MichaelMeissner
Senior Member+
I'm starting to think about moving the Teensy to do effects for my steampunk cameras. Some of the events that I do are outdoor events, and that means rain is always a possibility. My main camera is weather sealed, so that is not an issue, but the Teensy needs to be enclosed in a weather sealed enclosure. I would like the enclosure to be as small as possible, that effects the choice of batteries. I also worry that weather tight enclosures might cause the Teensy to overheat if the voltage regulators reduce voltage by converting it to heat. I could go with an enclosure with holes on the bottom to vent heat, but ideally, I would go with a sealed case, with wires run through weather sealed cable glands.
So I'm looking for thoughts on batteries to use. If possible, I want to use rechargeable batteries. I would prefer to not change batteries during the day, which means I need the unit to run 12+ hours before needing to recharge the batteries, but depending on the cost, I might consider several light weight/cheap batteries that I could change during breaks in the action, over a single expensive option.
I currently use batteries that are meant to recharge cell phones, and provide 1-2 USB 5v ports to power devices. I have an EVOpower 5 volt, 1amp battery with 5 amp/hours of capacity, that could run an Arduino for 4 days doing standard blink. I also have an Energizer 5 volt, 0.5 amp battery with something like 1 amp/hour of capacity. These batteries work ok, but are a little big, which means bigger enclosures.
I could imagine getting a Lipo battery, and voltage regulator to provide 3.3v volts. I would prefer something that has voltage regulation, so that it shuts down rather than deplete the battery to dangerous levels. I am unsure of how to size the battery so that there would be enough capacity to run for a whole day. As I mentioned earlier, I do worry somewhat about heat buildup also if the voltage regulator vents excess energy as heat. In terms of form factor, there are Arduino shields to make this simplier, but for the Teensy, I imagine I will need to build it on a protoboard.
Since I shoot Olympus cameras, I have a bunch of Olympus BLM-5 batteries (7.2 volt at 2000 maH) and BLS-5 (7.2 volt at 1150 maH) batteries. I could imagine using these instead of getting separate lipo batteries if I could make sure I didn't deplete the batteries to dangerous levels, nor damage the Teensy. It would certainly be convenient not to have yet another battery charger lying around.
I also have a bunch of Nokia 5C batteries that are essentially single cell lipo batteries.
I don't think rechargeable 9v batteries have enough capacity for a full day.
If I used 5 or 6 rechargeable AA batteries, it should work, but a bunch of AA batteries has the same size issue as the cell phone charger batteries. I could use 2 AA batteries boosted up to 3.3v with something like the Adafruit minty-boost setup. Since I have plenty of AA batteries, I could just change them every couple of hours. However, as I said previously, I really would prefer not to change batteries at all during the day.
AAA batteries would give me a smaller size and a corresponding smaller run time. I don't have as many rechargeable AAA batteries as I do AA, so in terms of cost, it might be simpler to go with lipo batteries.
I am sure there are other battery types I haven't covered.
I know in terms of power, what I want to do, mostly it is sitting around until there is a keypress event and then it will do some action(s) for a period of time, and then go back to wait for the next keypress. The keypress might be an actual keypress, but it could also be an an infrared controller keypress, or maybe bluetooth. I imagine eventually, I will want to run a hobby motor for a short period of time or a servo. I assume, the bluetooth will probably consume a lot of power, as will the motors, if they are running for a period of time.
So for the people making battery operated gizmos with the Teensy 3.0, what type of solutions did you use?

So I'm looking for thoughts on batteries to use. If possible, I want to use rechargeable batteries. I would prefer to not change batteries during the day, which means I need the unit to run 12+ hours before needing to recharge the batteries, but depending on the cost, I might consider several light weight/cheap batteries that I could change during breaks in the action, over a single expensive option.
I currently use batteries that are meant to recharge cell phones, and provide 1-2 USB 5v ports to power devices. I have an EVOpower 5 volt, 1amp battery with 5 amp/hours of capacity, that could run an Arduino for 4 days doing standard blink. I also have an Energizer 5 volt, 0.5 amp battery with something like 1 amp/hour of capacity. These batteries work ok, but are a little big, which means bigger enclosures.
I could imagine getting a Lipo battery, and voltage regulator to provide 3.3v volts. I would prefer something that has voltage regulation, so that it shuts down rather than deplete the battery to dangerous levels. I am unsure of how to size the battery so that there would be enough capacity to run for a whole day. As I mentioned earlier, I do worry somewhat about heat buildup also if the voltage regulator vents excess energy as heat. In terms of form factor, there are Arduino shields to make this simplier, but for the Teensy, I imagine I will need to build it on a protoboard.
Since I shoot Olympus cameras, I have a bunch of Olympus BLM-5 batteries (7.2 volt at 2000 maH) and BLS-5 (7.2 volt at 1150 maH) batteries. I could imagine using these instead of getting separate lipo batteries if I could make sure I didn't deplete the batteries to dangerous levels, nor damage the Teensy. It would certainly be convenient not to have yet another battery charger lying around.
I also have a bunch of Nokia 5C batteries that are essentially single cell lipo batteries.
I don't think rechargeable 9v batteries have enough capacity for a full day.
If I used 5 or 6 rechargeable AA batteries, it should work, but a bunch of AA batteries has the same size issue as the cell phone charger batteries. I could use 2 AA batteries boosted up to 3.3v with something like the Adafruit minty-boost setup. Since I have plenty of AA batteries, I could just change them every couple of hours. However, as I said previously, I really would prefer not to change batteries at all during the day.
AAA batteries would give me a smaller size and a corresponding smaller run time. I don't have as many rechargeable AAA batteries as I do AA, so in terms of cost, it might be simpler to go with lipo batteries.
I am sure there are other battery types I haven't covered.
I know in terms of power, what I want to do, mostly it is sitting around until there is a keypress event and then it will do some action(s) for a period of time, and then go back to wait for the next keypress. The keypress might be an actual keypress, but it could also be an an infrared controller keypress, or maybe bluetooth. I imagine eventually, I will want to run a hobby motor for a short period of time or a servo. I assume, the bluetooth will probably consume a lot of power, as will the motors, if they are running for a period of time.
So for the people making battery operated gizmos with the Teensy 3.0, what type of solutions did you use?