External Battery Charger

[FaeMinx]

I've searched through the forums and can't find anything.


I've ordered my Pandora + a secondary battery.


I had intended to have an extra battery for times when I'm far away from a power outlet. Also, for times when I have zero responsibilities and I can use my Pandora non-stop.


Only issue is, for me to make use of option 2 without being plugged in, I would need to have some way of charging my used battery while I pop the fresh one in.


Is there such a charger on the market? Could one be developed?


Any suggestions? Anyone? o.o :mellow:

 

[DaMummy]

perhaps there could be a way for the pandora to charge an external battery somehow, imagine how invaluable the pandora would be THEN!

 

[jocejrod]

maybe if you can figure out a way to stick a usb port on one of the ends of the secondary battery cover that comes with every pandora(although i'm not sure why if you didn't buy an extra battery(not you, just people that didn't buy a battery)) i'm not much of a hardware guy, so i wouldn't know what to do, but it can't be too hard. that way you could charge your pandora, or whateverthehellelse you wanted

 

[Twiitcher]

Energizer 4000


This nice external battery, with many useful tips, comes with a pretty innovative battery charger adapter (the cute pink thingy). It plugs into the battery or a usb port on one end and the other side has little sliding copper legs that line up with the 2 outer pins on most any battery to charge it. So not only the ability to charge a second pandora battery but also a 4000 MA battery for your many devices...


Edited for clarity and added the link - whoops, early here.

 

[MarioPandio]

Not what your after but a possible method in the meantime, a 5000mAh ext battery for 27.50( http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowPremium.htm# )that will allow to charge that up, whilst charging your two Pandora batteries (back to back) and then you can run from any of the three whilst out. They also do a 16,500mAh one too which should keep a pandora going for awhile.


If you live in a hot enough country you can get a decent monocrystaline 2.75W solar panel from them for £35.00 aswell and charge your pandora for free. http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowsolarcharger.htm


edit: Do you have a link for that one twiitcher?

 

[FaeMinx]

Energizer 4000


This nice external battery, with many useful tips, comes with a pretty innovative battery charger adapter (the cute pink thingy). It plugs into the battery or a usb port on one end and the other side has little sliding copper legs that line up with the 2 outer pins on most any battery to charge it. So not only the ability to charge a second pandora battery but also a 4000 MA battery for your many devices...

If my impressions of this external battery are correct, I.e:


1)That it can charge my second Pandora battery while I am using my untethered Pandora elsewhere.


2)It can plug into my Pandora and serve as a 3rd!!! battery.


3)It can replace the charger supplied with my Pandora by plugging it into mains and my Pandora at the same time.


Then brilliant! This is even better than I was hoping for!


Can anyone confirm these points for me?


Thank you Twiitcher! This is great.

 

[FaeMinx]

Not what your after but a possible method in the meantime, a 5000mAh ext battery for 27.50( http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowPremium.htm# )that will allow to charge that up, whilst charging your two Pandora batteries (back to back) and then you can run from any of the three whilst out. They also do a 16,500mAh one too which should keep a pandora going for awhile.


If you live in a hot enough country you can get a decent monocrystaline 2.75W solar panel from them for £35.00 aswell and charge your pandora for free. http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowsolarcharger.htm

A nice looking external battery, but it seems to me that I would have to have the battery in my Pandora while charging it? So apart from having some extra juice besides my two pre-charged Pandora batteries when in the wilds, as you said; not really what I'm looking for.


The solar panel however looks awesome! I'll have to look at getting me one of those... Complete freedom!


Civilization: not required.


Keep on using your Pandora even when the world ends.

 

[Twiitcher]

If my impressions of this external battery are correct, I.e:


1)That it can charge my second Pandora battery while I am using my untethered Pandora elsewhere.


2)It can plug into my Pandora and serve as a 3rd!!! battery.


3)It can replace the charger supplied with my Pandora by plugging it into mains and my Pandora at the same time.


Then brilliant! This is even better than I was hoping for!


Can anyone confirm these points for me?


Thank you Twiitcher! This is great.

1) yes


2) yes, same as plugging Pandora into a powered usb port


3) not sure if the battery can charge itself and provide output power at the same time.. guessing not..


Additionally you can get 2 additional tips for the adapter per year for just shipping costs (@4.95 I believe).. supposedly they promise tips for all devices.

 

[FaeMinx]

3) not sure if the battery can charge itself and provide output power at the same time.. guessing not..

Ah. Not important anyway.

Additionally you can get 2 additional tips for the adapter per year for just shipping costs (@4.95 I believe).. supposedly they promise tips for all devices.

Nice. I'll probably be ordering this battery just before my Pandora ships.


... Provided it's still available and hasn't been replaced by something newer.

 

[MarioPandio]

Thanks for the link Twiitcher.


That is definitely the goldmine there! That adapter will 'charge all internal batteries' according to the sales spiel.


