# battery question please **URL:** \ **Category:** Proton Packs\ **Created:** [October 13, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510 "2012-10-13T20:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/1 "2012-10-13T20:31:01Z")
Hey there So i have had my crix kit completely wired, i was using a 9 volt battery to test it all. I went out to batterys plus yesterday and bought i nice 12 volt battery with a smart charger. When i hook my kit up using the 12 volt battery my lights go really screwy. For one thing as soon as the battery is hooked up the lights come on, but theyre fairly dim. And when i switch it on the blinking lights in the gun blink stupid fast, the [bar graph](https://www.gbfans.com/wiki/equipment/proton-pack/bar-graph) just goes weird and others kinda flicker. If my 9 volt battery is brand new everything seems fine, but then as soonas it start dying a little everything gets screwy again. I would imagine that the voltage has no kind of regulation in the chip and that this is causing the problem. But why is it so screwy on my 12 volt? ---
**Author:** ![cpu64](https://forum.gbfans.com/user_avatar/forum.gbfans.com/cpu64/32/104792_2.png) [@cpu64](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/cpu64)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/2 "2012-10-13T21:21:55Z")
Test and make sure its actually 12V from the battery. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/3 "2012-10-13T21:29:22Z")
Im measuring out at 11.75 v ---
**Author:** ![GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/GhostGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/4 "2012-10-13T22:45:55Z")
If your 12V battery is measuring 11.75v then it’s probably mostly dead and the minute you put a load on it the voltage drops dramatically. A 12V battery should read more than 12V when fully charged. Try putting a resistor around 100-500 ohms in series with the battery and the multimeter and then check the voltage. ---
**Author:** ![GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/GhostGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/5 "2012-10-13T22:50:58Z")
Alternatively, stick the multimeter across the battery while the battery is powering the circuit, and see what the voltage reads then. If it reads more than 6V then you should be okay, less than that an the voltage regulator might not be able to generate the 5v the circuit needs. Are you using the 12v for just a light kit, or for a sound kit as well? If just for a light kit, then a 12v battery is likely just wasting 6v. (Depends on the voltage regulator but there’s like a 95% chance he’s using the kind that just turns the extra voltage into heat.) The only reason to use 12v with a light kit really is so you only need one battery to power it and an amplifier. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/6 "2012-10-13T23:42:22Z")
Yeah, with a full load i am running at 11.5 volts. And yes it is a sealed lead acid battery.. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/7 "2012-10-13T23:48:16Z")
I went with a 12 volt battery because although i am not right now, i do plan to run an amp in the future. However it should be neither here nor there if its a little overkill or not, i believe it sould have a voltage regulator wired in so that i could be running 24 volts if wanted and this would keep it at what it should be…right? ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/8 "2012-10-14T00:30:27Z")
And just so we can clear one thing off the table…i went down to my local surplus warehouse and found an amp 12v 3 watt made to run the same speaker setup and this thing screams,haha no preamp required, sounds awesome nd only 4 bucks, super easy to wire them in. So we can now take the not having an amp part out of the equation because its still doing the same thing. The really baffling part to me though is how is it leaking power to my lights when the main switch is off? ---
**Author:** ![GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/GhostGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/9 "2012-10-14T00:34:18Z")
There are two kinds of voltage regulator he’s likely to be using. One is a linear regulator, the other is a switching regulator. Switching regulators are a lot more complex than linear regulators, so its unlikely he used one of those, but I’m providing those with my own kits because linear regulators turn all the excess voltage into heat and if you are using a high voltage and drawing a lot of current, that equals a lot of heat with a linear regulator. A switching regulator on the other hand uses the excess voltage efficiently and turns very little into heat. So in regards to your question about running on 24 volts if you want to… Well, no actually, that would not be a good idea. Even 12 volts is pushing it with a linear regulator, but I don’t think the light kit draws enough current that the regulator would get too hot. Volts dissipated \* amps drawn = watts of heat generated, and volts dissipated = input voltage - 5V, roughly. So 12V-5V = 7V to dissipate, and a typical PCB might be able to dissipate 2W safely, so 2W / 7V = .285A or 285 mA. That’s not a lot of current, but it is enough to power 28 leds at 10mA or 14 LEDs at 20mA. And on average a pack has around 22 LEDs lit. So whether it’s okay with his kit to run on 12V depends on how brightly those LEDs are lit. It’s possible your problems are due to the regulator going into thermal shutdown or regulation from overheating. It sounds like your battery is supplying enough current so it’s not an undercurrent situation, but it is possible that the regulator is sensing it is too hot and is turning on and off rapidly to cool itself. Does this problem happen after the pack has been on a minute or two or does it always happen? ---
**Author:** ![GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/GhostGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/10 "2012-10-14T00:36:56Z")
Wait, leaking power to your lights when the switch is off? Well that changes everything. Either you’ve got something wired wrong or there’s a short somewhere or something was put in the circuit backwards. Or the regulator burned out from using 12V input, thouh I doubt that cause like I said they usually have thermal regulation. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/11 "2012-10-14T00:54:03Z")
I really doubt anything could be wired wrong. 12v into pack lights and daisy chained to the wand lights. The pack lights arent doing it…just the wand. And it doesnt do it if im hooked up to a 9 v instead ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/12 "2012-10-14T01:09:08Z")
No it always happens. From the second i first hooked up the new battery. And ive been in testing stages s ive never had it on more then 1 minute probably. Maybe this will help…i decided i would see how it would react with just a 9 volt battery again. Knowing that the mutual ground that daiy chains between the 2 cards i left the ground wire running from one pack to the other hooked up and connected the hot of the 9 volt to the wire going to my wand lights and touched the ground to the pack lights card. And i was still getting the bleed off with te lights. However when i hooked my wand up solely to the 9 volt i did not get the problem. Also a few mintes ago i hooked my hot going to the wand from the pack to a 9v voltage regulator and still got the bleed off. ---
