New? Battery Questions ( Ac And Recharging )

[logokas]

Funny how some questions about it have been answered, while others haven't. So here goes.

Question 1: How many recharges will the battery be able to withstand before you're forced to trash it? We know it can last a good 10 hours a day, but can it last over 1000 recharges?

Question 2: Aside from USB charging i'm assuming there's also a more conventional method being used already, HOWEVER. Not all countries use the same type of electricity standards.

I myself live in a world of 220V accompanied with standard european ( CEE 7/16 Type C and CEE 7/7 Type E and F hybrid, 2-pin 'Europlugs' ) AC plugs, meaning that i can't use the british standard ( BS / Type G, 3-pins ) AC that would probably come with the Pandora, if i ordered it from the UK. Voltages are more less a mystery to me so i'm not going to touch those.

Still, how does the Pandora team plan to solve this, if at all?

 

[peca]

I guess that you fear is point less. Power supply that comes with Pandora can be surely used worldwide, as many power supplies for phones and PDAs.

Accu in Pandora is commom LiOn battery and have common life-span. It's depend on how deep and how often you discharge battery before recharging. LiOn batteries are more happy if you recharge it frequently and not deep discharge.

edit: maybe American's get different power adapter due to 120 V electricity or UK users get their own. But I don't afraid of power supply for mine Pandora.

 

[logokas]

Peca, the power supply may work, but the problem is fitting a 3 pin plug into a 2 pin socket.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_AC_p...ugs_and_sockets

Some homework is missing on your end.

 

[Chip]

1. Likely the same as all Li-Po batteries. The limited lifespan is a function of the chemical makeup of the battery, not of any particular design feature. How you use the battery (when / how often you charge it, temperature stored at, etc) has a far greater impact on battery lifespan than any aspect of manufacturing.

2. The Pandora will undoubtedly come with a switching power supply with a standard (figure-eight?) cord socket. All modern switching power supplies will happily work with anything from 100V-240V. I do not know if they plan to include localized power plug cables, but even if not, they should be easy to come by.

 

[AireTamStorm]

As others have stated, it entirely depends on how frequently you recharge the battery.

 

[peca]

Peca, the power supply may work, but the problem is fitting a 3 pin plug into a 2 pin socket.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_AC_p...ugs_and_sockets

Some homework is missing on your end.



I understood, but maybe not clearly answer I have had several PDAs and power suply always had some kind of reduction. So I can use it in various 120/240 sockets with 2 pins or blades. In reality I just use Type E sockets (240V), as it is common in Czech. I guess that Craig not send power supply that is useless for users, so I expect some universal type. And I am pretty sure, that this was cleared here some time ago.

edit: Oh, Chip is exact. That is.

 

[logokas]

That's a relief on my end. I only have to steal a power plug cable from a lenovo laptop and i'm good to go

In general i guess that works out better. You get your power supply, you just need an extra cable.

Thanks Chip! Also that 2 pin cable is flat, standard europlug is round. Talk about buttfuck.

 

[kanzlr]

also, they said earlier, that it will be a very common mobile phone battery. so you can just buy a third party charger for that, and more generic batteries if you want.

I hope this is still true.

 

[Chip]

Thanks Chip! Also that 2 pin cable is flat, standard europlug is round. Talk about buttfuck.

That is the standard US/Canadian power plug. I linked that pic more to demonstrate figure-eight end than the wall plug end.

I should also clarify that I am only speculating on this point. As the Pandora is a very international product, it only makes sense to use a switching power supply with a standard adapter. Such supplies are commonly and cheaply available, and they eliminate the problem of various proprietary country wall plugs and voltages. I can not imagine they would use anything else.

also, they said earlier, that it will be a very common mobile phone battery. so you can just buy a third party charger for that, and more generic batteries if you want.

Not exactly. There is a similar, slightly smaller generic battery that will fit in the Pandora's battery compartment and is electrically compatible. Craig will be selling replacement batteries as well, so it really isn't an issue.

 

[benjymous]

2. The Pandora will undoubtedly come with a switching power supply with a standard (figure-eight?) cord socket. All modern switching power supplies will happily work with anything from 100V-240V. I do not know if they plan to include localized power plug cables, but even if not, they should be easy to come by.



Added to the faq - I'll update it again if we get any official details in this thread

 

[Yamara]

I do not know if they plan to include localized power plug cables, but even if not, they should be easy to come by.

Added to the faq - I'll update it again if we get any official details in this thread
One of the devs has stated it can charge from a PSP charger. I imagine you can find one of those to work in most countries.

