Low on power? What about a solar battery carger ( Mini review ) - General Accessories

Hello.
Edit: Read the last line first... not worth the money!
Low on power?
I am currently testing a battery pack with solar panels.
I've taken some pictures and uploaded them to flickr while it's charged my phone.
Click on the pic for more pics.
I did first a charge over night from my phone wall charger (the charger that comes with it has US sockets.
It comes with a 6 plugs for Nokia, Samsung, MOTO, SE, Iphone 3g etc, and the best of all, Mini usb
I do need a micro usb soon... when my new phone arrives. (HTC Desire)
I have no idea how long it will take to charge the device on solar power, but i would guess days... There is not that much sun here yet. I will test that in the next few days.
While it was charging, the phone was downloading music from spotify, wifi on, no 3g on.
I bought the item DX: dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30011 it cost $13.63
charging process in numbers:
[17:40] level 33 voltage 3692
[18:01] level 41 voltage 3816
[18:23] level 52 voltage 3890
[19:12] level 61 voltage 3829 <-- Stopped charging!
Now the solar charger stopped top charge my phone...
It was cheep, just don't buy this device if you need extra power...

rvenes said:
Hello.
Edit: Read the last line first... not worth the money!
Low on power?
I am currently testing a battery pack with solar panels.
I've taken some pictures and uploaded them to flickr while it's charged my phone.
Click on the pic for more pics.
I did first a charge over night from my phone wall charger (the charger that comes with it has US sockets.
It comes with a 6 plugs for Nokia, Samsung, MOTO, SE, Iphone 3g etc, and the best of all, Mini usb
I do need a micro usb soon... when my new phone arrives. (HTC Desire)
I have no idea how long it will take to charge the device on solar power, but i would guess days... There is not that much sun here yet. I will test that in the next few days.
While it was charging, the phone was downloading music from spotify, wifi on, no 3g on.
I bought the item DX: dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30011 it cost $13.63
charging process in numbers:
[17:40] level 33 voltage 3692
[18:01] level 41 voltage 3816
[18:23] level 52 voltage 3890
[19:12] level 61 voltage 3829 <-- Stopped charging!
Now the solar charger stopped top charge my phone...
It was cheep, just don't buy this device if you need extra power...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try turning off your phone and letting it sit. it may still charge your phone to 100% but not when your are drawing a charge.

charge in day light not moonlight like 17-19:00
and turn damn wifi off

Thanks for the review. I go camping often and this was a thought, but not anymore.

i would really like to know if you turn your phone off will it charge it to 100%

Id probably find a bigger solar panel i used one like that in some school project lol

josefcrist's test I think reflects the reality for all solar chargers with internal battery, even those with double the capacity.
Maybe I'm a little bit off topic, but since I got the same more or less experience with a similar product, I'd like to say a few maybe usefull words on the matter.
I got a solar charger with 2500mAh battery. The led light on one side shows that the battery is being charged (when it is green). Well, i put it on my office's window and the green light never went off (at least for 3 days that I checked). This means that sunlight is not enough to charge it fully.
Then, one day I tried to charge my phone with it. I charged the gadget first with my phone charger (using a usb mini chord). Then I tried to charge my phone. It worked for half hour and then the gadget's battery was drained, while the phone's battery increased for 10% only.
Maybe I had many losses because I used the phone's long micro usb chord (the gadget had only a usb mini adaptor).
Then, I said "Ok maybe I have to charge it on DIRECT SUNLIGHT in order to see if it is really effective". Hmmmm. Well! I kinda destroyed the solar charger (I think). When I went to pick it up (I put it in my car's screen on a really sunny day IN GREECE) hardly could I touch it and when it cooled off i saw that the solar panel became curved from heat (and stayed that way) while it was plain previously.
Now I cannot figure out whether it works or not. Maybe I will through away a few more bucks buying another similar (OF COURSE NOT THE SAME), just to be sure that these things DONT REALLY DO WHAT WE ALL IMAGINE (OR HOPE) THEY DO!!!! PERIOD.