**Author:** ![GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/9fc29f/32.png) [@GhostGuy](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/GhostGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/13 "2012-10-14T02:37:04Z")
You should post some photos of how you have things wired up. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/14 "2012-10-14T03:44:48Z")
Well i will try to get some posted up tonight. But im honestly wondering if everything works perfectly with a 9v batt and is wired the same way with a 12v batt that it could be the wiring. Besides pos to pos and neg to neg what else could possibly be wrong enough to cause this? ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/15 "2012-10-14T05:39:24Z")
Ok, i havent ben able to get any pics that show enough of the wiring to make sense of it. But ill try to explain it quickly. Battery source is in the pack running pos and neg to the pack board. In the same slot as the pos and neg goes the pos and neg wires that are running to the wand through the hose and into that card. Other then that, the to pack cable goes to the pack and all the l.e.d’s are plugged in accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/16 "2012-10-15T09:18:11Z")
So i got everything worked out. The fast blinking lights and [bar graph](https://www.gbfans.com/wiki/equipment/proton-pack/bar-graph) not making a full up down is because of the higher voltage. Wouldnt imagine that should happen but…who knows. With a new 9 volt it works exactly as it should. I rewired everything so that instead of my wire running between the pack board and gun board being crammed into the same in slots on my pack board as the battery in. Everything now has 1 hot and neg station they connect to and share with the amp. With exception to the pack board that has just the neg hooked up…im asuming it gets pos in from the comm cable linking between the 2 boards. As far as the lights leaching power when the switch was off, it was simply some kind of bleed off from how cramed everything was in the gun. I moved a few things around and done! Also wired in another switch between the battery and the boards as a main shutoff, so one position is on and the other is off or charge. So i wont have to worry about powering the boards with the charger. ---
**Author:** ![Jon\_Wallace](https://forum.gbfans.com/user_avatar/forum.gbfans.com/jon_wallace/32/5853_2.png) [@Jon\_Wallace](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/Jon_Wallace)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/17 "2012-11-04T01:49:45Z")
Hey evallded, you seemed to have the same exact problem i am currently having with my battery and lights. I am trying to visualize what you did to fix the problem, but i had a couple of questions and i was hoping you could help me out. So does your pack lights, wand lights, and amp all have wires running separately that connect to the battery? You said you moved some things around to help with the bleed to the wand, what did you move around? You also mentioned adding another switch for charging, was that because your lights would run every time you tried charging your battery? I’m a little new to this wiring stuff, so anything info you can provide me with would be awesome. If you also had any photos you could share showing your wiring that would be awesome too. ---
**Author:** ![evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@evallded](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/evallded)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/18 "2012-11-04T02:15:15Z")
Hey there Well honestly I know a pic can be the easiest thing to go from but a pic of my wiring as it sits right now will only add to the confusion. I will try to make this understandable though. So first problem, your lights are bleeding when everything is off. I am not an electrician so someone might step in and correct me here but the main wire that runs communication between your wand lights and your pack lights (should be the only one with a white plug between the 2) has to run some kind of power between the 2 cards as well as telling when to turn off and on because I am not running a power source to my pack card at all. I have the communication cable (that I just mentioned) and a ground that runs from the wand card to the pack card and that is all. If I remember right I have the power source ran directly to the wand board, and as I said, just the ground ran to the pack board and everything functions as it should. Secondly, for charging. I am running 1 switch at the top left (above the [power cell](https://www.gbfans.com/wiki/equipment/proton-pack/power-cell)) for the main power off, meaning my hot wire runs to the middle prong and my power in for the board is at the top prong. The bottom prong is to my charger cord therefore when I turn the switch downward it disconnects my pack lights altogether and connects my charger. So that I have no worries of running unwanted power to my light boards while my pack is charging. as for how many power source wires…your sound chip obviously has its own (2 AA batteries) The amp and the power out to my board are ran off the same source. however I will soon be running a distribution board that will allow me to run everything including the sound card off one source and everything will get what it needs exactly, 12 to amp, 3 to sound card and 9 to lights. Which will get rid of (hopefully) my lights erratic behavior cause by how charged or dead my battery is. ( my batteries blink really fast when full as slow down as the battery does) I think this should cover everything but if it doesnt then feel free to let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Jon\_Wallace](https://forum.gbfans.com/user_avatar/forum.gbfans.com/jon_wallace/32/5853_2.png) [@Jon\_Wallace](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/Jon_Wallace)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/19 "2012-11-04T15:09:16Z")
You are a lifesaver! Disconnecting the positive lead from the pack lights to the battery fixed the problem. I just had one more question, after you did all of this did your blinking lights still blink super fast when the pack was turned on? If so, were you able to fix it? ---
**Author:** ![ChapterMasterTuShan](https://forum.gbfans.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ChapterMasterTuShan](https://forum.gbfans.com/u/ChapterMasterTuShan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510/20 "2012-11-04T15:12:34Z")
Are they super fast for like one or 2 cycles before settling down, or longer? A lot of circuits need to cycle once to get everything in line, such as bargraph or mutiplexed circuits. If it’s wackier than that, you could have a short somewhere across a logic pin. [Next page](https://forum.gbfans.com/t/battery-question-please/11510.md?page=2)