Develop Bugs

Anybody got any experience with Solar Powered USB Charger(s)?

I've seen some cool gadgets like bags with build in solar panels to charge you phone with ie. this:
http://www.luggagepoint.com/lpProductDetail.asp?productId=12201
or
http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/products/Solar_chargers/freeloader.asp
These would be idea for me as from pretty much anywhere I could charge my xda exec and my O rokr glasses which would be nice, I was wondering if anybody on here had any experience with anything like this in the real world and would like to share their experience.
I'm considering getting the second product as it's only £30 and modifying my briefcase so it's like the first product only much cheaper, but I am concerned the panel is much bulkier and smaller.
Thanks everyone

yeah, im quite keen to find out a little more about these although i think i will go for something bigger that would let me run my ameo continiously during sunlight hours.
there is a 13w briefcase style fold out one that ive got my eye on.
anybody else had luck with solar?

i just bought it. 60 quid off ebay.
http://www.vellemanusa.com/us/enu/product/view/?id=521432
not exactly pocketable, but more being able to listen to online radio etc while in the park all day.
(yay its nearly summer, Edinburgh Meadows kicks arse)

Freeloader
Hi there
I actually have a freeloader so I can tell you it's pretty small. It's only marginally bigger than my mobile (motorola) and I have been camping with it a few times and it took a bit of a beating (although USB connector got broken when I trod on it )
I got mine from www.wavemaker.co.uk which is a bit cheaper, and they do a bundle with 2 batteries so you can be charging one whilst using the other - I have used it for a load of stuff - mainly my phone and iPod though
I did a review of it on my site as well Whoopie review for freeloader
If this helps!
Iain

Hi
i bought a Juice bag about 6 months ago @ £150 so not cheap, it is such a cool gadget. I am currently living in the UK so not used it that much, but when there has been sun I have given it a go. It takes about 3 hours to charge a phone. I did get to use it while on holiday to charge my iPod while I was sitting by the pool.
I would highly recommend one to people.
Sean

Obviously there are different reasons to buy a solar charger, but in the case of saving electricity with the Freeloader one that only costs £30, how long is it going to take to recoupe the money?
A monthly electricity bill may only be £30, and charging a mobile must be a fractional proportion of that (0.1%?). I'm still tempted to get one though.

PaulMdx said:
... that only costs £30, how long is it going to take to recoupe the money?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to count the £ £ for the electricity if you know how much it cost you per Watt hour (Wh) is electricity. Say, if your battery is 5 Volt (V) and it has 1000 mAh, the total power in your phone battery would be 5 x 1000mAh = 5000 mWh = 5Wh.
Anyway, I don't think it would be cost effective to get your £ 30 by charging the battery using the sun. If it were to be that significant, £ £ wise, there would have a lot of people charging their phones in their office
I think the major purpose of the charger is more to getting the power you want in places you can't possibly get a power socket. A cheaper alternatives is those wind-up dynamo thing that you can charge by winding/rotating the handle(?) that you can get from eBay. Consider a charger may take 1 hour to charge the battery.. probably it is not a good idea to have your phone fully charged using this good for emergency usage though.

hanmin said:
You should be able to count the £ £ for the electricity if you know how much it cost you per Watt hour (Wh) is electricity. Say, if your battery is 5 Volt (V) and it has 1000 mAh, the total power in your phone battery would be 5 x 1000mAh = 5000 mWh = 5Wh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cost per kWh: £0.10 (roughly)
Universal battery: 3.7V, 1620mAh
Charging power: 3.7 * 1.620 = 5.994Wh
Cost per charge: 0.10/1000 * 5.994 = £0.0005994
Looks like it's not very cost effective!

No bothered about cost effectivness
The idea is to have power where ever i go for my glasses and phone - I'm still thinking about getting a juice bag because you have the panel on the outside of you bag so you don't need to set it up to charge anything.
also if you were wondering about how much energy you save most of the power goes on keeping your phone charger plugged in on standby, not charging it.

samsung sII battery case

Just got it in the mail - had pre-ordered it from Mobile Fun about two weeks ago.
Someone else posted pics already, but couldn't find the thread - here are my own.
Note, the case acts as a battery charger, and starts delivery electricity as soon as you put the phone in. There is no switch on it. I'll have to see in the coming days, but it looks like it's necessary to only put the pack on when you need it.
Things I fear but may be unfounded:
it won't be practical to leave the case on at all times
need an extra charger to charge them seperatly and efficiently
I hope I'm wrong, and hope I can just keep it on at all times, and charge both the battery and phone at the same time using one charger.
Thanks to Eiraku posting in this thread, I was able to find the original thread for this battery pack:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1110441
Mods please feel free to merge subjects.

