Battery


I actually haven't tested it yet, but see my topic on the matter here.

Or, quick summary if anyone doesn't feel like reading through the whole thing:

Buy a Dcell battery tray and good rechargeable Dcells (somewhere around 11000-12000 you can order online).
Connect wires from tray to the metal battery things in the gp2x's battery holder.
Run gp2x (in theory) for ~20 hours or so.

It SHOULD work, but I'm not responsible if anyone messes up their gp2x. ;)

Edit: Just did a quick test with a couple alkaline D cells (don't have rechargeable yet). I did hear the startup sound ("Leroy Jenkins" :p ), but honestly holding the two wires there perfectly steady is rather annoying. And I can't really see the screen as I do it because I'm holding it upside down. So without a more permanent solution that's really all I can do. ;)
 
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Read that other thread - I have a question that I couldn't really see an answer to (maybe it's in that thread, but I missed it):

The battery terminals are connected to a voltage regulator - it sounds like the DC input isn't..

Is this still true for the Mk2 and if so, why (I'm a s/w engineer not h/w) wouldn't they connect the DC input via the same regulator (switched when a plugs in the DC input)?
 
Edit: Just did a quick test with a couple alkaline D cells (don't have rechargeable yet). I did hear the startup sound ("Leroy Jenkins" :p ), but honestly holding the two wires there perfectly steady is rather annoying. And I can't really see the screen as I do it because I'm holding it upside down. So without a more permanent solution that's really all I can do. ;)

Hrm. You could probably make spacers out of some dead AA batteries. The trick would be to opening the AA circuit, but this could probably be accomplished with some kind of malleable, non-conductive material attached to the + end, with the wire pressed into the opposite side to make the actual contact. Maybe something like that blue handi-tack stuff for hanging posters (I'm not sure about its conductive properties).

Of course, a 15mm wood or plastic dowel cut to 51mm would be even better.

Many possibilities
 
kevcal posted on Sep 6 2006 at 08:29 AM said:
Read that other thread - I have a question that I couldn't really see an answer to (maybe it's in that thread, but I missed it):

The battery terminals are connected to a voltage regulator - it sounds like the DC input isn't..

Is this still true for the Mk2 and if so, why (I'm a s/w engineer not h/w) wouldn't they connect the DC input via the same regulator (switched when a plugs in the DC input)?
I have absolutely no idea, but then I'm not a hardware engineer either. But yeah, I'm pretty sure that's correct. The batteries have a voltage regulator and DC in doesn't. Though I'd imagine if you know what you're doing it wouldn't be too hard to mod in a voltage regulator for the DC in.

Hrm. You could probably make spacers out of some dead AA batteries. The trick would be to opening the AA circuit, but this could probably be accomplished with some kind of malleable, non-conductive material attached to the + end, with the wire pressed into the opposite side to make the actual contact. Maybe something like that blue handi-tack stuff for hanging posters (I'm not sure about its conductive properties).

Of course, a 15mm wood or plastic dowel cut to 51mm would be even better.

Many possibilities

Yeah I've considered the dead AAs but I hadn't thought of the dowel. Actually my idea that I was planning on doing was just making a connector and have the female end inside the gp2x's battery tray, and the male end attached to the D-cell tray. There would also have to be enough room inside the gp2x's tray to be able to use normal AAs when the D-cell tray isn't attached. But I'm really not sure what I'm gonna do yet. When I decide I'll write a tutorial though it isn't really that complicated.
 
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but the DS is somthing like 3.7 is it not; would the extra 4% make a mess of my GP2X?? and or could i just put it through some sort of voltage regulator?
 
sliteist posted on Sep 6 2006 at 02:53 PM said:
but the DS is somthing like 3.7 is it not; would the extra 4% make a mess of my GP2X?? and or could i just put it through some sort of voltage regulator?

reeced posted on Aug 27 2006 at 03:52 PM said:
The GP2x is rated at 3.3V 1A - would 3.6V be enough to fry it ?

Shikaku posted on Aug 27 2006 at 07:55 PM said:
FROM THE DC PORT YES. From the battery tray no...

Now I can't confirm 100% that that's correct, but that's the information I'm going on. As for the voltage regulator, if you know how you can make your own, and that was one of the options I considered.

Edit: Oh, and I'd recommend you read the entirety of the thread I linked to. It discussed the possibility of using the DC-in, among other things.
 
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as I've said before, 3.6V my gp2x runs ok, I think most if not all do it, I just can't say "go ahead and try it" because in some (possibly rare) case of gp2x-frying I'm not the one to be blamed..

I think the best choice would be buying a 9v-batt connector and then solder it on AA batteries' holder, when you need to plug extra power you'd just use your favorite battery holder with a 9v (inverted) battery connector

it's not advised to use many rechargeable batteries in parallel, but if you have many of the same kind you can even run on 2 AA in the gp2x and 2/4/6 AAs outside it in a holder, just don't try this on batteries with different charge states, capacities and brands... and remember to place every extra battery pair in a parallel fashion
 
oryhara posted on Sep 6 2006 at 02:49 AM said:
Edit: Just did a quick test with a couple alkaline D cells (don't have rechargeable yet). I did hear the startup sound ("Leroy Jenkins" :p ), but honestly holding the two wires there perfectly steady is rather annoying. And I can't really see the screen as I do it because I'm holding it upside down. So without a more permanent solution that's really all I can do. ;)

You can just use eletrical tape to stick the wires on. Make sure you stick each wire independantly with 2 peices of tape. Things might get messy though after a bunch of removals...
 
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Shikaku posted on Sep 6 2006 at 11:27 PM said:
oryhara posted on Sep 6 2006 at 02:49 AM said:
Edit: Just did a quick test with a couple alkaline D cells (don't have rechargeable yet). I did hear the startup sound ("Leroy Jenkins" :p ), but honestly holding the two wires there perfectly steady is rather annoying. And I can't really see the screen as I do it because I'm holding it upside down. So without a more permanent solution that's really all I can do. ;)

You can just use eletrical tape to stick the wires on. Make sure you stick each wire independantly with 2 peices of tape. Things might get messy though after a bunch of removals...
Well, yeah, but I have absolutely no idea where any electrical tape I might have would be (my house is quite messy :p ). And if I go out and buy some I might as well buy the stuff to do one of the other solutions (connector, dowel, etc.)



Edit:Ooh, thanks for the link Samba. I knew they had to make something like that but I was unable to find it. ;)
Edit again: wtf? Like a double post within a post... uh... whatever. All better now. :rolleyes:
 
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