Thanks so much for this review, I always wondered about these.

i use Arctic C1 Mobile solar charger (http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/power/batteries/44/arctic-c1-mobile.html), i guess it's just similar, but with only 3 connector adapters and greater battery. always nice to have it on the way.

maybe try using another phone to charge.....

Thanks for info! Will gonna try the Arctic charger

Thanks for the review... Overheating a charger on a car dash... I can't believe it failed

Related

Battery drains when synced to PC

Hi everyone, I'm brand new to the PDA world and just bought myself a SX66 from Ebay. I've managed to install Xplode's ROM (Thanks, Xplode!) and lots of other goodies and slowly learning my way around this thing. Whee!
Anyhow, the phone didn't come with a sync cable so I bought one off Ebay. If the battery is at around 75% or less it won't charge from the sync cable when connected to the PC's USB. In fact, it actually drains the battery quite rapidly while plugged into the PC. If the battery is around 76% or higher it WILL slowly charge from the USB on the PC. If I plug the sync cable into the wall charger it'll charge up to full as expected.
The 75% is a bit of a guess. I know it drained very fast when I happened to look at it and it was at 66% while plugged into the PC (and will drain all the way if I let it from past experience), and after charging in the wall to 88% I tried plugging it back into the PC again and it DID begin to slowly charge.
Does this mean the battery is on its last leg, or is there something else to worry about?
If you think it's the battery, what's a good replacement? The case I bought (Krussel leather flip) would allow for a little extra thickness as long as the thickness occurs at or above the IR window. I should probably be looking into getting another battery anyhow.
Along those lines, are there any battery chargers available for these things?
Thanks for any help, and thanks for an awesome community. I'm so glad I found this place or I would've ended up buying some expensive Chinese iPhone clone!
My BA won't charge off USB full stop, the sync cradle supplied has two connections one for the PC and the other for a mains charger, when the charger is connected to the cradle it is quite happy to chrge connected to the PCor not, but it will not charge from the PC alone.
I use mine with an extended battery, it is a 2400mAHr Li-Pol cell that adds a fair bit of weight to the device but is vital for how I use the device (when I bother with it these days as the BA doesn't go out too often) - Mike

New Charger Won't Charge S III?

Hey everybody. I have a Galaxy S III from Virgin Mobile and it's been great... so far. Question is... my phone, battery, and charger have been going a little crazy. Lately, the battery has been charging slow, wouldn't say extremely slow but when I first got the phone, it charge pretty quickly. Now, it takes (I'm guessing here) about three hours just to charge to about 40-50% on a dead battery versus when I first got it, it would charge to near 80% to full battery in that same amount of time (again, just guessing but trying to paint a picture of what I mean). In addition, when I go to plug the USB in like normal, sometimes the phone would make the charging beeping noises continuously until I unplug the charger. When I leave it overnight, for the most part now, it won't even charge to 100%. When it did charge to 100%, it quickly drained to 75% in only one minute! I'm hoping it's not the port because nothing really happened to it (no drops, etc). I thought it was the port so in order to test it out, I used my brother's micro-USB cable and charger and it worked without the continuous beeping but still charged slow, which led me to believing it might be a software thing and the Android OS for some reason crapping out and "misreading" the actual battery level.
In a semi-related thing, I thought it might be the charger dying so I went out to Target to buy a Belkin Home Charger and ChargeSync Cable. This cable supposedly supplies 2.1 amps of power to the device, however, it won't even charge my phone even though Belkin says it works with Galaxy S3s right on the box. Never had problem using other micro-USB cables until now. The Belkin charger is the 2nd one I've used and it hasn't charged. Maybe too much amperage is going into the device? The other charger was a Rocketfish charger with the same specs. I figured it might be the USB cable itself because I paired the OEM cable with the Belkin charger and it worked. But I find it strange that identical micro-USB cable can and cannot charge the S III because I've switched cables in the past and it worked.
Sorry for the tons of info. Just trying to be as informative as possible. :angel:
Battery could be the problem
Charge the phone as high as it will go, then let it discharge all the way until it powers off, then leave it off while charging it all the way it will go (hopefully 100%).
If you are rooted, download "Battery Calibration" and "Rebooter". Run the first, then the second (a normal reboot often undoes the first - it deletes a file that often has stale data, but it gets written back on a normal reboot).
You can order a new battery from Amazon. It cost me about $8. Good to have a spare and you'll know if your battery was the problem if the above doesn't fix it.

