Ok this is what I got and what I need help on. Using a RF 12v Relay to operate 2 locks to open when commanded. Power source is 4 CR123 batteries in series to make 12v. Need to know if there is anything I can put in between the relay and power to help with power drain with no load. I get 10ma at the port just when it is on not activated, is there a way to drop the amp draw without compromising the voltage. Or is there a way to use 6v power and upscale it to 12v for the locks, they both pull 1a each but it's only for the time it takes to open the lock (under a second if not milliseconds). Also away to maybe put in capacitors for a burst of power to open the locks even to over 12v. It would be nice to have the whole circuit designed and made into one component cause there is more I want it to do but that's later. Unless someone knows of who can do that for me cheap ...

Thanks for any advice I can get

 

Please post a link to the components you are using.

10 mA for a small radio receiver seems reasonable, and there is almost certainly no way to reduce that without a redesign. As for the relays, yes you can use a boost converter to turn 6 V into 12 V, but they run around 70% efficient so the net energy budget might be greater.

ak

 

Thanks that's what I was thinking on the power issue. But the 10mA kills the batteries in a matter of days trying to extend that o lets say months I know of locks that can do that. Just wondering if there is a way to add something to do that or yes just have it redesigned and built

 

You don't necessarily need to keep a remote control receiver powered continuously e.g.If you were to power the receiver up once every second for 10ms to listen for a signal before going back to sleep again you could potentially reduce it's quiescent power consumption to 1/100th but you may not be able to do this with your hardware. An efficient solution would be to choose a micro-controller with an ultra-low power sleep mode and configure it to wake up periodically, enable the receiver, listen for a carrier, and if it detects anything run a routine to capture, validate and decode whatever it's receiving and take some action, otherwise, go back to sleep.

 

Yeah was thinking the same but I would rather not have to build my own circuit. Is there anyway to build one like that to just put the input to sleep going to the components. Or no I would have to redesign the whole thing and build it. Thanks for the help.