I think I fried my XAC

[ODaily]

On a previous similar project, the community came up with some power saving concepts for me.

1. A switch.
2. PIR Sensor to activate power.
3. Touch Capacitive sensor to activate power.

Magic Tool Box Project

PIR sensor right next to the reader? That way you maintain the whole hand wavy magic bit. You could even remove the white dome lense, since you don’t need a very wide angle. They consume less than 2mA, so it’s not as power efficient as a momentary switch, but it would bump you from 254hrs to 2000hrs between charge. If you want a capacitive touch module, you could use a momentary one like this from Adafruit. It can be modified to run at 50uA. Hypothetically you could use the entire toolbox as th…

You could also use a reed switch that’s closed by a magnet. IF you also have a Titan or xG3 in the same hand, and you lined up the reader / magnetic switch to be activated at the same time when your hand is in position. (Might make for tricky hand placement).

Ultimately, my solution was a bigger battery. Can you mount a second full size car battery under the hood and wire it in with heavy cables to the first? Bonus! You’d get twice as much reserve for starting, etc.