here's how we make cheap external batteries here in Romania.
this is a DIY concept so if you're not that type of person this may not be for you.
Anyway you must get yourself a sealed acid-lead 12v battery (they are built in the same way as a car battery but smaller) from an electronics shop. They are cheap and come in various sizes. If you want more juice, just buy 2 or 3 of those and couple them in parallel.
Next buy a 12v-220v converter like the ones used in cars. Those that are connected via the cigarete lighter. The smallest cheaper model you'll find will do the job right as long as it can provide 30w.
Don't connect the shift to the batteries, don't be tempted to do this, even if apparently the shift needs 12 v and those batteries supply this voltage. Use the converter.
Now, as you may guesed, simply connect the batteries to the converter and the shift's charger to the converter's output. The converter will suply about 220v at it's output. That's good and that's desirable. Even if your country may use standard 110V values at it's sockets, buy a 220v converter instead.
Now you got a bulky, ugly looking external battery. What's the fun with it?
Well here's the good part.
A standard external battery will give you about 2-3 hours of usage because by the time this is over, it's voltage output will drop from it's nominal value to somewhere around 9-10V. The battery will still be able to provide a fairly large amount of current (amps) but however by this time the shift will be powered off because it needs a nominal value of 12 v (+/- 0.80V) to work (it's internal converter needs it, and has a small tollerance about variations in this voltage). So, 2-3-4 hours of usage, then recharge.
The home made external battery has the following advantage.
After some usage (couple of hours - depending on how much big is the battery you use) the output voltage of the cells will drop. This is normal, and this will happen like the case with standard batteries. BUT you have that converter hooked up. If the converter needs 12 V to supply an output of 220V ac, if you apply only 10 V (the voltage on the battery has dropped because of usage) it will supply only 180V ac. (an estimation). This is well under 220 v. BUT the shift will still work. Why? Here's the cool part. The shift power charger has a nominal imput voltage of 100-240 V (it is rated on it's sticker as the imput voltage). THIS MEANS IT WILL SUPPLY THE 12 V OUTPUT FOR THE SHIFT AS LONG AS THE INPUT VOLTAGE IS SOMETHING IN THE AREA 100-240 V ac. So the converter supplies 180V but that's ok, the shift will still work. So you use it for a longer period of time. When the battery is flat out and has somewhere around 7 volts the converter will supply somewhere under 100v or will stop to work because the battery will also have not enought current (amps) to run the converter's main circuitry or to supply the shift's power requiests.
There are some things that must be said about the eficiency of this method. First you use 2 converters one will raise the voltage from the external batteries ( - your car converter) and the other will lower the voltage to the 12v required by the shift ( - your shift charger). These, both have an eficiency factor. Because of the tehnology used you will have a general factor of about 85%. The rest will be lost in the transfer as thermal heat or EM field radiation.
Still you should get 30-50% more juice then a similar capacity comercial product . And it's more cheaper to buy.
You may achieve the same results if you buy a converter...aah...and a car. Car batteries will provide some good dozens of hours for the shift to work.
That is smart!
But too bulky for me.
yep it's bulky. I'll use it on small camping vacations when a longer battery life is required. No way i'm carring this battery with me as a simple replacement.
yep... I've made one already.
Introducing the shift external battery version 1.0.0. At a hefty 8 kilo it is made for the strong people. It is practically a mobile power house composed of two 12V / 15A acid-lead batteries and a power converter that can output 150W max at 220V. It should give the Shift some 30h of continuos power at maximum requirements. It can also be recharged or powered from anything you can throw at it. Total costs, something around 100 euro. Therefore, shift goes to camping along with my asus eeepc. Hope I find an WLAN enabled forest or something.
Shift external battery version 1.1.0 will use prismatic Li-Polimer cells linked in a matrix and capable of delivering the same amount of power but at 1,5 kilograms. This will be expensive as hell.
sorry, i was probably too amused with my creation and double posted.
you should try this with a battery like first robotics compition uses not that they are that great but they are small batteries like the size of a small boat battery, like 9inches wide by 6 tall and like 4thick but it is like 45 lbs, but outputting a redicoulus 200amps id last like 200 hours continuos max draw...
