WSG: Ouch Hot Battery

Wild Zebra · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:52 am Post subject: WSG: Ouch Hot Battery

Hi all,
I've had this thing done for a while now. For those who don't know its at www.musicfromouterspace.com Well I finally got around to putting it in an enclosure I found. Its a pretty cool Gemini switching box for t.v., vcr, etc. Nice wood sides and six sliding spdt switches. Sooo, I decided to do some "circuit bending" type techniques i.e. randomly touch solder connections til I got a different sound. Anyway I hooked a few up and everything works fine as far as I can tell. Except when I turn it off and come back the batteries dead. So I checked the connections, and I feel its right, but as I was checking it again the battery was getting hot as the dickens. So whats that a sign of. I could also swear the battery I thought was dead when I checked it with a multi it was back to normal. Hoping to get it fixed and learn about what a hot battery means so in the future I may be able to figure it out myself. Besides that it is and has been producing sound and working.

bugbrand · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:05 am Post subject:

Sounds like a short circuit between the power lines if the battery is getting hot...

jksuperstar · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:56 pm Post subject:

Yeah, disconnect the battery and see what the ohm-meter reads at thebattery connections . I don't think the WSG should be drawing more that a couple mA, so you're looking at 1Kohm (for 5mA @ 5V) or thereabouts.

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:11 am Post subject:

The reason it came back to normal is that when you put a battery under high load the paste inside produces alot of hydrogen which increases the internal resistance and therefore immediately after disconnecting it will read as a dead battery when tested. If you then let it rest, it cools down and the hydrogen is re-absorbed and the internal resistance drops again. Each time this happens it's ability to recover gets worse, but the first time, on a relatively new battery, it will look like it "returned from the dead".
BTW yes, definately something you did has shorted it out, (maybe just partially)

blue hell · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:58 am Post subject:

Is maybe the power switch shot circuiting the battery in the off position ?

Wild Zebra · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:35 am Post subject:

Got it fixed, but thanks for the info especially the in depth battery lesson. Thanks. It was a switch problem. Hooked up a new one voila!!