Pyra Battery Discussion

[Hồng Thất Công]

There are lots of discussion on Pyra action buttons.  There are lots of discussion on Pyra keyboard layouts.  There are lots of discussion on Pyra logo.  There are even lots of discussion on Pyra slogan.  But there are not a lot of discussion or a thread about the stuff that power the Pyra - the battery.  I know some stuff about the battery were talked about and scattered around and/or embedded in many threads, but there's no thread dedicated to the battery so I created one in hopes to gather all battery related ideas here.

Mods, feel free to move Pyra battery-related disussions in other threads here, if you stumble on them that is

Has the final battery size/type/design been decided?  Or Pyra will just use the exact same battery as Pandora?  If so, this thread is dead upon its birth

Edit:  Also, what would your wish be in the Pyra battery?

 

[TrashyMG]

Automatic message

This topic has been moved from "Pandora → General Talk" to "Pyra → General Talk".

 

[Ziz]

Has the final battery size/type/design been decided?

Yes.

Or Pyra will just use the exact same battery as Pandora?

No.
Ed said, the battery will be a bit bigger and will have 1,5x the capacity.

But with some changes of the battery compartment of the pandora, it would even fit there.

Source: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15722-mipi-keymats-batteries-and-memory//URL] Point 4

 

[_wb_]

Actually this is what ED wrote:

4. Battery Size

You know our main idea was to keep the Pandora battery, so you can use both in both systems.

The Pyra shouldn't need more power for the same tasks as the Pandora (in fact, it should use less), but you probably also want to do things that the Pandora was too slow for. Then power consumption can go up, so a slightly larger battery would help.

That's why we've been checking on this.

Basically, to get 6000mAh (which is 2000 more than the Pandora battery has), we'd need to increase the size of the battery a bit.

4mm in width and 1,2mm in thickness.

On the Pyra, this shouldn't be a big problem, and I think it can be done without increasing the size of the unit (needs a bit more puzzling).

Also, with a frame we could offer, the normal Pandora battery can also be used.

On the Pandora, the width SHOULD be possible (as the current battery compartment is bigger than it should be, the battery moves around so we even need to pad it), and the height would need a slightly changed battery cover, but I should be able to offer that as well.

To get enough width, you might need to file off a bit in the battery compartment, so with a bit of modifying the case, you would be able to use the bigger battery in the Pandora as well... this needs to be checked though, and I will do that with samples.

I think that means that this is something they are currently considering, but no final decisions have been made.

 

[_jr_]

If the Pandora battery is used, would it have problems with the higher currents the Pyra can draw?

 

[levi]

It's unlikely, the Pandora battery can be charged at around 3A without any worries, so it can probably be discarged at higher rates than that without much concern.


I'm a little disturbed by this talk of a thicker battery. Assuming the keymat can't be made much thinner without comprimising its action and the PCB is unlikely to be much thinner, we're left with shrinking the lid (which will likely happen if the speakers move) if we don't want the overall device to be thicker than a Pandora.

 

[WizardStan]

The battery wouldn't care: lithium polymer has discharge rates in the tens of C, over 100C in bursts for newer batteries. Unless the Pyra is so thirsty for power that it is literally trying to suck the battery completely dry in under 60 seconds it will be fine. And if it is trying to use 4000mah in 60 seconds then you've probably got bigger problems than the battery.

 

[_wb_]

It's unlikely, the Pandora battery can be charged at around 3A without any worries, so it can probably be discarged at higher rates than that without much concern.


I'm a little disturbed by this talk of a thicker battery. Assuming the keymat can't be made much thinner without comprimising its action and the PCB is unlikely to be much thinner, we're left with shrinking the lid (which will likely happen if the speakers move) if we don't want the overall device to be thicker than a Pandora.

I think not being thicker overall than a Pandora is a good design goal. A thicker base with a thinner lid sounds good to me -- a thick base is good for ergonomy, as long as it does not weigh too much.

I'm more worried about the weight a bigger battery brings. The weight does not matter much to me when using the device, but when I put it in the pockets of my cargo pants, the Pandora weight is already a bit much.

Does anyone have a weight breakdown of the Pandora components (battery, case, etc.) so we can estimate how the weight could change in the Pyra?

 

[God Ginrai]

My one wish is that we have some way to switch to normal batteries. Even if it means having some toptional clip-on battery pack like the Sega Nomad did. I love the long battery life of the Pandora, but I missed the convenience of AA from the GP2X as well.

-God Ginrai

 

[TrashyMG]

^ Really?

I love the convenience of not buying AA batteries everyday or deal with the rechargeable AA batteries that never last as long as you want them to..

The Nomad I picked up the rechargeable pack as soon as I could as I was buying AAs daily back then.

 

[levi]

If you can still find an external battery pack that discharges to miniUSB, you can use that with the Pandora (though sadly you still can't swap main batteries using that, for a few reasons). Something similar at least, using microUSB should be possible on the pyra. I assume the only reason we haven't all got battery packs like this is the exceptional life of the Pandora's battery.


Regarding a weight breakdown, doesn't ED carry unit weights on his site for replacement case, screen, battery and failed boards? I can't check at present.

 

[God Ginrai]

^ Really?

I love the convenience of not buying AA batteries everyday or deal with the rechargeable AA batteries that never last as long as you want them to..

The Nomad I picked up the rechargeable pack as soon as I could as I was buying AAs daily back then.

Whoa. I did the same with my GBA. But when push came to shove and my rechargeable battery was out of juice and I still wanted to play, I could just pick up some AAs and continue on my merry way.

If you can still find an external battery pack that discharges to miniUSB, you can use that with the Pandora (though sadly you still can't swap main batteries using that, for a few reasons). Something similar at least, using microUSB should be possible on the pyra. I assume the only reason we haven't all got battery packs like this is the exceptional life of the Pandora's battery.

Regarding a weight breakdown, doesn't ED carry unit weights on his site for replacement case, screen, battery and failed boards? I can't check at present.

I want something that mounts on the back. Otherwise you're killing portability.

-God Ginrai

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Can somebody explain why we cannot connect the two Pandora batteries in parallel and bring out one set of contacts?

If this can be done, the 2 Pandora batteries can be put in side by side to take the entire bottom of the base...

 

[TrashyMG]

Can somebody explain why we cannot connect the two pandora batteries in parallel and bring out one set of contacts?

Outside of trying to figure out how to charge it properly with the sense circuit and all.. But it would take up considerable more space and make the device larger. ED solution would give 1.5X extra capacity in nearly the same space as the current battery. what's there to complain about.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

I'm not complaining, I just wonder as I have 4 Pandora batteries and hate to let them sit in the closet doing nothing

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Can somebody explain why we cannot connect the two pandora batteries in parallel and bring out one set of contacts?

Outside of trying to figure out how to charge it properly with the sense circuit and all..

OK how about providing two charging circuits?  Wouldn't it just 3 more extra tiny wires on the board?

 

[Natsu]

I hope that becomes 2X extra capacity.

 

[ShleeDragon]

I really hope the battery is bigger.. thicker.. some additional girth... it'll allow it to keep going.. all night long