Dear facdemol ,
It is a very bright idea to mod using sealed lead acid battery to power up our htc shift , i too keen to try out your idea , but how do you recharge back the used acid battery , what charger did you bought and used , can you help me by posting some - many pictures of both your batteries configuration and charger as well ? How long ( hours ) is it you need to fully charge your batteries from flat out ? I dont mind if the set up is looking big and ugly and messy , as long as it is cheap , easy , enough power to last at least 6 hours of solid shift usages , i really now thinking of investing into this . So , please help out and assist in any way possible - will you ? Thanks and best regards to you -
jimmunsw
Dear facdemol ,
What charger are u using to recharge your diy battery ( volt and amp ) ? And how many hours it take to fully charge both of your diy batteries ? I am keen to try out your idea as today i have found many cheap sealed batteries sizes for sale in my area and it fits my usage requirement of just 6 to 7 hours of continious shift usage . Thanks and regards - jimmunsw
Related
There are plenty of small solar chargers/batteries out there so I'm looking at that as an option to extend battery life, but I'd like a bit of info before I go shopping and end up with either something useless, or worse fry the Shift.
The battery on a Shift is 7.4, and the AC charger outputs 12v, so what output would be needed on a solar charger?
try 12v 3a should be ok , but rgds to solar charging battery - it will take a long long long long time to fully charge the battery and quick to fully used the juice , so take care if u r buying
in germany there is a specialist called solarc for laptop charging solutions:
http://www.solarc.de/cms/pages/en/products/consumer-products/e.go.php
I think the e.go professional can charge a Shift. (I use that for charging my Iphone, Nokia and WM devices if I around the world
or - if you need more power - the company have bigger industrial solutions too..
Hi everybody,
Since the TP2 is using a whole lot more power than my old HTC Universal, I am looking for a decent Solar charging solution for on my bike.
TomTomnavigator + GPS use more than 500mA (I mean when I put in a car charger of this type hte phone says "insufficient current to blablabl")
I surfed the net, but decent info is hard to find about this specific problem. I mean I want to plug my phone in the solar charger and KNOW that it will give sufficient powersupply to charge the battery (or at least keep it at the same level)
Anybody an idea or maybe a link to a DECENT site (with CORRECT technical info)? Commercial sites with the best product ever, i have seen enough until you test it!
thanx to all!
Kjoere
I have one of these that I got on Amazon for 80 bucks and I love this thing! It also acts as a spare battery, and you can adjust the voltage. I brought it with me when I went camping. It's definitely worth it.
http://www.icetechusa.com/catalogue-solar-167464-spec.html
I've tried several of the cheap Chinese solar chargers and also a Solio, and they are all crap
Solar charger need direct sunlight. If cloudy, they can take a few days (daylight days not 24hr days!) to charge. So unless you live on the African Savanah where it will charge in 7 hours, then you will have a long wait.
I put my Solio on my window cill in January this year, and by the midle of February it got a full charge. I kid you not
You are probably much better off with a external power pack that uses 1 or 2 standard AA batteries or a minimum 2000mAh lithium battery
This solar 'card' from Swiss batteries looks interesting.
A 1mm thick bendable, weather-proof card of more efficient modern solar cell technology, with a claimed [up to] 40% greater efficiency than other cells. A portable battery option (as with the power monkey ) is also available.
And check out the solar bags on their site too!
PaulusUK said:
You are probably much better off with a external power pack that uses 1 or 2 standard AA batteries or a minimum 2000mAh lithium battery
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Click to collapse
Where might I get an external power pack with more than one AA battery? I can only find 1xAA packs, and I can't imagine a little old alkaline AA could produce NEARLY enough current at 5v to charge our beefy phones. Not for any amount of time, anyway, and not without heating up to what I would consider dangerous levels...
godefroi said:
Where might I get an external power pack with more than one AA battery? I can only find 1xAA packs, and I can't imagine a little old alkaline AA could produce NEARLY enough current at 5v to charge our beefy phones. Not for any amount of time, anyway, and not without heating up to what I would consider dangerous levels...