Here are more pics

Isnt it a bit harmful to always have the battery at 100% charge level and even have trickle charge, they should have implemented a switch or at least some control mechanism to have it start charging only at around 50-80%

I think you're right, and indeed, the case start charging the phone even if the phone's battery is full.
From the manual:
"When not in use, remove your phone from the power pack."
Kinda of a let down. But I'm still happy to have it for my asian trip at the end of the week - electricity will sometimes be a luxury.

The purpose of this case is kinda moot if it does not have a switch and cant be kept in use.

Thanxs for the pics...I ordered this case from expansys a month ago and am still waiting on it to ship. Looks great.

So what is the purpose of this button

wiaza100 said:
So what is the purpose of this button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There IS no such button. Only the battery tester button (which is useless).
Cost cutting, Samsung? You delayed the battery pack to remove that freaking power toggle?
Personally I can't wait for PowerSkin to come up with something better (OR that urban legend official 2000mah internal extended battery with new cover to come out). But as of rite now, I'll take what I can get.
To OP: thanks for the nice pics. They're much better than mine anyway. And welcome to the club!

There is indeed a button as indicated on the pic you have there, but on mine, it doesn't quite look like that. There is no marking on it or next to it - it's a simple push button which function is to indicate battery level. When you push it, the battery indicator will light up green, blue or red according to its energy level.
The pic you have may be a prototype or maybe a different version other people are going to get?

Without power toggle
I will cancel the order

Guys,
Surely just because there is more power available behind the standard battery, doesn't mean the phone will suddenly start drawing more power from it?. A car doesn't consume more petrol when the tank is full... how would this be any different to putting a ...say 2000 mAH battery (if it becomes available) instead of the original OEM battery??..
More mAH added by the sleeve should give extra run time...
Riz

I'm no electrician, but I like the full tank analogy.
Imagine the tank is full, but let's say I keep pouring fuel in the tank while the engine is running ... kinda of a waste as the extra fuel will spill - not to mention the danger.
So the question here, if the energy or extra energy delivered by the battery isn't being consumed, is it wasted? Is there danger if there is "spillage" in the form of heat? This phone can already get incredibly hot it you use it as a GPS for an extended period of time.
I'm still concerned about what the manual says about removing the pack when unused.

Actually, I have all confidence that this is a "smart" charger, in the sense that it will only top up the internal battery as necessary.
Using it as an "extender", I have no issues getting 3-4h extra on really heavy, constant screen on 3g surfing. It didn't even get hot at all, so power was NOT needlessly drained.
As a "charger", I got from 6% to about 42% from a fully charged extpack. In this config, the case did get quite warm, which indicated that it was quickly expending its reserves to charge the SGS2.
For a 1300-ish mah pack, this is more then consistant performance in my book, from my experinces from owning multiple iPhone 4 batt cases.
Only issue is with the lack of power toggle, there's much less flexibility allowed. You can't choose to keep the extpack as an emergency reserve UNLESS you take it out.
Also, it only takes in 700ma (the Samsung charger is rated at 750) and gives out 650ma, which means that in the event that you are charging a fully depleted extpack and say a 50% power left SGS2, the charging of the extpack will take FOREVER (phone first, then case).
But charging the SGS2 takes forever to begin with, so...

I'm no electrician myself...
But... about the car engine.... there are fuel governor controllers which only allow enough fuel as is needed to enter the combustion chamber...
but.... we talk of batteries... the way electrons work.... my understanding is...
flow of electrons is decided by the potential differnece available for them to travel across.. the higher the potential difference... the more electrons would flow...
So, lets say... the SGS2 has a power consumption of 100 milli-amps (based on whatver the volgtae rating is).... a 100 mah battery would run it for 1 hour... a 500 mah battery would run it for 5 and so on....
Adding a battery in parallel.... would not increase the power consumption from the original spec'd power requirement of 100 milli-amps... it'll just increase the total amperes available to run the device... so.... more ampere-hours available... hence longer hours available to run the phone
Quite simply, it is similar to leaving your phone connected to the charger... I'm sure most of do this every night for the duration of the night....
leave the phone connected to the charger... i.e.

Ars Technica has a good article on batteries. It basically says this thing should have a power button!
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery.ars
"On the other end of the spectrum, keeping a Li-ion battery fully charged is not good for it either. This isn't because Li-ion batteries can get "overcharged" (something that people used to worry about in The Olden Days of portable computers), but a Li-ion battery that doesn't get used will suffer from capacity loss, meaning that it won't be able to hold as much charge and power your gadgets for as long. Extremely shallow discharges of only a couple percent are also not enough to keep a Li-ion battery in practice, so if you're going to pull the plug, let the battery run down for a little bit. "