Quick Charging Power Adapater

Since the 17th every night when I charge the phone it makes a very low humming noise and its at its louldest when the between is low. at 25% if become a little better and after 40-50% its not so noticable however I just wanted to check if this is normal as i am getting mixed views from Razer Support.
Is it normal for the charging block to make this humming noise?
I've got the same issue. I have posted all the details on my other post check it out. I think razer have flopped with these wall chargers and/or usb c cable. Its not quick charging although it states rapid charging and having gone through two wall chargers already, first one was quiet and this new one i have has that humming noise your on about.
I've got 2 phones, neither charger hums, 0-50% in about 30-40 mins, 50-90% in about 40 mins, 90-100% 30 mins. 0-100 takes about an hour and 50 mins. (well, it was at 4% to start)
That's fine I'm glad it wasn't just me being that fussy guy I've read online it's not much to worry about as I had a coiling graphics card which made the same sort of hum but eventually that went away or I got 1-2 months older and my hearing couldn't pick it up anymore.
Razer have now said they will send me a replacement charger out to test and will give me a self address package to return the charger - so let me keep the one that works better.
Shipping from HK they still want it back to make sure I'm not claiming a free charger from them.
I finally got the replacement charger from them which did fix the problem i was having with the noise coming from the charger block.
I also received the replacement charger, seems to fix the noise issue. However I am yet to understand the Quick Charge on this phone. It says charging rapidly but it definitely does not charge rapidly. Charging at 1900mA throughout is not quick charge technology.
alexaraz14 said:
I also received the replacement charger, seems to fix the noise issue. However I am yet to understand the Quick Charge on this phone. It says charging rapidly but it definitely does not charge rapidly. Charging at 1900mA throughout is not quick charge technology.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long does it take to charge?
kungpaoshizi said:
How long does it take to charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My original post has the details.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/razer-phone/help/phone-quick-charging-t3709607
Got some more info here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/razer-phone/help/audio-volume-reduction-fix-usb-c-cable-t3721761
apart from the noise issue i had with the original charger the charging time itself im failry happy with along with the all day battery life even with a little gaming and netflix/youtube streaming.
Odd. I plugged my phone in at 15% when I got the warning, and I am looking at it now and its fully charged. I want to say it wasn't even a full hour but... I confess I didn't look at the clock.

