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creating a longer life battery pack

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wrinkledcheese

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Hey everyone,

I have a cheap-o camera that takes 3x AAA batteries. This in turn nets me about 4-6 minutes of recording before I need to charge them again. I figured it would be much more recording time if I created a battery pack that takes 3x AA batteries instead.

I figured since it's the same voltage, I shouldn't need anything more than some wire and electrical tape and hook the positive up to the positive leading into the camera and the negative to the negative terminal going to the camera as well. After creating a 3x AA battery pack, when I hooked it up, the camera started smoking and it seemed like there were sparking sounds. At this point I figured I killed the camera. To my surprise when I put the 3x AAA batteries back in, it worked just as it did before it started smoking. I left the AA battery pack connected for about 5-10 seconds because that's when I noticed thin smoke coming out of crevasse in the device, like the speaker for device playback.

I have two questions:
1) Can someone tell me why the smoking happened at all? It's the same voltage, the only thing I can tell that's different is that the AA batteries are 2200mAh and the AAA batteries are 1800mAh.

2) Should I be able to do something as simple as increase the battery size while keeping the same voltage and gain extended life from the larger battery bank?

P.S. I have absolutely no knowledge of electronics aside from what I've learned, and forgotten, between projects. For example rebuilding a circuit diagram I found online for creating a circuit for reading CMOS chips, in this case, from an XBOX.
 
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Are you sure the AA batteries are 1800mAh.

Are they rechargeable?

You can get 2700mAh batteries.

Is there a socket for connecting it to a mains adaptor?
 
Hey everyone,

At this point I figured I killed the camera.

Very nice. It's quite remarkable that sometimes the curiosity wins over the item value or aftereffects.


2200AA and 1800AAA seems quite acceptable in most applications especially in cameras..it shouldn't make any difference..but if the amperage is too much then it's a problem..it looks like you've applied opposite polarity..
 
Very nice. It's quite remarkable that sometimes the curiosity wins over the item value or aftereffects.


2200AA and 1800AAA seems quite acceptable in most applications especially in cameras..it shouldn't make any difference..but if the amperage is too much then it's a problem..it looks like you've applied opposite polarity..

I would agree, he's connected them the wrong way round, and the protection diode was smoking.
 
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