Dream phone shuts off after a few hours of use

[DashBarkHuss]

Investigated this issue and seems that the 9V battery can't handle the dream phone.

Tested the current of Dream Phone. Even without LEDs going, it was around 100 mA with used battery, 108mA with a new battery.

108mA is higher than I anticipated. 100 mA would drain a 9V battery, which typically have 500mAh, in 5 hours.

The used 9V battery was drained, volts reading 7.51 V.

I think a solution would be a rechargeable 9V battery that holds at least 1300mAH. (110mA * 12 hours). The highest I'm seeing is 850mAh. Need to investigate more.

[DashBarkHuss]

The 850mAh option would just be cutting it and probably turn off right before waking. 850mAh/108mA= 7.87 Hours. But this doesn't factor in the extra current mAh used from LED's blinking which would further shorten this time.

[DashBarkHuss]

Options:

-7.4V 2.2AH rechargeable -7.2V 3.25AH rechargable

I've heard that arduino is best powered by between 12v-7v so these might be ok

[DashBarkHuss]

To repeat it seems I need a battery that is:

• Rechargeable
• 1ah or more
• 7-12V
• should charge within 12 hours in time for night time.

This article on different types of batteries suggested LiPo batteries. I like that they have built in protection against being discharged too much:

LiPo batteries can also be harmed by being discharged too far. To protect against this, almost all LiPo batteries have a small safety circuit built into the top of the cell that will shut off the battery if the voltage drops below a certain threshold (usually 3V).

The lipo's they talked about have 3.4 V. To get my required minimum of 7v, could create a battery bank (I think, but I am new to that concept) to add the voltage together. But I did see some 7.4V lipo's on amazon. Here's one but:

• does it have that safety circuit built in that sparkfun mentioned?
• How long does it take to charge?
• Do I have to worry about them exploding?

[DashBarkHuss]

Need to test the forward voltage of the led's before getting the 7v bateries. The LED strip is 12v. It works at 9 but 7 may be to low.

[DashBarkHuss]

The 7.4V lipo's were too expensive and bulky. You had to buy a bulky expensive lipo charger with it. So instead I went with these 9V 800mAh batteries. The have a built in circuit to prevent overcharging. I will make a battery bank in parallel to get more amp hours out of them.

They are lithium-ion. There's a possibility of combustion. But the built-in circuit will help prevent that. I will also only charge when home. They charge fast and I work at home.