Battery Holder & Power Supply

#1

We used 6 × AA batteries as the power supply of Me series Electronic modules, and offer a battery holder for 6 AA batteries.
You can see the AA batteries holder as the following picture shows.

We also offer an Acrylic Battery Bracket for the batteries holder to connect on the mechanical parts.

But this may not be the best choice. It seems too big when added it to your robot, and it may cost a lot for the change of the batteries.

So we decide to use 2 18650 rechargeable batteries as the power supply and offer a battery holder for the batteries.
There are two choices of the battery holder.
One is a common 2x18650 Battery Holder with 6" Wire Leads and without PCB. And we will offer an Acrylic Battery Bracket for this battery holder too.

The other one is a 2x18650 Battery Holder With PC Pins. For this battery holder, we will design a PCB for it and it’s easy to connect the PCB on the mechanical parts. So we don’t need a special for this holder. And we also offer a 3x18650 Battery Holder of this kind.

What’s more, is it a 9VDC Wall Adapter Power Supply for testing necessary to be included in our electronic kit?

Any suggestions of the Battery Holder and Power Supply?

#2

Great guys !!

I already use 2x 3.7 lithium with wires for my creations, and a wall adapter too, I think that the 2x 3.7 is ideal, the 3 batteries options (that is useful for the 12v gear motor) is bulky too, u can use a step up transformer anyway if need more than 7.4 volts, with the wires looks like the better option because it is more reusable.

#3

Thaks for your suggestions Markuitos,
So we decided to use 2x 3.7 lithium in the future. And also the wall adapter if they want and necessary.

What’s more, our new update on Kickstarter has done. You can send your message to support@makeblock.cc or you can contact with me directly on: Eric@makeblock.cc. We will send you the testing makeblock parts and the upgrade electronic parts at the same time.

Thank you for your support Markuitos!

#4

Eric, yes I read about the new modules in the blog, congrats for great work !!

All the modules looks a ton more robust now and create a great foundation for the next generations :slight_smile:

I like all the protection added to avoid problems, the new connectors and the compatible cables.

The Me-RJ11 Adapter is a useful idea too, make the modules more open and hackable :slight_smile:

I just send u the mail, thanks a ton to allow us be part of the MakeBlock revolution !!

#5

Hi Markuitos,

I have received your email and thanks for your support.

We will send you the details about the sending parts soon.

Have a good day!

#6

Hello Friends,
I would like a recommendation of which brand of 18650 batteries are the best to get, there seems to be a wide variation in price, and that leads me to believe in quality as well.
Secondly in there a preferred mAh ? there is a range there as well, does a higher number rating mean they would last longer than the lower number rating. example the 2000mAh or the 4000mAh?

Thanks in Advance,
Philip

#7

I have another question, could we power our fantastic creations with a battery charger for Iphone/ipad like this one?

looks like when I pasted the url to the forum opened it , sorry about that.

it looks like they would have many advantages, small size, light weight, this one has two usb ports to provide power.

Thanks Again

Philip

#8

Hi Philip

I have two TrustFire Protected 18650 3.7V True 2400mAh Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Long battery life for my robots :slight_smile:

About the phone charger I think is not a good idea because motors and servos can take a some Amps and sure that chargers don’t give more than 1Amp or less

Cheers

#9

I’ve just ordered the similar Anker Astro3E (10000mAh capacity) based on reports of people using it to power Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects. It has two USB output ports and I believe it can supply up to 3 Amps from one port or a mixture of 2A from one and 1A from the other simultaneously. So it should be somewhat useful for Makeblock projects.

Andrew

#10

Andrew

Great, I used to think that for safety they only deliver 1Amp or less because phone no need more than that, but now I want to order one too :slight_smile: at the end, all are lithium batteries inside

Thanks for the info
Marcos

#11

Thanks for replying Markuitos and Andy , Markuitos brought up a great point and Andy was correct, here is the spec on it,
Super-fast charge output (5V / 3A total) through dual USB ports (5V / 2A and 5V / 1A) allow for simultaneous charging of your iPad, iPhone, Android, and more at high speed.
I bought one these during a kickstarter campaign, and it provides only one amp, so I could use one to power the board and the other to power the motors/servos? how does that sound? BTW the kickstarter one now retails for $70 US, 40% more than the Anker product, but you do get cables with the kickstarter version,

One last question,
About mAh, how does that translate to usage time? given identical power draw, is there a way to calculate this? say for an arduino?

Thanks Guys,
Philip

#12

Hi,

1000 mAh means 1000 mA during one hour.

= 500 mA ( 0.5 A ) during 2 hours
= 250 mA ( 0.25 A ) during 4 hours

Best regards
Georges

#13

My Anker Astro3E just turned up in the post. This weekend I hope to try it out powering my drawing-bot - so far I’ve just run a Raspberry Pi off it for a few minutes with a WiFi adapter plugged in and that seemed fine.

Andrew