I was designing a project that was meant to be portable. For that I needed a portable power supply. The project was designed around an Attiny85 and some leds. So any voltage above 3.3 would do. I desided to use 3 AAA batteries (the smaller penlight types) which would bring enough juice.
There are many battery holders up for sale like the one below.
The problem with this is the shape. It is almost square so I needed a housing next to it for the electronics. That would make the deign needless complicated and unhandy. So when you call yourself a tinkerer that's what you need to do: tinker.
I opened my web browser and surfed to my favorite cad program: Tinkercad
In Tinkercad I designed a simple battery box.
So the next step was to print it and test it.
On the top sides of the box two small holes were drilled. Next I straightened a paperclip with a plier and bend it so I had a loop in it. The lopp was put inside the batterybox and acts as the contacts. The two ends of the paperclip were put through the drilled holes.
And here is the result.
The proof of the pudding.......
Ok, so it works. Next I designed a standard housing for 3 AAA batteries. That was easy. In Tinkercad I first made a copy of the above design. Then I pasted that 2 times into the design page and merged them. The result is this:
Printed that looks like this:
The picture shows how the paperclips were bended to create a kind of loop that would hold the battery firm in place and makes sure that there is a good contact with the poles.
The other side of the box has the paperclips connected in the same way so the batteries are put in series. I do need to add one thing though. I need to make marks for the + and - signs so you know how to put the batteries in. For now just look at the picture below where the design was tested.
So now the concept was fully working I could design the box for my project and it looks like this:
Neat isn't it. A nice box with a small enclosure in the middle to put the electronics in.
For those of you who need a battery holder I herebye give you the STL files which you can slice and print yourself. I am sure that by using these you can design your own electronics enclosure box.
As I was doing a project with an ESP8266 I needed a more powerfull energy source. So I designed another battery box for AA battries. As a bonus I will add the STL file for a single AA battery case. I am sure you can combine it in your favorite CAD/CAM program to a case for multiple AA batteries.
Downloads:
AAA battery case
3 AAA battery case
AA battery case
Till next time.
Have fun
Luc Volders