They also do a whopping XP18000mAh http://www.amazon.co.uk/XP18000-Emergency-Power-Laptops-Netbooks/dp/B001BCIXCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292371880&sr=8-1-catcorr but its triple the price of the PortaPow 16500mAh http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowLaptop.htm, so I'll be sticking with that or smaller, plus the Solar Panel, which is obscenely cheap for its power rating.


I'm stuck in Manchester where it wont prove much use but I've a Gambian trip ahead and at that cost I can afford to leave it with someone out-there, not so with a Gorilla product etc.


Glad you liked the PV Panel FaeMinx, now all you need is your entire collection on ext hdd's and to twist the emu dev gods arms with sacrifices aplenty to tweak everything perfect before the end of the world Then its all good fun in the sun forevermore B)


For UK folk the XP4000 is available via WHSmith but £10 cheaper at Carphone warehouse and Maplin have stopped stocking them as 'discontinued' so grab one while you can, as that maybe a bad sign

 

[FaeMinx]

Glad you liked the PV Panel FaeMinx, now all you need is your entire collection on ext hdd's and to twist the emu dev gods arms with sacrifices aplenty to tweak everything perfect before the end of the world Then its all good fun in the sun forevermore B)

Yes, a couple of terabytes in external storage... and so long as I manage to acquire enough resources to teach myself to code effectively *as of present I know squat* - then I'll be all set. I plan to learn how to code anyway soon before or after I get my Pandora.


P.s. Able to point me in the right direction? what would be best to learn for development on the Pandora?


What else do I need to download, install or purchase?

 

[XxionxX]

A mi me gusta este hilo de discusión! B) Solar panels kick ass!

 

[MarioPandio]

^Glad you like the thread and yes solar is the future, or rather the past as without it we wouldnt be here, hence all the out in the open, or still in the closet, Solar deities in this little rocks history.


Sorry FaeMinx,


cant help with the coding advice but I love your truly self reliant attitude. Screw those guys, I'm gonna code for the last Pandora alive at the end of the world all for myself B)


I'm just a dumb schmuck end user and linux newbie, unfortunate enough to receive an early Pandora by better F5 skills than the more deserving devs and the more clamouring public outhere. Hence I can only help the community with additions to the compatibility lists for emu's, minor feedback and thanks for apps and the odd video here and there to answer some requests and peak interest in this little device of wonder.


Coding wise I suggest you start with the basic but there are threads around here that suggest even Basic is the wrong start place and will limit your potential. I just dont know though :huh:

 

[FaeMinx]

Coding wise I suggest you start with the basic but there are threads around here that suggest even Basic is the wrong start place and will limit your potential. I just dont know though :huh:

Thanks for your advice. I'll have a look in the dev section when I get a chance.


btw, I've never even used Linux either - I've probably got a very steep learning curve ahead of me


The idea that I can do it all on this one beautiful device - if only I knew how, is what's making me want to learn.


The satisfaction of creating something from scratch must be phenomenal - and doing it *wherever* (I.e in a cave if need be) is making the Pandora and the ambition of being totally self-reliant very very attractive. B)

 

[FaeMinx]

perhaps there could be a way for the pandora to charge an external battery somehow, imagine how invaluable the pandora would be THEN!

Drain your Pandora to provide juice for another device? What device could be more important than your Pandora?

 

[Blue Protoman]

Your pacemaker?

 

[DaMummy]

not necessarily....on the other hand.....can we run a pacemaker off the pandora somehow?

 

[WizardStan]

btw, I've never even used Linux either - I've probably got a very steep learning curve ahead of me

Not necessarily. There's nothing especially different between programming for Windows or programming for Linux, just some different library commands.


If it's actually using the device that concerns you then you're overthinking it. A Wii owner doesn't complain that they have trouble with the XBox interface, do they?

 

[FaeMinx]

Not necessarily. There's nothing especially different between programming for Windows or programming for Linux, just some different library commands.

Well that's good to know.


I'm not at all concerned about learning to use the Pandora - that's half of the excitement!


From everything I've heard about Linux - "Where there's a will there's a way!"


I get a huge amount of satisfaction from figuring things out - and so long as i have the internet to dig up info, the Pandora will provide endless hours of entertainment as I step by step and tweak by tweak make it *mine*.


From what little I've seen on the vids it appears pretty straight forward and remarkably similar to the Windows I know.


I only expect to find *more*.


I only thought that it was a far more complex kettle of fish under the hood - but if you say there's not much diff programing for Linux than it is for Windows, then I'm much relieved.

 

[larry]

I read somewhere in the Pandora documentation that it uses the exact same power as the PSP--same plug, same voltage, you can use PSP chargers with your Pandora. Assuming that's the case, you could use an aftermarket PSP battery booster, like this: http://www.amazon.com/PSP-Attachable-Hour-Extended-Battery-Pack/dp/B003O57F4W/