Hello, I'm just an amateur dabbling in electronics, and I thought I would try to go online to see if I could get some help on my project.
I'm trying to think of a way to build a portable battery operated chocolate melter. Basically what I have is a heating element attached to a battery, and it works good enough except that it drains the battery too quickly.
To solve this problem of battery drain I'm thinking of incorporating some type of current limiting circuit/diode to limit the current going to the element. Then adjust the resistance in the heating element so that it requires less current to reach the desired temperature. This way the battery would not be "freewheeling" all its current through element, and could potentially save battery life.
Does this make sense? Going in the right direction? I want to keep this very simple, so would it be as easy as soldering in a current limiting zener diode between the battery and the element, or is an adjustable regulator like the LM317 from national semi needed?
Thank you in advance for any help
I'm trying to think of a way to build a portable battery operated chocolate melter. Basically what I have is a heating element attached to a battery, and it works good enough except that it drains the battery too quickly.
To solve this problem of battery drain I'm thinking of incorporating some type of current limiting circuit/diode to limit the current going to the element. Then adjust the resistance in the heating element so that it requires less current to reach the desired temperature. This way the battery would not be "freewheeling" all its current through element, and could potentially save battery life.
Does this make sense? Going in the right direction? I want to keep this very simple, so would it be as easy as soldering in a current limiting zener diode between the battery and the element, or is an adjustable regulator like the LM317 from national semi needed?
Thank you in advance for any help
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