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Testing battery drain
July 1, 2009
5:30 am PDT
pooperdooper
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There was a ton of electronic equipment around. Wonder if that could do it somehow.

That sounds like a question for the Jybian? However it gives me a good idea for how to use a multimeter at

the next investigation.

July 1, 2009
6:31 am PDT
TheJybian
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That sounds like a question for the Jybian? However it gives me a good idea for how to use a multimeter at

the next investigation.

I very highly doubt it was other equipment. Better odds that **** Cheney wins a Nobel Peace Prize in the next 3 years. The thing with modern digital equipment is that the internal signal traces are are intentionally kept very short to avoid radiated losses, because the even a digital signal (on or off only) will attenuate at high switching frequencies. An EM pulse could damage unshielded electronics, but unless you can accelerate free electrons through a coil at extremely high speeds, they're not an easy thing to generate. Not the kind of thing that goes unnoticed in a room being investigated. Since it was an older camera, and still on it's original battery, it probably just ran out of charge so quickly that it effectively "played dead" until I charged the living crap out of it.

I fart, therefore I art.
July 1, 2009
6:58 am PDT
pooperdooper
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I very highly doubt it was other equipment. Better odds that **** Cheney wins a Nobel Peace Prize in the next 3 years. The thing with modern digital equipment is that the internal signal traces are are intentionally kept very short to avoid radiated losses, because the even a digital signal (on or off only) will attenuate at high switching frequencies. An EM pulse could damage unshielded electronics, but unless you can accelerate free electrons through a coil at extremely high speeds, they're not an easy thing to generate. Not the kind of thing that goes unnoticed in a room being investigated. Since it was an older camera, and still on it's original battery, it probably just ran out of charge so quickly that it effectively "played dead" until I charged the living crap out of it.

From a different angle. If you had to set up the perfect environment to drain a battery, in a

perfectly functioning piece of equipment, what would it consist of? Could I use my multi meter, set for

impedance across the seperated leads? Would this in fact be searching for a place where a battery could

discharge?

July 2, 2009
2:00 am PDT
TheJybian
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From a different angle. If you had to set up the perfect environment to drain a battery, in a

perfectly functioning piece of equipment, what would it consist of? Could I use my multi meter, set for

impedance across the seperated leads? Would this in fact be searching for a place where a battery could

discharge?

You can't measure impedance directly with the meter, because that applies a fixed voltage across what your test points and measures the resulting current flow. You can measure the voltage up front, and then measure the current (assuming your multimeter has a current function), and determine the impedance (or resistance) that way. Probably a better test, since the device you're checking probably regulates the voltage internally to function as the battery drains. As the voltage of the battery drops (as it depletes the charge), the current will increase proportionally to maintain the power draw constant. It shouldn't increase that much, because a battery usually dies after losing maybe 20% of it's initial voltage.

You have to be careful when you set the meter up for current measurements. It uses different input jacks for current than for voltage, because it has to pass the current through a fixed precision resistor and measure the resulting voltage across it. The current input will be fused, because it has very low resistance, and you can short the meter out if you connect directly across a voltage source. I had a roommate in electronics tech school that blacked out the entire school when he tried to check the voltage on a 5,000 volt radar transmitter tube (WWII circa equipment) with his meter still set up for current. He was known as "Flash" for at least six months. The meter was known as "Slag", because it looked like a Salvador Dali painting of Hiroshima.

I fart, therefore I art.
July 2, 2009
5:39 am PDT
pooperdooper
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You can't measure impedance directly with the meter, because that applies a fixed voltage across what your test points and measures the resulting current flow. You can measure the voltage up front, and then measure the current (assuming your multimeter has a current function), and determine the impedance (or resistance) that way. Probably a better test, since the device you're checking probably regulates the voltage internally to function as the battery drains. As the voltage of the battery drops (as it depletes the charge), the current will increase proportionally to maintain the power draw constant. It shouldn't increase that much, because a battery usually dies after losing maybe 20% of it's initial voltage.

You have to be careful when you set the meter up for current measurements. It uses different input jacks for current than for voltage, because it has to pass the current through a fixed precision resistor and measure the resulting voltage across it. The current input will be fused, because it has very low resistance, and you can short the meter out if you connect directly across a voltage source. I had a roommate in electronics tech school that blacked out the entire school when he tried to check the voltage on a 5,000 volt radar transmitter tube (WWII circa equipment) with his meter still set up for current. He was known as "Flash" for at least six months. The meter was known as "Slag", because it looked like a Salvador Dali painting of Hiroshima.

We have a guy named Flash that works for us! Did your friend have a conspicuous lack of eyebrows and carry a burn kit with him everywhere?

Just joking around…..Thanks getting me straight on impedance!

July 16, 2009
7:35 pm PDT
NoWhammies
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Well – we didn't test the battery drain just yet. The location was too open. We're looking to do it indoors. We'll let you know when we actually test it. Although, I'm guessing that now I know the "hot spots" at Wellington I could try it; however, we didn't have a single device malfunction (except that one digital audio recorder wouldn't shut off no matter what I tried.)

July 17, 2009
11:05 am PDT
Brad Berg
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I had a question in another thread that actually belonged here..of course, I forgot to copy and paste, and now I'm just to lazy to go back, so I'll ask it again.

