Not All Batteries are Created Equal | Details | Hackaday.io
hackaday.ioWith the new PCB in version 6.0 I switched to the bigger 16340 battery that I originally used in #Fluffbug, thinking that the extra weight is not so great, and extra capacity will be useful. Also those batteries are much easier to find, since they are commonly used in vapers. And incidentally, with version 6.0 I started to have problems with power. The robot would work on a fully charged battery for maybe half a minute, and then the servos would get all shaky, and soon the protection circuit would kick in and shut the power down.
I initially thought the shaky servos are because those small 2g servos come in two versions: 3.7V and 5V, and maybe I got the 5V ones this time. So I made a PCB version 6.1 where I added a boost converter to give the servos consistent 5V voltage. It didn't make any difference, though, the servos were still shaky. I tried added capacitors everywhere I could, but that didn't solve the issue.
On a hunch, I made a professional adapter out of a paperclip, and inserted the previous 14250 battery. Suddenly all the power problems went away, the servos are no
Unfortunately, yes.
I’ve had multipe experiences with seeing a flashlight battery which, according to labels, ought to have the capacity of an electric vehicle cell. And of course they don’t - on EBay or AliExpress, there’s a 100% chance that they’re just deceptively labeled. :)
If one needs high current, measuring the current with a known and low resistance (e.g. car headlight bulb) helps.