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Click to collapse
I'm afraid too that alcaline AA's won't do the job pretty well, although rechargeable NiMh could be worth a try
For outdoor-recharge, I'm using this general USB-charger featuring a rechargeable 2200 mAh 18650 LiOn battery:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18883
It has the advantage that you can change the 18650 easily, thus enabling you to take several ones with you for long voyages
MeCry
godefroi said:
Where might I get an external power pack with more than one AA battery? I can only find 1xAA packs, and I can't imagine a little old alkaline AA could produce NEARLY enough current at 5v to charge our beefy phones. Not for any amount of time, anyway, and not without heating up to what I would consider dangerous levels...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the best on I have found
Its a massive 3400mAh with a 5v 700ma output so will charge most phones and other gadgets no problem. It is just a bit smaller than the TP2 so is easy to carry around in a pocket
I got mine off ebay for less money - same unit but a different manufacturer. AFAIK, these are commonly rebranded, but look for the shape and the 3400 mah spec.
Most of the other Chinese ones from places like Dealextreme are lower capacity
I was really hoping for something using standard AA (maybe NiMH, 4 of those would be 4.8V).
In fact, 2xAA NiMH should be able to deliver the sort of current we're talking about here, right?
And, sure enough, Here is someone that's built exactly what I want. Who wants to assemble me one?
One product springs to mind: The powermonkey-eXplorer
https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primatepower/powermonkey-explorer/
thanx roger
I got an Energizer 2xAA charger, and it works on my TP2 absolutely fine. You need to use good quality batteries in it, but it's fairly compact and keeps the battery topped up while I'm out using the GPS with no car nearby!!!
http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl...a=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
gringolian said:
I got an Energizer 2xAA charger, and it works on my TP2 absolutely fine. You need to use good quality batteries in it, but it's fairly compact and keeps the battery topped up while I'm out using the GPS with no car nearby!!!
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Energizer says it needs Lithium batteries (which I think are 1.7v), have you tried with NiMH perhaps (which are 1.2v)? I'd think it'd figure the batteries were empty even when they were newly charged.
godefroi said:
Energizer says it needs Lithium batteries (which I think are 1.7v), have you tried with NiMH perhaps (which are 1.2v)? I'd think it'd figure the batteries were empty even when they were newly charged.
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I've got standard Duracell 1.5V alkaline batteries in it right now, and it charges it just fine! I think energizer say that to make you buy their ridiculously expensive lithium batteries!!
Well i feel that the car chargers are a bit overpriced for what they actually do.
I think i wouldn't be that hard to make one myself, i guess it's not more than a fuse, voltage regualator and possibly a couple of capacitors.
However me loving my shift with all my heart i'd like to be quite shure not to fry my beloved shift because of my own negligence. So i'd like to gather as much info as possible before i start working in this thingy
Of course i'll post a tutorial on how to make one of your own as soon as i get my own to work
So if someone would please for the community's sake (and my own) take one of these charger's apart and post some pics for me to work with.
I'm possitive we all could make one for ourselves, it's not that complicated electronics.
#Josasp out.
Hi there ,
Like u say - i hope u dont fry yr shift just because u like to save a few dollars Best regards ...
I use cable with fuse, done from cigarette light extension. Double-check polarity, if you soldering the connector.
When car is not running, the voltage is about 12.6V, so it´s ok.
When the car is running, you should be sure that car battery is in good condition and can keep voltage less than 14V.
There a people in this forum used Shift with 15 V adapters.
I tried universal laptop adapter with 15 V output, at it works perfectly.
But 15 V seems little overvoltage compare to original adapter.
If you want make stabilizer yourself, it is better to have pulse stabilizer, otherwise, there can be high heat dissipation.
Well if the voltage goes over 14v its not because of the condition of the battery but more dependent on the alternator.
I think a L7812CV screwed to a piece of aluminum would be sufficent for charging the shift.
Do you know how many amp's the shift needs?
Original adapter rated 12V 3A. Just measured the consuption with running both windows and battery charging (and without USB load) - the current is fluctuating until 2.6 A.
Hi there everyone ,
My local seller is selling an oem china made car socket charger 12v 1-3a for usd2 each , i hv tried one plugged into my car and it works on my shift , but i didnt start running my car engine , just turn the power current on .
jimmunsw
Hey guys,,,,
Wanna ask something here...
I have an idea to buy a power bank/portable charger, instead of buy a spare battery.
