12V Squirrel Fan Batteries

Hey. I've been running two 12V squirrel fans in my helmet for a while now. Both are in their own individual circuits consisting of a 9V battery and two AA batteries to make up the 12V. I'm wondering if there's another method of powering them seeing as my current set-up is pretty bulky and heavy, leaving me pretty cramped in my helmet and doing terrible terrible things for my neck. Also, constantly buying sets of four AAs and two 9Vs in addition to all the other batteries I buy for the other electronics can get costly. The plan is to get the same longevity; as in trooping a whole day in them without them dying on me, and also the same fan speed. I originally had only one 9V battery per fan and it wasn't that effective at keeping me cool. I felt a big difference when I upgraded to a 12V system.

I've looked into watch batteries and those smaller 12V AA-like batteries, but neither would last the whole day.

Would something like this be any good? BatterySpace.com/AA Portable Power Corp. Tel: 510-525-2328 - 12V RC Car Battery Packs

I always buy rechargeable batteries for things like this. You'll be better off for what ever set up you go with.
Lynn

I personally troop with the Evilboy duel fans. They run two very low profile fans with 1 4 AA battery pack (its a 6V system). I added an extra battery pack run in parallel. I also bought from amazon 8 Panasonic BK-3MCCA4BA Eneloop AA batteries. With the charger I can recharge them all in about 8 hours. The batteries run about 1.7 volts (which ups the fan speed a little) and with the batteries run in parallel I have enough capacity to have my fans run non-stop for 6 to 7 hours before recharging. They cost 16 bucks for 4 batteries and a charger on amazon.

Your issue is not what the voltage of the fans are but simple capacity for batteries. The only way to solve this problem is via 2 solutions. Add an additional parallel battery circuit for additional capacity (this should double the life of the fan) or get a lower voltage fan (like the evil boy setup I mentioned) that won't chew through battery power as much.

Do you have a link for this evilboy duel fan set up?
Lynn

https://www.facebook.com/EvilboyCustomProps/

I have one of the evil boy fans pictured in my build thread here.

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/crumdums-boba-fett-rotj-build-thread-51818/?highlight=crumdum

I added the extra battery pack to it to give me the 6 to 7 hour performance. As is pictured its good for about 3 to 3.5 hours.

You could also look into a LiPoly battery they are light weight and run for a long time!