It's really hard to tell, but it looks on that picture like you've run a wire from the "Bat" pin to a 5V regulator, which then runs through the resistors to your trinket and motor controllers?

Putting aside the question of resistors for a moment, you should be able to eliminate that separate voltage regulator by connecting a wire from the "5V" pin to the resistors and on to the trinket and motors. The power boost board already has a 5V step up boost regulator on board specifically for this purpose.

Finally, and this could turn out to be the most important question: when you disable the power boost to turn off the circuit, how are you doing that? It looks in the picture like maybe you've got a jumper wire between "Vs" and "EN" or maybe GND. How exactly do you connect those three pins for normal operation, and when you want to turn the circuit off?

 

That's is correct. I have a wire from battery to voltage regulator. I also have ENable pin connected to ground right next to it. Then I have another ground wire going to the voltage regulator. (The ENable to ground is connected because that is the only way to turn off the blue led for 5v that the board already provides. The reason I can't use the 5v pin is because its constantly ON, draining the battery while my push power switch is off (my method to turning the device ON and OFF).

The push power switch is connected where the led - , NO, and switch -, are to ground with the rest of the devices, along with the led+ and switch + to the rest of the positives.

In the pic I'm just holding down on one of the wires since it's loose.

 

This pic shows that the switch is off, and main power plug switch off, but the powerbooster is still on draining the battery from 5v pin.

That is why I was told by Adafruit support to connect ENable pin to GRD.

 

This pic shows that the switch is off, and main power plug switch off, but the powerbooster is still on draining the battery from 5v pin.

That is why I was told by Adafruit support to connect ENable pin to GRD.View attachment 142115

You can use the 5V output if you connect a switch from the enable pin to ground and use that as your on/off switch. That's how the board was intended to be used. When the switch is open (no connection) the circuit will be powered, including the blue LED. When the switch is closed the power boost circuitry, including the 5V output and the blue LED, will be off.

Using a switch on the enable pin as your main power switch might eliminate your heat problems too:

It sounds like most of your extreme failures, as well as your extreme resistor heating scenarios are all when you've switched your circuit off. If your on/off switch was wired properly, no current would flow when it was off, and no current means no heat.

It sounds to me like that switch is wired in a way that creates a short circuit from your power boost output (or now your external regulator output) to ground when it's in the off position. The short circuit would draw as much current as the supply could provide, which would destroy the early power boost boards before you started adding resistors, and it would heat up resistors now that you've installed them.

I'd strongly recommend eliminating the external regulator, taking your power from the 5V pin, and using the enable pin to turn power on and off (leave your existing on/off switch in the "on" position at all times for now, until we've tested the new scheme.) If you never turn your current switch off, I predict you'll avoid the short circuit and no longer heat up the resistors. Once we've established that that all works, we can bypass your current on/off switch completely and eliminate the giant resistors, which will no longer be needed.

 

This page shows one convenient way to connect a power switch to the power boost board:

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-powerboost-1000c-load-share-usb-charge-boost/assembly


Having said that, you don't need a new switch right away to test the theory. For testing, make the other wiring changes I suggested in the post above, then simply slide your jumper wire on and off of the enable pin as needed - when the jumper connects enable to ground your circuit will be off, and when that jumper is disconnected your circuit will be on.

 

I saw this pic before. I will have to try your method, as it sounds like it makes a lot of sense. Crossing my fingers not to burn out any more boards

 

I saw this pic before. I will have to try your method, as it sounds like it makes a lot of sense. Crossing my fingers not to burn out any more boards

Feel free to leave your resistors in place during the first round of tests, just to make sure my plan works and that there aren't any other short circuits or lingering problems. You should probably wait to remove the resistors until after you've got it working without heating them up. Hopefully testing this way will guarantee the safety of your board.

 

This page shows one convenient way to connect a power switch to the power boost board:

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-powerboost-1000c-load-share-usb-charge-boost/assembly

View attachment 142121
Having said that, you don't need a new switch right away to test the theory. For testing, make the other wiring changes I suggested in the post above, then simply slide your jumper wire on and off of the enable pin as needed - when the jumper connects enable to ground your circuit will be off, and when that jumper is disconnected your circuit will be on.

Problem solved!
ebeowulf17 thank you so much. After 4 hours last night trying numerous ways to wire my 5x prong push power switch to the board, I finally came very close to one method of wiring. I realized to get my main power source from the actual outlet, and not the cheap is hub, and it worked flawlessly.

I connected the NO, -led, and the -switch to the ground, while I had the +led connected to 5v booster port. And the + switch to ENable. Now it charges correctly without resistors and voltage regulator, and actually works proper. I could not turn the blue led off, but instead have decided to keep it.

Thank you all for your inputs, and especially for ebeowulf17 for the solution.
Please see pic below

 

Problem solved!
ebeowulf17 thank you so much. After 4 hours last night trying numerous ways to wire my 5x prong push power switch to the board, I finally came very close to one method of wiring. I realized to get my main power source from the actual outlet, and not the cheap is hub, and it worked flawlessly.

I connected the NO, -led, and the -switch to the ground, while I had the +led connected to 5v booster port. And the + switch to ENable. Now it charges correctly without resistors and voltage regulator, and actually works proper. I could not turn the blue led off, but instead have decided to keep it.

Thank you all for your inputs, and especially for ebeowulf17 for the solution.
Please see pic belowView attachment 142157

I'm surprised about the blue LED staying lit when the 5V pin is off - that doesn't seem right. If you simply run a jumper wire from enable to ground it turns off the blue LED, right?

Still, I'm glad you don't have extreme heating or giant resistors any more. Nice work!

 

The blue led turns off when the 5v is off. I meant when the 5v is on, I don't necessarily need the blue led to turn on (contributing to the battery depletion). But I realized it's ok to have to know when the 5v is on, and when it's off.

Thanks again very much

 

The blue led turns off when the 5v is off. I meant when the 5v is on, I don't necessarily need the blue led to turn on (contributing to the battery depletion). But I realized it's ok to have to know when the 5v is on, and when it's off.

Thanks again very much

Oh, perfect! Everything's working properly then. That's great news. Well done! I'm glad I was able to help, and I'm glad you persevered through the frustration.