I'm having no problems powering the Mini from my FTDI breakout board, or directly off a USB cable's power plugged into my PC, however after many attempts with 1 9 volt battery, and 4 AA batteries wired in series, and trying pins 24 and 21 for the "positive" connection, I can never get the Mini to start on battery power. I have only 4 momentary switches and one LED wired up to GPIO pins 5,6,7,8 and 9. Everything functions correctly when I use power from the USB cable connected to the PC or the power from the FTDI breakout. I checked with a multi-meter that the batteries were not dead.
My project definitely requires battery power for the Mini - what is the recommended battery to use? Are my batteries not supplying enough current to power the Mini?
Thanks!