So I’ve gone through a few variations of this, those three double A’s are up putting 4.5 volts and this new motor is just about that and a little stronger than that smaller one. That was my previous motor that you see in the back. It’s working pretty well when I have the cat toy on there. It’s going pretty steady and I’m not getting too much heat from the motor like last time, though the battery rail on the back of that casing heats up quite a bit. Do battery rails usually heat up this much and I just don’t see it because they’re not usually exposed.?
I let it run for a bit just to see how bad it would get and it’s not damaging the plastic or anything. It’s just pretty hot. How much of a concern do you think this should be? Keep in mind this is going inside of a cat scratching post that is more or less just cardboard so I’d like to iron out any kinks before I install it
Generally true, but let’s also not forget that the discharge current is limited. For an AA battery, 1A is a typical, safe number, after that, the voltage will drop significantly.
As already mentioned, I’d probably switch to a rechargeable power bank.
Two 18650s and one of those $2 charge PCBs would also be an alternative. 18650s can easily provide 30A from a single cell.
I’d personally stick to a protected cell for projects like this. That means it has an integrated protection circuit that keeps it from being over / under charged, protects you from an explosion if you short circuit it, and provides a temperature cut off.
Thoae generally top out at around 10a, rather than the 30a the cell might be capable of. Still tons of power for OP to work with.