Battery Life And Editions

[riksvei22]

Hi guys,

I've just got my Gp2x and are happy playing Centaurion on the amiga emulator
However I have some problems with the battery life.

It seems that thay only last for about 5-10minutes!
Then the screens starts to act wacky and it freezes so I have to turn it on and off.
When I turn it on again i get the intro screen with the sound, then it freezes again.
I do use cheap batteries, but anyway..

I also have some trouble finding out witch version I have, under info is says Model GP2x - F100.


Can anybody help?

 

[nubie]

Hi guys,

I've just got my Gp2x and are happy playing Centaurion on the amiga emulator
However I have some problems with the battery life.

It seems that thay only last for about 5-10minutes!
Then the screens starts to act wacky and it freezes so I have to turn it on and off.
When I turn it on again i get the intro screen with the sound, then it freezes again.
I do use cheap batteries, but anyway..

I also have some trouble finding out witch version I have, under info is says Model GP2x - F100.


Can anybody help?

If you have a boot sound then you should have a bump in the middle of your stick, that means a MK2 Unit.

I think you MUST use NiMH rechargeable battery technology of name-brand and at least 2000mAh capacity.

Duracell, Energizer, Ansmann, and Kodak are possible good brands. Alkaline and Ni-Cad are not able to provide enough energy to run the GP2X. The Lithuim disposables may possibly, but that is way too much money to waste on disposables.

I personally got the Sam's Club pack of 8 AA NiMH and 4 AAA NiMH and a charger for $25, it is likely the cheapest option available. They were 2,600mAh AA and the brand was Energizer.

Did you read the manual included with your GP2X? It should have mentioned the need for NiMH batteries.

There is an off chance you have a broken GP2X, in which case it is better to prove that with a good set of batteries quickly and then return it for a replacement if it is broken.

 

[slaanesh]

It could be bad batteries.

I have Energerizers as well - but I have various ratings from 1850mAh all the way to 2500mAh.
The 2300 and 2500mAhs seem to last around 4 hours depending on what I am doing but I tend to play in short bursts. Switch on - play for 20 minutes - switch off... so it's hard to keep track.
I'm happy with the GP2X's battery life as I have about 10 sets of rechargeable batteries anyway <_<

Speaking of ratings, they seem to be going steadily up. I remember buying NiCd AAs *years* ago rated at 600mAh (I tend to use these ones for my remote controls now) and now we have AAs rated at 2600mAh - how far can this go?

 

[Yono]

now we have AAs rated at 2600mAh - how far can this go?

Highest AA NiMH I know of is 2800mAh. I think I remember hearing about a 2900mAh lithium battery (non-rechargable) though.

 

[Shikaku]

now we have AAs rated at 2600mAh - how far can this go?

Highest AA NiMH I know of is 2800mAh.

I have some 2700s and a charger that always charges to full and they last about 5 hours. It all depends on what you do and how much you over/under clock.

 

[VGballer]

I personally got the Sam's Club pack of 8 AA NiMH and 4 AAA NiMH and a charger for $25, it is likely the cheapest option available. They were 2,600mAh AA and the brand was Energizer.

Wouldn't it be smarter to get a power adapter?

I got one and ther cord is extremly long, I was suprised

 

[sparkey]

now we have AAs rated at 2600mAh - how far can this go?

Highest AA NiMH I know of is 2800mAh.

I have some 2700s and a charger that always charges to full and they last about 5 hours. It all depends on what you do and how much you over/under clock.

Eyepower do some 2950mah Nimhs. I found them being sold on e-bay in Belgium, and although suspicous of such a high figue, decided to try a pack. They last a little longer than the 2600mah Ansmmans I bought with the GP2X, but I don't think it's the full 12% that the figures suggest.

As Shikaku mentions, I find it hard to judge battery life, because I tend to use Gngeo and DrMD with varying overclocks.

Perhaps an "official" community battery life test is needed (forgive me if there already is one). I can think of three ways to go:

1) Light use - how long can it display the menu screen for?
2) "Normal" use - 10mins of Vektar, 10mins of DrMD running Sonic's intro with everything on default, 30mins MP3 playback, 10mins video playback in "normal" mode - repeat until dead.
3) Heavy use - how long can it play a 720x576 DIVX file in "full" mode?

I'm afraid I'm not into the Linux side of the GP2X, but is there a way to script these so that a file in user-accessible NAND is written to with the time it's been running every minute (so you don't have to stand over them with a stopwatch)?

Sparkey

 

[nubie]

I personally got the Sam's Club pack of 8 AA NiMH and 4 AAA NiMH and a charger for $25, it is likely the cheapest option available. They were 2,600mAh AA and the brand was Energizer.

Wouldn't it be smarter to get a power adapter?

I got one and ther cord is extremly long, I was suprised

No, I put 2 extra sets in the case pouch, then I can play for ~12 hours, give or take, seems fine by me.

It will only run off of NiMH so I needed them anyway, and $19.99 at Walmart for only 4 AA and a charger seems wasteful somehow (I bought at Sam's Club when they had a $20 pack without the AAA batteries, obviously they changed their strategy and decided to make $5 more off people, it is Ok because I can use the AAA batteries anyway ).

Oh yeah, and there wasn't an Official PSU when I joined the scene last October, there wasn't even a TV-Out cable (it was available for order, but I didn't get it till a month after the GP2X).

 

[jsevinsk]

I bought mine intending mainly to use it to play movies. Using new, freshly charged 2000mAh NiMH batteries, I can't even make it through one whole movie without changing batteries. It just seems wrong.

John