I'm extremely stupid.
We did this last year with a "control box" with a human/auto mode switch and a, well, big red button. We also put in three LEDs, which were unable to draw power from the OI because we either couldn't figure it out or we were drawing too much. So Dan, who built this little box, soldered a 9 volt battery in. Of course, that worked great, till the battery died.
So, lesson, 9 volts are good, just don't solder them directly into a circut
.