There are often discussions as to why batteries drain, and the leading hypothesis seems to be because of an entities attempt to manifest. So why, when you are in an area that has electricity, such as an actual residence, hotel, ship, etc etc…would batteries drain? Wouldn't an entity draw power from an unending source, vs. a 9V battery?

What do you guys and gals think? Could something like magnetism affect the batteries in a short period of time?

THIS SPACE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK
July 17, 2009
2:52 pm PDT
RyanNREMTP
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That's one of the big questions we wonder when it comes to battery drain. For all we know it could be that spirits like the chemical process of batteries as opposed to the wire and running current of electricity.

A through background history of a house with reported battery drain should include reports of cell phones going dead along with cordless phones, remote controls for TVs and the such and other battery operated things like kids' toys.

July 17, 2009
3:33 pm PDT
NoWhammies
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I had a question in another thread that actually belonged here..of course, I forgot to copy and paste, and now I'm just to lazy to go back, so I'll ask it again.

There are often discussions as to why batteries drain, and the leading hypothesis seems to be because of an entities attempt to manifest. So why, when you are in an area that has electricity, such as an actual residence, hotel, ship, etc etc…would batteries drain? Wouldn't an entity draw power from an unending source, vs. a 9V battery?

What do you guys and gals think? Could something like magnetism affect the batteries in a short period of time?

I've been thinking about this a little. I am starting to wonder if it isn't the batteries draining even though that is how it shows up. I am more inclined to think that something is acting temporarily on whatever it is that drains – perhaps in an attempt to psychokinetically affect that piece of equipment.

It is something that Loyd Auerbach told us – that if you get an EVP or a photo anomaly that is actually from an apparition, it is on your equipment because that spirit was psychokinetically affecting that equipment. Who knows how electronics respond in the moment to psychokinesis.

This is, of course, pure speculation based on a large number of assumptions.

July 18, 2009
4:07 am PDT
TheJybian
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I had a question in another thread that actually belonged here..of course, I forgot to copy and paste, and now I'm just to lazy to go back, so I'll ask it again.

There are often discussions as to why batteries drain, and the leading hypothesis seems to be because of an entities attempt to manifest. So why, when you are in an area that has electricity, such as an actual residence, hotel, ship, etc etc…would batteries drain? Wouldn't an entity draw power from an unending source, vs. a 9V battery?

What do you guys and gals think? Could something like magnetism affect the batteries in a short period of time?

A really intense magnetic field could potentially induce enough voltage to temporarily neutralize a battery's output, but that would be a really hard thing to generate outside of a lab. To deplete the charge requires current to flow from one pole to the other allowing the chemicals to react across the electrodes. All batteries self discharge over time, with lithium being about the slowest, which is why they have such a long shelf-life (and such an outrageous price tag).

There are all kinds of possible reasons why batteries could be draining with house current available, but they would all be pure conjecture. We still don't know for a fact that batteries really drain in areas of paranormal activity, which is why we want to experiment with it.

I fart, therefore I art.
July 18, 2009
1:09 pm PDT
pooperdooper
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A really intense magnetic field could potentially induce enough voltage to temporarily neutralize a battery's output, but that would be a really hard thing to generate outside of a lab. To deplete the charge requires current to flow from one pole to the other allowing the chemicals to react across the electrodes. All batteries self discharge over time, with lithium being about the slowest, which is why they have such a long shelf-life (and such an outrageous price tag).

There are all kinds of possible reasons why batteries could be draining with house current available, but they would all be pure conjecture. We still don't know for a fact that batteries really drain in areas of paranormal activity, which is why we want to experiment with it.

Wouldn't a magnetic field that could cause a power loss or affect equipment temporarily be registered on an EMF detector?

I would imagine also that the discharges that I have seen reported could be investigated using several pieces of equipment.

The only draw back being that this equipment would have to have hardlines to a reliable, constant power source themselves?

July 18, 2009
7:16 pm PDT
RyanNREMTP
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It would show up on the EMF unless it is a very strong and fast one to where the EMF detector dies as well. At least that's my answer.

July 19, 2009
3:36 am PDT
TheJybian
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Wouldn't a magnetic field that could cause a power loss or affect equipment temporarily be registered on an EMF detector?

I would imagine also that the discharges that I have seen reported could be investigated using several pieces of equipment.

The only draw back being that this equipment would have to have hardlines to a reliable, constant power source themselves?

A magnetic field that powerful would register as your car keys ripped them selves out of your pocket and flew across the room. That's why I'm saying that it wouldn't be practical to generate something like that outside of a high-energy physics lab.

Just as an FYI, there's a device at the Los Alamos labs (the place that nuclear bombs were invented) called the Z-Reactor. It spends all day drawing large amounts of power and storing it in huge capacitor banks, the discharges it all rapidly through a tiny cage of tungsten wires. For a brief moment it uses more power than the rest of the world combined. The tungsten wires disintegrate (as would anything else), but before the do, they create an almost unimaginable magnetic pulse. The pulse compresses a small pellet of hydrogen, and along with the heat from all that current flow, is designed to create fusion. It's really more of a research tool, but to me it's seriously cool.

I fart, therefore I art.
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