Effective battery alternative for iGaging DRO's??

Terrywerm

Terrywerm

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I know that this was talked about briefly in another thread, but since this is a slightly different subject, I think it warrants a thread of its own. I have a set of iGaging Absolute DRO's for my mill and I am wondering if anyone has had any success with finding an alternative method to power the DRO's other than the CR2032 batteries that they come with. I would think that a simple wall wart transformer, fed through a bridge rectifier, then through a cap/resistor filter should be able to provide clean enough power for these DROs. Any thoughts??


One other option that may work would be a remote rechargeable battery that feeds all of the DROs on a machine, in my case three, for X, Y, and Z. One large rechargeable battery would be far better than the small ones in my mind. If nothing else, the battery would be the perfect filter for DC with too much ripple.

As a final thought, CR2032 batteries can be purchased cheaply enough and should last quite a while in use, especially with the Absolute DROs, as they have an auto shut-off feature. Those with the older Remote DROs do not have the luxury of the auto shut-off if I remember correctly, so those owners could go through a case of CR2032 batteries in no time if they forget to shut the units off.

I am looking forward to hearing what others have done or experienced.
 
terrywerm said:
I know that this was talked about briefly in another thread, but since this is a slightly different subject, I think it warrants a thread of its own. I have a set of iGaging Absolute DRO's for my mill and I am wondering if anyone has had any success with finding an alternative method to power the DRO's other than the CR2032 batteries that they come with. I would think that a simple wall wart transformer, fed through a bridge rectifier, then through a cap/resistor filter should be able to provide clean enough power for these DROs. Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

You will also need a 3V voltage regulator such as this:
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_1315492_-1
 
Hi
Will a power supply off a PC work at 3.3v or a
Variable 30V 10A DC Power Supply Laboratory Lab Grade Digital Precision Regulate

jeff
 
jeff_g1137 said:
Hi
Will a power supply off a PC work at 3.3v or a
Variable 30V 10A DC Power Supply Laboratory Lab Grade Digital Precision Regulate

jeff
Click to expand...

These devices might not draw enough current to keep the 3.3V output of a pc supply from going over voltage and damaging them. The lab supply should be fine as long as it goes down to 3V.
 
too complicated, see the post i just made on "how i mounted my dro's

but thats just my humble opinion. and i wired in a little led bulb that will come on when the power is switched on. . .
 
Here is what David had to say on the ;URL='http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=18818#post218628' B;other thread[/B][/URL;:

davidh said:
i bought a handful of battery holders with little on / off switch installed that take two triple a batterys. then i made a little disc with wires on it to take the place of one of the batterys in the dro, and to be hooked to this little battery holder. according to the calculations made, these two batterys should last a couple years if you left the scales on...............
i'd be happy to share the information or even sell some of them, just because i really don't need all that i have. . . . . . . email me.
Click to expand...



Thanks for that info, David. I was thinking along the same lines as you, making a two sided plastic disk of some sort with wires attached that could be installed in place of one of the CR 2032 cells and go from there. A pair of AA or larger cells would probably last a very long time if a person were to rig something up with them.


I do not yet have my Absolute DROs installed on my mill, but I can see where the power supply for them may become an issue over time. Just thinking ahead I guess.
 
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Keep in mind that the circuits in these DROs are 'on' all the time, whether the display is on or off. You can check this by turning off the display, then moving the slider. When you turn the display back on, it will show the correct value, not the one that was displayed when you turned it off.

The other side of that coin is that, if you use a power supply that you can turn on and off, you will find the display showing the factory default every time you turn them on. If you make up a regulated power supply with a rechargeable battery included, it will keep your settings even if the power goes off line for a number of hours.
 
Mike, your line of thinking is exactly what I had in mind to begin with as I realized that turning the power off totally would cause the readout to go back to the defaults, requiring a re-zero every time it was powered on. Not good. Same thing if there is a power outage. Thus, my thought was some sort of rechargeable battery to power the units, and the battery charger itself could simply be powered up on a regular basis. This method also introduces the possibility of the battery developing 'memory' and dying an early death.

My most recent thoughts are much simpler, and are similar to DavidH's plan. I would have to create some small discs with wires attached to insert in the read outs in place of the CR2032 cells, then attach some AA or maybe even C or D cell holders to the wires. The holders would use two dry cells to provide the necessary 3 VDC. There would be two of these battery holders set up, wired in parallel. This would allow a fresh set of dry cells to be installed when one set is getting low, but would mean that the DROs would never lose power. With parallel pairs of batteries, the new ones could be installed before the old ones are removed.

The only hard part is setting up a reliable method to determine when the dry cells require replacement. Perhaps measuring voltage occasionally with a VOM would be the best bet.

This method would not get rid of the need to purchase batteries, but it would make it much easier to replace them, and one could do so without losing power to the DROs, a definite improvement over using the stock CR 2032s.
 
Terry already has the DROs. I've got them on four machines and they work quite well for the price.

The large-battery solution has one more advantage. You could power all the DROs on one or several machines from the same supply. If you used a sealed lead acid battery with a 3 volt regulator, it wouldn't have any memory problems. They work best when they are kept charged with a trickle charger.
 
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