I believe that the phone, like the iphone, and most laptops, don't fully throttle their devices on battery. So maybe when it's plugged in it would use more power thinking that it's tethered into the wall. I had that issue with my iPhone 4. I had a battery case for it. The phone itself could last me say, 6 hours on its 1400 mah battery. When I put the 2000 mah battery back on it, before the battery pack died, was only 5 hours. So my phone consumed 2000 mah in 5 hours, while on the internal (smaller battery) it consumed it within 6 hours. Hmm... That's not right. So, then I investigated it and while plugged in the phone went into "performance mode"
Is that at all possible on THIS phone as well? hehe.
I'm not big on the whole battery switch, so, I'm skipping this case. I wrote power skin and let's see if they release one for the SGSII. I'd love it if they did

zkyevolved said:
I believe that the phone, like the iphone, and most laptops, don't fully throttle their devices on battery. So maybe when it's plugged in it would use more power thinking that it's tethered into the wall. I had that issue with my iPhone 4. I had a battery case for it. The phone itself could last me say, 6 hours on its 1400 mah battery. When I put the 2000 mah battery back on it, before the battery pack died, was only 5 hours. So my phone consumed 2000 mah in 5 hours, while on the internal (smaller battery) it consumed it within 6 hours. Hmm... That's not right. So, then I investigated it and while plugged in the phone went into "performance mode"
Is that at all possible on THIS phone as well? hehe.
I'm not big on the whole battery switch, so, I'm skipping this case. I wrote power skin and let's see if they release one for the SGSII. I'd love it if they did
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's also the fact that a battery directly wired to the device will always perform better per mah vs an externally mounted battery. Heat loss through the external connector, yada yada.
If you're afraid of "performance mode" (which I also think some phones have), just use SetCPU to override it, like I do.
I'm hoping PowerSkin comes up with something soon too - as a case, the ExtPack has really crappy all round protection, especially on the front (getting the SGP Glas protector because of this).

i'd go for the case only without the battery.... it looks quite dangerous...

Battery Death!

Hello XDA,
I got a nice new gnex at I/O. I've kept it stock, rooted it, etc. Battery life has had a steady decline. Here are some stats:
Jun. 28: I/O
First complete day after using device. I looked at an old screenshot. 2 hours, 46 minutes of SCREEN ON time, and a 14 hour charge-day, left me at 1%. Complete rundown. Died right after.
November 9th: Recent
Another complete rundown. 1 hour, 58 minutes of SCREEN ON time, 9 HOUR charge-day. Died.
You'll notice I've only had this device for a few months.
Thoughts? I'm interested if this happens to anyone else. I've been charging it with a low-current ADK 2.0 adapter for the past couple months to charge it. Is that a problem? I assume the device has a nice power-regulator for charging. The original samsung adapter that came with my nexus remains unopened.
Will buying a cheap battery on ebay fix it? Do samsung phones (this is my first) have that same "battery stats" stuff like other devices?
I appreciate any help. Happy Thanksgiving!
jcarrz1

you may want to think about getting yourself the 2000 mAh battery instead of cheap china pack.

wow that is really good! does that one require the back cover that's a bit thicker though?
anyone have ideas why mine died (lost longevity) so quickly?

Yeah it has a new battery door that makes it slightly thicker. You can still use most cases, worst case scenario you can use a case w/o the door, that is what I am doing with my Commuter.

Sprint was giving away the official Samsung extended 2100Mah battery for free, it came with the rear batt door also. The bulk it added was sooo minimal, it actually made the phone seem to fit into the case better. I got the battery a few days after I got the phone so I have no idea of how much more time I got versus the stock one.
I also have a Scosche USB charger that has two USB ports on it one that is 1 amp and another that is 2.1 amps.The higher amperage port is made to charge the iPad since it has a huge battery and 1 amp will take forever to charge the thing. if I charge my phone in the 2.1 amp port it will fully charge my Gnex in half the time, will it burn up my battery maybe. But I only use it if I have to go somewhere and I need my batt to charge in a hurry. Normally I use the 1 amp port. I believe the phone regulates the charge and will cut it off when it senses the battery is full.

RAVPower® 3rd Gen Deluxe 13000mAh External Battery REVIEW!

