Chat freely about anything...

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By AdrianM
#39365 Alkaline batteries have a relatively high series resistance that gets higher as they discharge. To solve this by adding capacitors accross the supply isn't really all that practical as even relatively big capacitors may not supply enough current for long enough when in active TX - so the battery technology is really where I think you need to focus.

al1fch has the right idea as LiFePO4 batteries maintain a constant discharge voltage that stays close to 3.2V until exhausted. But you should take care not to let them discharge below 2V otherwise they will become useless. Also note that Lithium Polymer battery chargers (the most commmon type) terminate at 4.2V which will damage LiFePO4. So you'd need a suitable charger... check out http://www.hobbyking.com/ for batteries and chargers

Hybrid NiMh is another possibility (look for Eneloop or Maplin Hybrid batteries) as these have low internal impedance and low self-discharge characteristics, plus they can be charged by conventional NiMh chargers - but they have the disadvantage that their terminal voltage varies widely from min to max charge. 2V to 3.2V for two in series and 3V to 4.8V for three - so you'd need three and a Low Dropout regulator.
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By torntrousers
#39386 You should be able to get a lot more than just 9 days with 2xAA Alkaline batteries, for example, i've had this onewhich did over 19000 wakeup and publishes so if it was waking up just every 30 minuties it would have lasted over a year.

Perhaps yours isn't going properly into deep sleep or its taking too long to connect on each wake up?
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By chaeplin
#39388 I lost my previous test graph. It last 60 days with 5 min report.
old setup : yellow board(regulator, capacutor and led removed, static ip, deep sleep) + 2AA + two ds18b20(powerd by gpio, TEMPERATURE_PRECISION 12bit/750ms).



Current setup --> starting Dec/01/2015, yellow board, one ds18b20 with TEMPERATURE_PRECISION 9 bit/93.75ms/changed at Dec/20 from 12bit , static ip, deep sleep, 5min


* deepsleep with static wifi : 210ms(old ide takes at least 1.2 sec)
Attachments
Screen Shot 2016-01-22 at 4.32.44 AM.png
current setup
Screen Shot 2016-01-22 at 4.26.16 AM.png
current setup battery
FullSizeRender.jpg
current setup temp
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By Vaseef
#40088 Hello,
I had another test using Energizer D cell batteries (it has 18000 maH). But this also ended in 10 days. Also added 30 seconds time out in wifi connection. I have confirmed that it is using lessthan 1 maH in deep sleep. Do i need to use any other component to get more life. currently my circuit has only 2 batteries and esp8266. Currently i am just sending a number to the server from esp.

Thanks.