But there are alot of choice, start from 2000mah-10000mah capacities, offerring 2-6 USB port.
Each product offered different USB port voltage and ampere.
For the example, each USB port supplying 5.3V / 5.0V and 1A / 2A / 0.8A....
Do you know which one match/compatible with our phone?
From what i remember from my physics class the should all be compatible. Cellphone battery is 4.3V, so it needs a power higher than that to be re-charged, a pc usb port usuall supplies power at 5V, whilst the A is the amount of energy let through, so the difference in A value impacts the speed at which the portable device recharges the phone battery. The same voltage carrying 1Ah reachrges the batter in half the time needed by one carrying it a 0.5A. Furthermore cell batteries have an internal chip which regulates the tension transmitted. The mAh is the total capacity of the recharging device (or toal amount of A it can store and supply over one h unit of time)
I think the the amperage of charger shouldn't be more 1.0 A. More amperage will charge the battery quickly, but will short his life.
so, I should go for 5V and something under 1.0A?
a product that nearly match those config was sanyo eneloop.
provided 2 USB port 5V and 0.5A or 2x for 1.0A.
physcodelic said:
so, I should go for 5V and something under 1.0A?
a product that nearly match those config was sanyo eneloop.
provided 2 USB port 5V and 0.5A or 2x for 1.0A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At spec of Sanyo Eneloop i see when you use only one of USB port and charge one device you will have charging output of 5V and 1A. When you use both ports you will have charging output of 5V and 0.5A (500mA).
tanec said:
At spec of Sanyo Eneloop i see when you use only one of USB port and charge one device you will have charging output of 5V and 1A. When you use both ports you will have charging output of 5V and 0.5A (500mA).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see....
Thanks for the explanation...
Maybe I should go for Sanyo, cause the other products was made by some unknown/unfamiliar brand from chinese.
Better to choose a wellknown brand right?
That's because as i explained before Amperes is the amount of energy that passes through a conductor, if a device has max output of 1A if you use two ports it will obviously split down the tension output. Amperes have nothing to do with battery life, it's not gonna do anything if you charge them faster, what matters is tension (V) which is maintained constant by the chip within the battery itself which gives the battery the 4.25V constant it needs controlled also by the cellphones internal regulatory hw. Poli-ion batteries use an impulse charge system, it's not continuative, that's why constant regular tension is important, aamof recharging the cellphone from car charger does affect negatively battery life. Poli-ion batteries if left unused have a very slow discharge rate, 1% a month, nonetheless life is shortened by about 25% after 100 full cycles and another 25% after 3-4 years of life, and they have no memory effect, so it is always best not to let the battery discharge completely ...Go for better known brand, not for the quality of the product per say but for more guarantees on support and warranty claims
Rudjgaard said:
That's because as i explained before Amperes is the amount of energy that passes through a conductor, if a device has max output of 1A if you use two ports it will obviously split down the tension output. Amperes have nothing to do with battery life, it's not gonna do anything if you charge them faster, what matters is tension (V) which is maintained constant by the chip within the battery itself which gives the battery the 4.25V constant it needs controlled also by the cellphones internal regulatory hw. Poli-ion batteries use an impulse charge system, it's not continuative, that's why constant regular tension is important, aamof recharging the cellphone from car charger does affect negatively battery life. Poli-ion batteries if left unused have a very slow discharge rate, 1% a month, nonetheless life is shortened by about 25% after 100 full cycles and another 25% after 3-4 years of life, and they have no memory effect, so it is always best not to let the battery discharge completely ...Go for better known brand, not for the quality of the product per say but for more guarantees on support and warranty claims
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'am sorry if I can't understand your explanation fully...
So you mean higher Ampere output than original charger was safe, Am I right?
I bought already sanyo power bank, seems like a nice quality.
Charging time almost same like it was charged on PC USB port.
Thank for your complete explanation
tho I cant understand that completely (stupid me)
physcodelic said:
I see....
Thanks for the explanation...
Maybe I should go for Sanyo, cause the other products was made by some unknown/unfamiliar brand from chinese.
