I have an old camera which Im tinkering with and when I opened it up I found that the battery (liPo) is puffy. As I dont have a spare I can't replace it and Im beginning to doubt myself that its safe to just put a wire there instead. I will be plugging it in to a 5v usb.
TL;DR: Can I put a wire in place of a battery?
Edit: It has a built in 5v usb port, which is what I intend on using to power the device. I would like to know a safe way of removing the battery, so that it will only be powered when plugged in.
Best Answer
Have you tried just running the device off your USB power without a battery? possibly with an electrolytic cap in place of the battery?
If this doesn't work when i wanted to have a wired wii mote, i just soldered a 5v to 3v SOT-223 LDO to the battery prongs (and some ceramic caps) and wired it to a USB cable. This is essentially what @Passerby is talking about with his Battery Eliminator.
Also like @Elliot Alderson said, don't short your battery terminals with a wire. If the device doesn't work because it cuts off the USB power if there is no battery, then you can simulate a load with a 1k through hole resistor to make it look like a battery is being charged.