Battery drain

silviu.lita

Hi all,

I have used boebot with BASIC Stamp 2, 3 servos, Ping, speaker and LEDs for almost one year.
The 4 x 1.5V battery pack would last weeks if not months when the robot was used several times a week.

Now the issue:
I recently replaced the processor with BASIC Stamp bspx and added the bluetooth module and Color Pal sensor.
Now the battery pack goes dead after 1-2 hours of use.

I checked the specs for the additional modules and the power consumption should not cause the battery pack to drain so fast.

Is this normal? Where could the issue be?

Thanks,
Silviu Lita

LoopyByteloose

To begin with the BS2px itself uses more power than the simple BS2 as it clocks a lot faster. And then you have added devices that demand more services.

But it could be added pullup resistors are wired in a way that they never turn off, or you are using a lesser quality battery. I'd first recheck the wiring to verify that off is indeed completely off.

Heater.

silviu.lita,

No idea where your problems may be. Do you have a multimeter?

My approach would be to disconnect all the new stuff you have added and measure the current drawn from the battery.
From that current draw and the battery capacity you can get an idea of how long it should run for.

Now add devices back one at a time and measure the current drawn from the battery in each case.

With this kind of fault finding measurement you should be able to find out where the problem is.

You will need a meter that will measure current down to micro/milli amps. It need not be an expensive one.

silviu.lita

Thanks for the reply.
After each use I disconnect the battery plug so it cannot be the the batteries drain while the board is switched off.
I was suspecting a short circuit, I double checked the wiring and it seems ok.
I will post a picture.