Better to choose a wellknown brand right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the best way. I was trying one solar charger, with included LiPo battery with 2600 mAh. The charger was with dimensions of an iphone and can charge included battery from sun and from regular USB charger. His price was something around 6-7 pounds. This kind - Portable-iphone-2600MAh-USB-Solar-Panel-Battery-Charger-for-Mobile-Phone-MP3-MP4 (search in ebay, because i'm a new user and can post links ). Included battery can keep charge for 1 full and one 70% charge of mi Xperia Mini Pro with standart 1160mAh battery. Hope this can help you. The advantages of sanyo charger is that, you can use regular AA battery that you can buy it from every where.
P.S. Sorry for my english. Hope you can understand me
your english was understandable bro
ahhh...a solar charger...will keep this in my mind.
traveling too much with smartphone will be easy with a solar charger
I was looking for a portable power source for my tablet. Most of the reviews for these devices are not too good and I believe the batteries used are mostly the reason they are not reliable.
I bought two Chinese units called Power Bank with a capacity of 13800mah. I charged them to capacity and after charging the tab from 30% back to 100% they were nearly empty. Since the Tab has a battery rated at 4000mah this does not seem correct.
One unit had five 18650 cells in parallel (blue cells pictured below) and the other unit had two square cells (pictured below) tied together. I tested both battery packs and they were not near the rated value of 13800mah.
When I bought these two units my plan was to replace the Chinese cells with Panasonic NCR18650A cells (green cells pictured below). They now charge the tab twice and my phone 1 1/2 times too. I would rate the unit at about 10,000mah and not 15,500mah. Since the modified unit uses a 1A 5V USB type charger it takes a long time to get these two guys completely charged. But so far they are working great and the modification was pretty easy.
I bought my cells from a distributer here in the US that includes the cells with tabs (in picture below covered by black shrink tubing) at a small additional charge. Soldering on cells will destroy a battery very quickly. The tabs are welded with a machine specifically made for attaching tabs to the cells.
I paid $34.00 for the Chinese unit and $75.75 for the five cells. I hope the internal Chinese logic cards hold up for at least a few years. I know the batteries are good for about 1000 full discharges/recharges.
I use one and my gal uses the other one, they have 120 days use now.
:good:
bark777 said:
I was looking for a portable power source for my tablet. Most of the reviews for these devices are not too good and I believe the batteries used are mostly the reason they are not reliable.
I bought two Chinese units called Power Bank with a capacity of 13800mah. I charged them to capacity and after charging the tab from 30% back to 100% they were nearly empty. Since the Tab has a battery rated at 4000mah this does not seem correct.
One unit had five 18650 cells in parallel (blue cells pictured below) and the other unit had two square cells (pictured below) tied together. I tested both battery packs and they were not near the rated value of 13800mah.
When I bought these two units my plan was to replace the Chinese cells with Panasonic NCR18650A cells (green cells pictured below). They now charge the tab twice and my phone 1 1/2 times too. I would rate the unit at about 10,000mah and not 15,500mah. Since the modified unit uses a 1A 5V USB type charger it takes a long time to get these two guys completely charged. But so far they are working great and the modification was pretty easy.
I bought my cells from a distributer here in the US that includes the cells with tabs (in picture below covered by black shrink tubing) at a small additional charge. Soldering on cells will destroy a battery very quickly. The tabs are welded with a machine specifically made for attaching tabs to the cells.
I paid $34.00 for the Chinese unit and $75.75 for the five cells. I hope the internal Chinese logic cards hold up for at least a few years. I know the batteries are good for about 1000 full discharges/recharges.
I use one and my gal uses the other one, they have 120 days use now.
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or you could buy one of these for about $60 and charge / operate your tablet for over 50 hours.
http://www.amazon.com/APC-BE550G-Ba...ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1350776129&sr=1-1
Too funny...13 pounds or 11 ounces, I guess you missed the portable part or maybe you are a world class weight lifter...Thanks for the giggle.
:highfive:
This one worked for me
http://www.jr.com/scosche/pe/SCE_IPDBAT2/
I got this battery. It comes with a voltage adapter for the GTab2. I found that I actually didn't need it with this battery. However, another 2.1A battery that I have did not work with my GTab2, and this adapter makes it work. I'm hoping it will also make a 2.1A car USB charger work with my tablet as well. I'm waiting for its arrival and will test when I get it.