Charging tips

What’s the best way to charge the phone to maintain battery health?
1. Will Regular use of Warp charge cause any long term harm to battery?
2. Charging from ~10 to 100 (full charge) or keep it 30% to 70%
Other opinions say that newer batteries don’t need this kind of manual care,the circuitry takes care of it
Any tips?
I've had a lot of phones, cameras, and RC cars with lithium batteries (lithium ion in the first two and lithium polymer in the latter). Done a lot of research, and found out mainly lithium batteries don't like to be full or empty, they don't like heat, nor bring charged too quickly. People can say what they want about new tech, when I use any type of quick charge my phone gets hotter than if I use a normal 2.4a 5v charge.
I've read similar things about 30 to 70 or 80 percent, but that falls into the things I'm not willing to do category. I need my phone full when I leave for the day. And conversely, I don't like having my phone plugged in all night, if I go to bed at 9 it's full by 11 and sitting there at 100% until I wake up. To that end I bought a charger on Amazon for like $10 that shuts off once the phone is full. Sure, it's at like 96 or 97% when I wake up but whatever. Brand is 'Bull', it's white and has two buttons on the top to initiate the charge on either port. Been using it for three months and it works flawlessly.
toyboarder said:
I've had a lot of phones, cameras, and RC cars with lithium batteries (lithium ion in the first two and lithium polymer in the latter). Done a lot of research, and found out mainly lithium batteries don't like to be full or empty, they don't like heat, nor bring charged too quickly. People can say what they want about new tech, when I use any type of quick charge my phone gets hotter than if I use a normal 2.4a 5v charge.
I've read similar things about 30 to 70 or 80 percent, but that falls into the things I'm not willing to do category. I need my phone full when I leave for the day. And conversely, I don't like having my phone plugged in all night, if I go to bed at 9 it's full by 11 and sitting there at 100% until I wake up. To that end I bought a charger on Amazon for like $10 that shuts off once the phone is full. Sure, it's at like 96 or 97% when I wake up but whatever. Brand is 'Bull', it's white and has two buttons on the top to initiate the charge on either port. Been using it for three months and it works flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or try Battery Charge Limit app, if you are rooted. It lets you set when the charging will stop. Mine stops at 80% and only charges again if it drops below 75%.
I mean you can worry about all this but in reality, how long do you plan to keep the phone? On avg phone batteries lose charging efficiency around 6 months from what I've seen. Also the phones hardware stops charging the batt at 100pct and runs on AC power after that while plugged in.
If you keep it for years and years, this is why they make replacement batteries even for iPhones so just don't worry and keep it charged if that's what you want
Galaxea said:
Or try Battery Charge Limit app, if you are rooted. It lets you set when the charging will stop. Mine stops at 80% and only charges again if it drops below 75%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish they would build that natively into Android. I don't generally root, but that's tempting. My laptop does something similar, desk use mode or something, stops charging at 60% and stays there. My wife's will actually let you set the upper threshold, Dell gaming G series I think.
Josh McGrath said:
I mean you can worry about all this but in reality, how long do you plan to keep the phone? On avg phone batteries lose charging efficiency around 6 months from what I've seen. Also the phones hardware stops charging the batt at 100pct and runs on AC power after that while plugged in.
If you keep it for years and years, this is why they make replacement batteries even for iPhones so just don't worry and keep it charged if that's what you want
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is actually true. (Y)
toyboarder said:
........ I don't like having my phone plugged in all night, if I go to bed at 9 it's full by 11 and sitting there at 100% until I wake up. To that end I bought a charger on Amazon for like $10 that shuts off once the phone is full. Sure, it's at like 96 or 97% when I wake up but whatever. Brand is 'Bull', it's white and has two buttons on the top to initiate the charge on either port. Been using it for three months and it works flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a link for this charger?
Also, is a cable included?
THX.
Edit: Found it....
THX for sharing this @toyboarder ,much appreciated!
USB Wall Phone Charger, Power Port 2 12W 2.4A with Foldable Plug, BULL Ultra Compact Dual Port Travel Power Adapter for iPhone Xs/Max/XR/X/876/Plus, iPad,Samsung S4/S5 and More https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076F5NNV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dLDTDbBAYG1N0
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition using XDA Labs
Galaxea said:
Or try Battery Charge Limit app, if you are rooted. It lets you set when the charging will stop. Mine stops at 80% and only charges again if it drops below 75%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KOLIOSIS said:
Do you have a link for this charger?
Also, is a cable included?
THX.
Edit: Found it....
THX for sharing this @toyboarder ,much appreciated!
USB Wall Phone Charger, Power Port 2 12W 2.4A with Foldable Plug, BULL Ultra Compact Dual Port Travel Power Adapter for iPhone Xs/Max/XR/X/876/Plus, iPad,Samsung S4/S5 and More https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076F5NNV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dLDTDbBAYG1N0
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep that's it, I've bought a couple for techie friends too.

Question How high should I let the battery temp go when charging wirelessly?

