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Voltage and Current: Motors (2019)
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Voltage and Current: Motors (2019)

Rechargeable Batteries

Mini Project Motor Box with Rechargeable Battery

You may have noticed that the coin cell batteries quickly lose its “charge” as you keep the motor running. Continuing to use the coin cell batteries to power the motors can end up being very costly. Instead, we can utilize batteries that are rechargeable.

Rechargeable Battery: Required items and tools

Find the following components in your kit:

  • Rechargeable 9V battery Rechargeable 9V battery
  • Rechargeable 9V battery Charger Rechargeable 9V battery Charger
  • 9V Battery Connector 9V Battery Connector
Step 1: Charging the Battery

The Lithium-ion Rechargeable battery will need to be charged. Plug the battery into the charger, and plug the charger to an outlet. It may take a few hours to fully charge.

Safety: Safe Handling

While rechargeable batteries are very useful, we also want to make sure that we are being safe when handling them.

Rechargeable batteries use a special chemical inside to allow it to be rechargeable, but the chemical can also be very dangerous if it is exposed to skin. Be sure to always use protective material (gloves, safety glasses, etc.) if you need to clean up any damaged batteries.

Step 2: Attach Connector to battery

Attach the Quick Connect battery connector to the battery.

Step 3: Create alligator clips to connect to the Battery Connector

Create wires with alligator clips on both sides to connect to the 9V battery connector.

(Optional) Module: Prepare Alligator Clips

Follow along with this module to prepare wires with alligator clips.

Alligator Clip Connector: Required items and tools

To begin crimping clips, you will need the following:

  • Alligator Clip Alligator Clip
  • Wire Wire
  • Alligator Clip Crimper Alligator Clip Crimper
  • Wire Stripper Wire Stripper
Step 1: Prepare wire for alligator clip

Take the end of the wire, and make sure there is enough conductor exposed to attach the connector -- about 1 cm, or half an inch is good for this type of clip.

  • If you need to expose more conductor, use a wire cutter.
  • If you have a wire cutter with gauge holes, find the hole that matches the size of wire you have, place the wire through the hole, and squeeze the handle firmly. Twist the wire back and forth until the insulator is cut, and the conductor slides out smoothly.
  • If you have a wire cutter without gauge holes, place the cutting head where you want to trim to, and cut "around" the outside by squeezing the blade down gently on the outside of the insulator, and rotating the blade and wire back and forth to saw through the insulation without damaging the conductor inside.
  • If you have too much conductor, use a wire cutter to cut off the excess length.
Step 2: Insert conductive core into alligator clip

Insert the exposed conductor through the small loop on the back of the alligator clip.

Note: If the connection is too loose, strip off some more of the insulator and fold the conductor together to create an extra "thick" wire for the alligator clip slot.

Tip: Twist the ends of the conductor strands so they stay together more easily.

Step 3: Insert clip and wire into crimper slot

Insert the loop + conductor into the slot on your crimper that matches the size of the loop.

Step 4: Crimp the connection

Firmly squeeze the handle of the crimper to press the loop closed around the conductor. Many crimper designs will not open back up until you have squeezed far enough -- if the crimper won't open, keep squeezing until it does.

Tip: You can squeeze harder if you grip toward the ends of the handles.

Tip: If you really need the crimper to open early, there is usually a small release latch inside the handle.

Step 5: Crimp both sides

To ensure the fit is good on all sides, rotate the connector 90 degrees, and squeeze the handle closed again.

Step 6: Complete alligator clip crimping

The alligator head connector should now be securely attached to your wire!

Safety: Open Leads

Be very careful with the Quick Connect leads! The 6V battery can be very dangerous. Just by simply touching the red and black leads together for a short period of time, you can cause the battery to short circuit and damage the battery. The short circuit can also cause the wires to smoke.

Step 4: Attach Connectors to battery

Attach the alligator clips the battery leads.

Step 5: Replace the Coin Cell Batteries

Replace the coin cell batteries with the rechargeable battery.

Explanation

The rechargeable battery we’re using, just like the A23 battery shown before, is just made up of multiple batteries strung together in series. Connecting these batteries together in series creates a single cell, with a larger combined voltage.

However, it’s what is inside that matters! Rechargeable batteries consists of materials and chemicals inside to be able to not only discharge energy, but to be able to regenerate energy back into the battery. This is done by using a special chemical inside the battery to allow this to happen.

Batteries create electricity by performing a chemical reaction between an anode and a cathode with an electrolyte separating the different parts. The chemical reaction causes electrons to flow from the Anode through the circuit and then to the cathode. Disposable batteries, Like the coin cells we use earlier, produce electricity until the reactions stops taking place. Once the reaction stops the battery is "Dead" and will not provide any more charge and will need to be replaced. Rechargeable batteries have a different chemical reaction that can be reversed when electricity is pushed into the battery (Charging). Charging a battery forces the electrons back to the anode side of the battery, storing energy.

The amount of charge that a battery can hold is rated in Amp hour, or more realistically to the size of a battery, milliAmp hours or mAh. The larger the number of milliAmp hours, the more charge that it can store.

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