 

[Eternalodyssey]

I have found that having a 4-port USB hub plugged into the wall provides power for many of my devices and is a great "universal" power adapter. I charge mine and my wife's phone, our MP3 players, my TV remote, digital cameras, etc. I always seem to be charging things with that. So I would surmise simply having an AC-USB adapter would be the most universal charging adapter. Since the Pandora is a USB-chargeable device, I'll just add it to my list of devices I charge with my standalone USB "power hub."

*EDIT*

I would be interested in knowing if a device allowing us to charge batteries externally of the Pandora might be developed as well or if one currently exists for the battery the developers have chosen to use. Having more than one battery would be nice and being able to charge without the Pandora would be convenient as well. If not, no biggie though.

 

[Megamixman]

I would be interested in knowing if a device allowing us to charge batteries externally of the Pandora might be developed as well or if one currently exists for the battery the developers have chosen to use. Having more than one battery would be nice and being able to charge without the Pandora would be convenient as well. If not, no biggie though.

I'm not sure the Pandora Battery will be that easy to replace. It is unlikely that it will be like a Cell phone. More then likely it will be more like any other music player with a built in battery in that you have to take the whole thing apart to change it. Changing your Pandora battery on the flight to LA is probably not a good idea in the first place.

 

[logokas]

That's not true. Why would they make battery switching a pain? This is a user built machine afterall. Also, here's the FAQ answer:

What kind of battery will it have?

Pandora will have a 4000mAh Lithium Polymer battery. Batteries will be user-replaceable and spares will be sold by Pandora retailers. 5000mAh extended batteries may also be available.[5] Pricing has not been announced.

 

[JayFoxRox]

Guys... look around: it was said that the PSP Power adaptor would probably work with the Pandora which actually makes sure that most people will have atleast 2 ways of recharging their Pandora (USB & PSP Adaptor). (//Edit: Woops, Yamara said it..)
Also the battery is hidden under a small plastic piece which is hold in place by 2 screws. This is like it is with the old NDS (not sure about the newer one), and it obviously makes it impossible to switch batterys on a flight or something. (//Edit: Or we would need a tool which is not like a screwdriver, but somewhat smaller, or some different sort of screws)

 

[cosurgi]

In Poland we are using this kind of plug:

And see more details on various electric plugs in various countries. If I received a Pandora which I'm unable to plug in I'd get a bit upset and went out searching a plug converter on my own.

 

[benjymous]

I'm not sure the Pandora Battery will be that easy to replace. It is unlikely that it will be like a Cell phone. More then likely it will be more like any other music player with a built in battery in that you have to take the whole thing apart to change it. Changing your Pandora battery on the flight to LA is probably not a good idea in the first place.

Nope, that's not true. The devs have already stated that they plan on using an "off the shelf" user replaceable battery, and the renders of the final case clearly show the battery compartment door

 

[cosam]

Question 2: Aside from USB charging i'm assuming there's also a more conventional method being used already, HOWEVER. Not all countries use the same type of electricity standards.

I myself live in a world of 220V accompanied with standard european ( CEE 7/16 Type C and CEE 7/7 Type E and F hybrid, 2-pin 'Europlugs' ) AC plugs, meaning that i can't use the british standard ( BS / Type G, 3-pins ) AC that would probably come with the Pandora, if i ordered it from the UK. Voltages are more less a mystery to me so i'm not going to touch those.

I'd imagine the Pandora will ship with either a universal wall wart or at least one suitable for the country to which it's shipped. If you do end up with a UK-spec wall wart you can use it with a simple 3-to-2-pin adapter as the voltage is the same (or as good as).

Failing that, all the pictures I've seen show a pretty standard looking DC-IN socket, so all you'd need is one of those universal wall warts which outputs the correct voltage and has a plug which fits the Pandora.

 

[Chip]

Also the battery is hidden under a small plastic piece which is hold in place by 2 screws. This is like it is with the old NDS (not sure about the newer one), and it obviously makes it impossible to switch batterys on a flight or something. (//Edit: Or we would need a tool which is not like a screwdriver, but somewhat smaller, or some different sort of screws)

Any battery is "user replaceable" as long as you do not have to destroy the device to get at it (ipod). The battery compartment cover on the Pandora is secured by two phillips head screws.

The intention is that if/when the battery should die, it can be replaced with a new one, not that it should be hot-swapped on a regular basis.

 

[mcfab]

Hi,
As you are talking about battery/recharging I would like to know if Pandora can run only with external power supply (AC adaptor or USB) _without_ its battery plugged in ?
It may seems a weird question, but recently I discovered that many handhelds devices just can't do that! So how to proceed if I want to hotswap a pair of batteries without having to power off the device ?