Although tons of home appliances, kitchen-type utensils and consumer electronics run off batteries, manufacturers do not seem to care much about battery health. Electrically, most of the designs consist of no more than a battery pack, a switch and a motor. As a consequence, batteries get fully drained sometimes, degrading their lifetime. This .POST project shows how to extend battery life by means of an Atmel’s ATtiny45V microcontroller, a power MOSFET and a few discrete components. The ‘patient’ in this case is an old electric cheese mill. After the ‘surgery’, the mill works way better, and a much longer battery lifetime can be expected. Needless to say that the circuit can be used in similar devices, such as a hand-held vacuum cleaner.
 
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