Everybody might be accustomed to the idea of battery-powered gadgets, however typically, this includes a laptop computer with a beefy battery pack and {hardware} optimized for low energy draw. You might additionally do the exact opposite and attempt to run a desktop PC off alkaline AA cells, as [ScuffedBits] lately did out of morbid curiosity. Precisely what number of alkaline cells does it take to run a desktop PC for any affordable period of time?
One good factor about utilizing batteries with a desktop PC is you could ditch your entire AC-DC energy conversion step and as an alternative use a DC-DC adapter just like the well-known PicoATX and its many clones. These simply soak up 12 VDC and have a tendency to have a reasonably huge enter voltage vary, which is helpful when your batteries start to expire of juice. On this case, simply above 10 VDC gave the impression to be the cut-off level for the used DC-DC adapter.
Ultimately, [ScuffedBits] used what appears like 56 alkaline AA cells linked in each parallel and sequence, together with two series-connected 6,800 µF, 40V electrolytic capacitors to buffer the spikes in energy demand, after early experiments confirmed that the cells simply can’t present energy that rapidly. Though admittedly, the preliminary skinny wiring didn’t assist both. With alkaline reasonably than carbon AA cells, improved wiring, and a few buffer capacitors, it seems you could certainly run a desktop PC off AA cells, if solely nearly lengthy sufficient for a small sport of Minesweeper.
Amusingly, the small LCD monitor used within the experiment drew so little energy that it fortunately ran on eight NiMH cells for for much longer, highlighting simply how vital energy conservation is for battery-powered gadgets. We surprise if you happen to might marry this challenge to a battery challenge we noticed and find yourself with one thing virtually transportable?