This is the best battery if you’re looking for something that can charge your phone multiple times.
When you first open the box, you find a “Thank you for your purchase” card, the battery itself (which is in a plastic molding while in a plastic sleeve), your “Warranty Card”, your Manual, and many accessories! The accessories include two tangle-free micro USB cables (one 2-foot and one that is a little over 25.5 cm/ 10 in. You also get a Samsung tablet pin-adapter and a mini-USB adapter. Lastly, you get a really nice mesh bag sleeve that is really nice to carry the battery and one or both of the micro USB cables.
First Impressions and Use: The battery arrives with a little less than 75% of a charge. I know this because I charged my phone from 30% to 80% on the first use and it fell to the second light (indicating 50%). The battery has four LED lights which indicate how much power the battery has. When you press the button, all four LED’s light up from right to left and then a certain number of them stay on to show you how much power is left in the battery. It does have an ebony look and feel (like the product description says). One thing this battery has that beats other batteries that I have used is the brightness of its LED light. You hold the button for two seconds to turn it on. I have to say, this is the brightest LED light I have ever seen in any external battery pack. It is very nice and can prove to be extremely useful, especially if you find yourself in the dark in a power outage. Yes, you can charge your device(s) and have the LED light on at the same time. To turn the LED off, simply hold the button down for another two seconds and the LED light will turn off.
After managing to finally kill this huge beast, I charged it up. It took about 3-4 hours while charging at 1.5A (since this is its highest input). Its highest output is 2.1A and 2.4A. The battery has one 2.4A port and one 2.1A port. Both have something RAVPower has invented called iSmart technology. What iSmart technology basically is is something built into their USB ports on their batteries which allow fully maximized compatibility with all devices and enable the device to be charged as fast as it can handle. The battery can charge devices at speeds of up to 4A! It is something I definitely notice while charging my Samsung Galaxy S3. I was able to charge it from 30% to 100% in a little over an hour. I did this twice and I still had a four LED’s on the battery. That is truly amazing!! You don’t have to worry about your device not being able to be charged with this battery. You also don’t have to worry about it charging to slow, because with this battery, your worries on how much battery you have left are gone!
This battery is perfect for students, those that are camping, travelers, people with jobs, basically anyone that owns a device in this day and age that requires charging!
The reason I like this battery the most over the others is its LED and its brightness AND all of the extra accessories that it comes with. Many of the batteries I have had don’t come with extra cables or pin adapters.
Overall, I think this is a REALLY nice battery and it is extremely useful!! You’ll be sorry for not getting one while the price is down and while the battery is in stock!
I have no complaints on this battery. The only thing that could bother people is that the silver part can get scratched if you’re trying to plug in a cable in the dark.
*iPhone users: just because it does not come with Apple cables DOESN’T mean it won’t work with your device! Just plug in the original cable you use to charge your Apple device and you’re good to go. I used it with my Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation and it works great.
I was provided a unit for testing purposes and I promised to provide a completely honest and fair review.
Unfortunately, I cannot post the link to this product on Amazon because posting commercial links is forbidden, but you can find it on Amazon by searching for the product's name that is in the title of this thread. Thanks!

Do you have any photos of the actual device?

refinition said:
Do you have any photos of the actual device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, here are some pictures. More pictures are on the Amazon link.

Chinese battery cases

Anybody try any of the ~$15 battery cases on eBay from China? About 10 listings pop-up without trying, but all seem to be the same, from the description anyway... Just seems like for the money if it even extends battery life 50% it is a bargain.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3800mAh-Por...Bank-Charger-Case-For-LG-Nexus-5/182408839882
100% brand new, high quality
Suitable for: For LG Google Nexus 5
Capacity: 3800mAh
Input: 5V / 500mA
Output: 5V / 800mA
Color: Black
Feature:
It can stand up
Charging/sync, simply plug in the usb turn micro usb to the micro usb female dock, connect the usb to a powered usb equipment or computer.
Compatible Perfect with new For LG Google Nexus 5
Package:
1 x 3800mAh external battery case For LG Google Nexus 5
EDIT: eh, it was $14 so went ahead and ordered one, will report back in a few weeks.

Very interested in hearing back about this. Bought a new phone for Dad so I am going to reuse his old nexus 5 as a second phone. Will try to pimp it out and the first thing I need is exactly this. Been researching on "larger batteries" (all fake lol) but I believe this is the next best thing.

Any news on this? Seem very interesting. Will also buy a new battery, but this will be better than the LG G2 battery mod.

fleischbanane said:
Any news on this? Seem very interesting. Will also buy a new battery, but this will be better than the LG G2 battery mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry... Forgot about this thread. The battery case worked fine although I didn't get to test it much as I sold the phone and case a couple weeks later to a guy in rough spot for next to nothing. He is still using it a few months later with no problems.

I got one of this and I rather use power bank to charge it
Cons:
Little to no protection on the phone, I have to cut a rubber case in order to use it
No pass-through charging. The case itself will NOT charge when your phone is in the case. At the end, you got 100% on your phone but 0% in the case, even you have already plugged in. So if you need to charge both devices, you have to take them apart and charge them seperately.
Slow charge rate, the case charges N5 slow when you are using it at the same time, so the juice perecentage will probably still drop, but slower.
Heat. This thing is warm or even hot when operating under heavy usage. With its build quality, I did worry about something bad could happen.
Comment:
It is not so good and the build quality is also average. But since it is the only battery case that we can buy after 3 years, it is still useful as a backup battery. Just don't use the phone heavily on the go when the case is chaging your phone. (That's why I switched back to power bank…)