of 1.2 V to 1.3 V provided by NIMH or NiCD cells. I think is a good idea and would probably work with the calipers that lithium cells as the rechargeable ones have a similar voltage to the non rechargeable ones. This type of caliper seem to have much better life anyway.

Les.

PS. let me know if you would like a copy of the Android DRO interface code and schematic now it is working in a very basic form. (I think I am now an AVR convert !)

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Stub Mandrel on 17/12/2013 09:08:54:

… I'm sure that son you will be able to have a cutting-mat like pad for the workshop that, when you place small devices on it, gradually recharges them, just like a rechargeable toothbrush. For items like calipers the charge current would be tiny so low efficiency is not an issue.

Expect to pay £££ for the extra features of a small coil and a few pence worth of extra components, plus they will make them a little bigger.

Neil

.

That's certainly feasible, Neil

My Car Key has a rechargeable battery built in; which is charged wirelessly when the key is in the ignition switch, with the engine running.

[not wishing to tempt providence by writing this] … it has worked perfectly for more than ten years.

MichaelG.

 

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 17/12/2013 11:10:05

Clarification

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 17/12/2013 11:12:57

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