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Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
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For anybody interested in reading more on this new NiMH technology and how well it works, there's a nice review over here. |
Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
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Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
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Today I happened to find the Philips pack reported by Un27Pee for 30 euros - I took it. It's the SCE4420 - technical data are online on Philips' site: it's a 2000 mAh li-pol pack, and can output a maximum current of 350 mA. While I'm now in the process of charging it (has a mini-usb input port, but no mains charger included in the box :-( ), I'll tell you another story...
...the tale of a cheap chinese solar charger and how I made it work (see attached photos). I got it at an electronics fair for 10 euros and its tech specs seemed nice: 1500 mAh li-pol battery, solar cell for charging or usb input port, 5V output, with 2 ports, one with several mobile phone tips, the other plain USB (activated by a switch). When home I charged it, to discover that the current coming out from its tips was insufficient to charge any Nokia device I tried (n810, e90, n95, 5200). Neither n810 nor e90 were waked to a charging state when attached, while the 5200 unit was more verbose, reporting on its display that the charger was not the right type (!). I have been upset, of course, for a week or so, then I imagined that the USB output could be someway more generous in terms of Coulombs per second... I had at home a spare USB-to-mobile adapter with the right tip, tried it and voilą: my devices were happy to get enough current, this time. So, don't buy any similar charger for your tablet unless you have a usb-to-small-nokia-tip adapter. They're quite common at phone or electronics shop; in the second photo, it's the black one with the retractable wire, near the solar charger with its original - not working - cable. |
Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
TSO: I had that issue with a couple NiMH batteries I left on the shelf too long and didn't use enough. It turns out that by discharging them dead as dead gets, recharging them, then repeating the cycle a couple times exercises the battery and brings them back to life. It might also recover your unit.
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Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
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also, the manual says that when all leds stop flashing, its charged. thing is that the logo led will not stop flashing even when all the others have, so im a bit confused... |
Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
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Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
The lithium slowly oxidizes and the batteries become useless. Most lifespans of li-ion batteries is about 2 years. I'm not sure about li-poly; I think it might be shorter.
You can keep NIMH around for years just by re-conditioning them once in a while (re-conditioning is charge/discharge repeatedly). If you are like me (amateur photog) and use NIMH AA or AAAs a lot, I cannot recommend getting a good charger strongly enough. IMO, the lacrosse alphapower charger is the best. It has selectable charge currents and one-touch reconditioning that brings old batteries back to like-new capacities. |
Re: Woot: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack $15.99
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