Insufficient Current?

[petemoore]

What do you think?
 I panelized some circuits on one battery.
 Actives include:
 Two Dual OA's
 An LM741 OA
 An LM386 used as voltage divider.
 A jfet Mu Amp.
 worked fine for more than a day.
 If I lay the battery down on the plastic sheet, the circuit dies. :shock:
 If I disconnect and reconnect the battery, I get full power for a second or so, then probably faded output, lay the battery down it dies. Battery standing up seems to keep it going a little better.
 Wiggling around wires doesn't seem to be an issue, with the battery standing upright, there don't seem to be any funny connection or misconnection [bad] symptoms].
 It seems directly dependant on whether the battery's standing. Brand new Duracell Alkaline, Freshly charged NiMh, all tested over 9v.
 Could I be experiencing some type of current supply/demand issue here?
 Does the battery syphon better when standing? :?  :lol:

[puretube]

one of the 2 wires of the bat-clip are not well-soldered to to the clip...

[petemoore]

Who knows what it "was.
 Maybe It'll do that for me again so I can try again to find out what caused that...if not that's ok too.
 Tricky ... trying to get all that in a box and working perfectly. It should be just repitition, but it often seems to get more complicated somehow, and the more stuffs in it, the harder it is to remember what went where in the circuit...I end up beeping around to find the other end of wires etc.
 Anyway I can't read Ma. or units of current, the DMM's pamphlet refers to markings that arent on the meter etc. and I've not really a clue where 'anything is on it...I'll get it next to someone who's used to using that function and see if they can explain it. I tried the 'other plug, had numbers I cound'nt 'unitize'...couldn't relate to them...then no more numbers...these littel widgets :evil: ...Don't really use that anyway.
  I've kind of ruled out current supply/demand issues, seeing no flashing lights in the above responses to my post...I can always try a second battery for some of the OA's and get a cause and effect determination of current consumption issues.
  It would be nice to know just about how much current a battery can supply, and what the limit is on how many active components one could run on one battery...I know it certainly varies..just a ballpark figure on how many OA's could I run off of one battery, and an averaged ratio of current consumption of Opamps compared to Fet or Si transistors.

[RDV]

Maybe not relevant to this situation, but I've had batteries that had internal open circuits that would happen when you put the snap on. It was maddening because it would die out of nowhere, then you take it off the snap & it tests 9v+, then you replace the snap with a new one, then it happens again & ah..the shades are finally raised, so you open the back door & throw the offending battery a couple of kilometers.

I never know what to do with myself when I'm not gigging on a Friday, so I tell boring little stories.

RDV

[Hal]

how much current is the circuit pulling?

i doubt it could be the battery, though...i bet puretube's right and its the clip.  try just holding 2 stripped wires to the battery, with it sideways, and see what happens!

[petemoore]

For some reason, it's all working.
 Yes I know the battery connection opening intermittently 'thing'. I had one that did that, finally the matchbook/duct tape wedgeing it in the charger didn't work anymore.
 I don't think it was in the battery or connections to, I should have mentioned that's the first thing I wigggled and pushed on a bit. I think that battery is fine, but they can become decievingly intermittent.
 As long as the circuits is OK with it, Im's ok with it.

[puretube]

try a different (new) bat, and check if it repeats the behaviour...