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Use rechargeable CR123A batteries for Penguin — Parallax Forums

Use rechargeable CR123A batteries for Penguin

MacoreMacore Posts: 41
edited 2011-03-04 15:54 in Robotics
I don't see anything here about using rechargeable CR123A batteries for a penguin. I found some good deals on 1400maH 3.0V CR123A's for $1.60 a piece from a web site, but this still adds up to several dollars every 10 hours or so according to the penguin specs.

The no-name brand was here: http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm

So what is the bottom line? Buy Rayovacs from Parallax here at almost $3.00 a pop, get no name brand 1400maH's from the Net? or

Why not get re-chargeable ones, the only problem I can see is they say they come Hot off the charger at as much as 4.2V, so thats 8.4V with 2 in series...
Is this going to blow the on-board voltage regulator?
The 4.2V Hot batteries/charger was here: http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm lower on page than their $1.60 regular ones...

Or I found this battery and charger combo that says the batteries don't go over 3.2V:
http://www.all-battery.com/4rcr123a30v900mahrechargeableli-ionprotectedbatterieswithasmartcharger.aspx
*These sound pretty good to me, with protection and all they have, but I don't know much about batteries...

I would appreciate some guidance here, before I blow up my penguin *grins*

Thanks, David

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Often the joy is not so much in the having, its in the building...

Post Edited (Macore) : 2/13/2010 8:53:36 AM GMT

Comments

  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2010-02-14 08:40
    Macore:

    It depends on the battery type that you're recharging.
    Some are so finicky they can explode during recharge.
    So you must have the correct battery - charger combination.

    If you go a little higher on the volts, check the regulator, and
    if it is not overheating it should remain ok in functioning.

    For regular photo batteries on the cheap, you really have to
    try a set and see if they are any good. I have good luck with
    some Chinese batteries at much lower cost.

    Take a look at the Penguin manual, and the battery chart.
    As you can see, batteries widely vary. Parallax stocks a very
    good brand.

    Rechargeable batteries for Penguin are a good idea. Another
    option to implement is the external tethered power source,
    when writing programs.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    humanoido
    *Stamp SEED Supercomputer *Basic Stamp Supercomputer *TriCore Stamp Supercomputer
    *Minuscule Stamp Supercomputer *Three Dimensional Computer *Penguin with 12 Brains
    *Penguin Tech *StampOne News! *Penguin Robot Society
    *Handbook of BASIC Stamp Supercomputing
    *Ultimate List Propeller Languages
    *MC Prop Computer
  • MacoreMacore Posts: 41
    edited 2010-02-14 18:49
    OK, then I am going with the Tenergy batteries/charger here:
    http://www.all-battery.com/4rcr123a30v900mahrechargeableli-ionprotectedbatterieswithasmartcharger.aspx

    And I will dig out my regulated 6 volt bench supply for while I am programming him, knew I would get some use outa that someday, lol. I use a supply I got from Parallax for the Propeller boards and my BoeBot, it has a barrel jack on it. The bench supply has clips...

    Thanks H, for the reply and I will be visiting your site to download some of your programs to try too. *smiles*,

    David

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Often the joy is not so much in the having, its in the building...

    Post Edited (Macore) : 2/14/2010 6:55:08 PM GMT
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,560
    edited 2010-02-14 20:15
    I have used CR123A rechargeables on my penguin without any ill effects, but that's about the only thing I use them for. The rechargeable batteries you mention seem to have a over/under regulator built-in ... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, since the Li-Poly chemistry dictates that the charging voltage must be at at least 4.2V ... I don't know enough about those particular batteries to say one way or another, other than if they truly are Li-Poly that their lifespan could be compromised due to under charging over long periods of time. Just my $0.02

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • MacoreMacore Posts: 41
    edited 2010-02-15 01:25
    Thanks Beau,

    Were you talking about the 4.2s from my first post? Cause right now, I am leaning towords the 3.6 ones from the link in my replay to Humanoido. You think I would be better off with rechargeables that arent so fancy?

    I did some checking on the Voltage Regulator on the penguin board LT1121ACS and near as I can tell it is OK with up to a 30 volt input.

    Course I am thinking, these rechargeables may not be good if they are low maH rated cause they will discharge often and I will be changing em all the time, so I would like to stick to the 900 and overs...

    Hope I am not all wet here, thanks for your time and posts guys!
    D.Hamilton

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Often the joy is not so much in the having, its in the building...
  • Paul Sr.Paul Sr. Posts: 435
    edited 2011-03-04 07:38
    Just checking to see if anyone has done further research on using Rechargeables in the Penguin, particularly regarding the allowable range of input voltage. If Macore's theory (re: up to 30V tolerance), then it shouldn't be an issue - but I don't want to burn up the Penguin!

    I am looking at getting a set of these.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/8-123A-CR123A-3-0V-3V-Rechargeable-battery-charger-plug-/130483877258?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6171f58a

    Any new opinions??

    Thanks,
    Paul
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2011-03-04 08:01
    Looks like a good deal. 1200ma..Good!

    I got mine from Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9575871979

    I like, and use Tenergy batteries a lot, so I stayed with the brand name. Plus I got them in 2 days.
    Hong Kong may take 10 days.

    Mine are only 900ma, but I have not had to charge them since the initial charge, and my Penguins have been walking around for hours.
    Paul Sr. wrote: »
    Just checking to see if anyone has done further research on using Rechargeables in the Penguin, particularly regarding the allowable range of input voltage. If Macore's theory (re: up to 30V tolerance), then it shouldn't be an issue - but I don't want to burn up the Penguin!

    I am looking at getting a set of these.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/8-123A-CR123A-3-0V-3V-Rechargeable-battery-charger-plug-/130483877258?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6171f58a

    Any new opinions??

    Thanks,
    Paul
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-03-04 09:13
    I've used my set of rechargeable batteries a year now and they're still working great!
    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?97288-Penguin-Resources/page2
  • bee_manbee_man Posts: 109
    edited 2011-03-04 15:14
    I have been using mine for about 3 months with no problems. I have a servo with a worn gear I have to replace but I think that is more from penguin experiments gone bad than over voltage. The penguin sometimes goes a pretty drastic little start up dance that probably does not help the servo gears either. Oh, I use the 3.6 volt variety, they were advertised as 3.0 volt but in reality charge to 3.6. Does anyone have true 3.0 volt rechargable CR123A?
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    edited 2011-03-04 15:54
    If you really wanted to go crazy, yank off the two CR123 battery sockets, get this charger/booster and this battery pack, and give your Penguin a one of a kind battery solution. You'll need to bypass the LT1121ACS8-5 since you will be plugging in 5 volts, but I think that would be a rather slick setup for $30. I am sure there are aother ways to get it cheaper too since other places make cheaper boosters (like Pololu for example) so merging a couple off the shelf items to make a custom setup is definitely feasible.
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