So I have had my pixel 6 pro for about a month. First thing I did was put it in an otterbox case, screen protector, and a pop socket. I decided to give wireless charging a try, so I bought a special pop-socket brand wireless charger that claims to work better with phones that have a popsocket on them.
Amazon.com: PopSockets PopPower Home: Wireless Charger for Phones and Tablets - Night Blooms : Cell Phones & Accessories
Buy PopSockets PopPower Home: Wireless Charger for Phones and Tablets - Night Blooms: Chargers & Power Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
I read reviews about people claiming their phone got hot, and I did expect the phone would get warm. This is wireless charging..... in a case.. etc.
So I've determined via temperature monitoring that my phone gets to a max temp of 107F when charging. I really do love that when I go to bed at night I can throw this thing on the charger and it stays on the charger thanks to the pop socket. Since it has 8 hours to charge, and it does charge slower than normal, I don't consider the slower charging rate to be a problem. But the temperature does give me some concern. It peaks at about 20 minutes, and stays pretty solid between 105 to 107 until I take it off the charger. Once removed, it seems to dissipate its heat quickly, being back to a normal temperature in about 15 minutes. Temperatures are as read from a battery temp app I have called 3C Battery Manager. When fast charging, I see the temps go to about 100F, so it's really not that much warmer. But when fast charging, it also wouldn't sit at 100F for 8 hours.
So should I be worried about the phone potentially being at 107F for 8 hours a day?
I thought that the wireless thing would be great since I wouldn't be plugging into a USB cable every night when I sleep. But with a temperature (and combined longevity) concern, I'm really not sure what I should do.
Opinions? Thoughts?
Joshy8 said:
So I have had my pixel 6 pro for about a month. First thing I did was put it in an otterbox case, screen protector, and a pop socket. I decided to give wireless charging a try, so I bought a special pop-socket brand wireless charger that claims to work better with phones that have a popsocket on them.
Amazon.com: PopSockets PopPower Home: Wireless Charger for Phones and Tablets - Night Blooms : Cell Phones & Accessories
Buy PopSockets PopPower Home: Wireless Charger for Phones and Tablets - Night Blooms: Chargers & Power Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
I read reviews about people claiming their phone got hot, and I did expect the phone would get warm. This is wireless charging..... in a case.. etc.
So I've determined via temperature monitoring that my phone gets to a max temp of 107F when charging. I really do love that when I go to bed at night I can throw this thing on the charger and it stays on the charger thanks to the pop socket. Since it has 8 hours to charge, and it does charge slower than normal, I don't consider the slower charging rate to be a problem. But the temperature does give me some concern. It peaks at about 20 minutes, and stays pretty solid between 105 to 107 until I take it off the charger. Once removed, it seems to dissipate its heat quickly, being back to a normal temperature in about 15 minutes. Temperatures are as read from a battery temp app I have called 3C Battery Manager. When fast charging, I see the temps go to about 100F, so it's really not that much warmer. But when fast charging, it also wouldn't sit at 100F for 8 hours.
So should I be worried about the phone potentially being at 107F for 8 hours a day?
I thought that the wireless thing would be great since I wouldn't be plugging into a USB cable every night when I sleep. But with a temperature (and combined longevity) concern, I'm really not sure what I should do.
Opinions? Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Temps are okay as long as they under 40° Celsius. Normally a phone will not exceed 35° C. Wireless charging is a bit different, since that creates a heckload of heat, but even then it's not a big deal, since the Pixel 6 has a built-in protection against temperature, meaning it will reduce the charging speed to protect itself if necessary.
Morgrain said:
Temps are okay as long as they under 40° Celsius. Normally a phone will not exceed 35° C. Wireless charging is a bit different, since that creates a heckload of heat, but even then it's not a big deal, since the Pixel 6 has a built-in protection against temperature, meaning it will reduce the charging speed to protect itself if necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. The highest I've recorded was 41.6C, which translates to the 107F I mentioned above.

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