Yeah, the PIC does have a sleep mode, but that would interrupt the DMX stream. Might as well power it down that being the case. If you're talking about shutting down the LED output, that's a possibility. The downside is you could leave the device on, not know it and kill the batteries. Maybe that's a possible use for the decimal point? Hmmm...food thought. Thanks!
As far as multiple 9v batteries in parallel, I haven't seen any enclosures with that kind of setup. We really want an enclosure with a built-in battery compartment. Like I mentioned in the video, we're still toying around with battery options. If we can come up with a nice way to incorporate a wireless transmitter that runs on 3.3v (RJ?), we can quit worrying about powering the Lynx Tx and switch to an enclosure that takes 4 AAA or AA batteries. As Mike pointed out to me, the problem with a 6v battery setup is the lack of headroom over a 5v regulator (what the Lynx Tx has). I actually tried some used (but not dead) batteries in a 6v configuration to power the Lynx Tx and it wouldn't function correctly. The batteries have to be fresh for that to work. Mike is looking at the alternatives for power. Hopefully he'll chime in on the power options. He's way more capable than I am in the hardware dept.
Dave