EvilLithiumMan
Member
(Alternate title: Clearly, another person with too much time on their hands)
Yesterday I was sitting around here, sober as Hell. After I rectified that situation, I became curious about my PRO 197. I wondered how much current it drew. So I grabbed the DC cable, connected it to my bench power supply, set it to 13.5 volts and turned it on. Even at worse case (moderate volume, display and LED brightness set to high) the 197 drew 200ma. Heck, that's not so bad. As a matter of fact, one could run their 197 from internal batteries. So, is there room inside the 197 for batteries? A Phillips screwdriver answered that question. Even at the risk of destroying the 197, I decided to attempt to cram four 18650 2600maH Lithuium Ion cells into it. 18650, by the way, is the cell size - 18mm diameter x 65mm length.
I did it. My 197 lives. The entire procedure took about eight hours. Much of that was verifying my math and
double checking the connections I'd be soldering. Here are some pics:
Here is bottom panel with the speaker. (This has nothing to do with the project. But I have an expensive Nikon DSLR so I need little excuse to use it)
Here is the bottom view of the PCB. The battery pack will go on the left side.
Here is the top view of the PCB.
Here is how the batteries look after installation. I didn't have a good way of securing the cells. Just used some packing tape. With the bottom cover installed, it is a tight fit, no way for the batteries to move.
The PRO 197 manual states that 16 volts is the maximum. My battery pack produces 16.8 volts when fully charged. I added three diodes in series with the reverse protection diode. (Two might be all that is needed. I can always change it later).
Here is a pic of my 197 running from the internal pack. To my amazement, it was receiving signals without the antenna installed. Cool.
Right now I am letting the 197 run until the battery pack gives out. I should get 10 plus hours. We'll see.
Yesterday I was sitting around here, sober as Hell. After I rectified that situation, I became curious about my PRO 197. I wondered how much current it drew. So I grabbed the DC cable, connected it to my bench power supply, set it to 13.5 volts and turned it on. Even at worse case (moderate volume, display and LED brightness set to high) the 197 drew 200ma. Heck, that's not so bad. As a matter of fact, one could run their 197 from internal batteries. So, is there room inside the 197 for batteries? A Phillips screwdriver answered that question. Even at the risk of destroying the 197, I decided to attempt to cram four 18650 2600maH Lithuium Ion cells into it. 18650, by the way, is the cell size - 18mm diameter x 65mm length.
I did it. My 197 lives. The entire procedure took about eight hours. Much of that was verifying my math and
double checking the connections I'd be soldering. Here are some pics:
Here is bottom panel with the speaker. (This has nothing to do with the project. But I have an expensive Nikon DSLR so I need little excuse to use it)
Here is the bottom view of the PCB. The battery pack will go on the left side.
Here is the top view of the PCB.
Here is how the batteries look after installation. I didn't have a good way of securing the cells. Just used some packing tape. With the bottom cover installed, it is a tight fit, no way for the batteries to move.
The PRO 197 manual states that 16 volts is the maximum. My battery pack produces 16.8 volts when fully charged. I added three diodes in series with the reverse protection diode. (Two might be all that is needed. I can always change it later).
Here is a pic of my 197 running from the internal pack. To my amazement, it was receiving signals without the antenna installed. Cool.
Right now I am letting the 197 run until the battery pack gives out. I should get 10 plus hours. We'll see.
