Where Are Spare Batteries To Be Had?

[javaJake]

Craigix, will you be selling spare batteries, or should I head elsewhere? If I should look in third-party sites, what am I looking for exactly?

...or am I a li'l early in asking? If so, when will that info be available?

 

[Squidge]

The batteries will not like to sit on the shelf, buy them when you have got your Pandora and intend to use the batteries.

 

[goobers]

Yeah, I've lost li-ion batteries by not charging them before. R.I.P. IpaQ.

 

[christo930]

Yeah, I've lost li-ion batteries by not charging them before. R.I.P. IpaQ.

Lithium Ion batteries actually degrade from the moment they are made, whether they are used or not. I am obviously talking averages here. I have a 10yo lithium battery from a thinkpad that still holds it's charge pretty well, but like I said, LI as a whole, degrade from the day they are made and have finite lives regardless of use.
I have bought NOS for a phone I have and every one of them were bad, and that is what made me look into it and I learned more about batteries than I ever wanted to know. There are lots of good files on the internet explaining different battery chemistries and their positives and negative (no pun intended). There is a fairly new chemistry called Lithium Palmer which is really exciting, but like all lithium based batteries and especially in this case, they are highly prone to fire and meltdown. But they need not be placed in a hard case (my ipaq has one and it's a tin foil bag) and all those little remote control flying toys use it because it's so energy dense and so light (especially since it needs no real packaging)

Chris

 

[OrR]

This is the solution I'll be using:
http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/process.html
You can buy a kit here:
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_pag...ex&cPath=10
That way you can keep using all those AA rechargeables you got for your 2X/GBA/Lynx!

 

[goobers]

I love all of the 'minty' stuff. Cool little projects.

On a side note (after jogging my memory about microcontrollers from the minty stuff), I can't wait to use Pandora with my Arduino

 

[javaJake]

The batteries will not like to sit on the shelf, buy them when you have got your Pandora and intend to use the batteries.

OK, good to know. In that case, I'll wait and see if I need it.

 

[God Ginrai]

Yea, I hope there is some accessory that comes out for the Pandora that will act as a battery pack. Like the one for the Sega Nomad, except it would fit IN the battery slot for the Pandora. It could take some battery standard like AAs or something, and that way, if your LiIon battery dies or runs out of juice when you don't have time to charge it, you can pop it out, stick in the battery pack, and put in some AA's or something. This would also help the pandora to stay portable even many years later when they might have stopped making that size or shape LiIon battery and all of yours are dead.

-God Ginrai

 

[whiskthecat]

Yea, I hope there is some accessory that comes out for the Pandora that will act as a battery pack. Like the one for the Sega Nomad, except it would fit IN the battery slot for the Pandora. It could take some battery standard like AAs or something, and that way, if your LiIon battery dies or runs out of juice when you don't have time to charge it, you can pop it out, stick in the battery pack, and put in some AA's or something. This would also help the pandora to stay portable even many years later when they might have stopped making that size or shape LiIon battery and all of yours are dead.

-God Ginrai

Great idea. It would probably add some bulk onto the system but, who cares if you need it.

 

[God Ginrai]

Yea, I hope there is some accessory that comes out for the Pandora that will act as a battery pack. Like the one for the Sega Nomad, except it would fit IN the battery slot for the Pandora. It could take some battery standard like AAs or something, and that way, if your LiIon battery dies or runs out of juice when you don't have time to charge it, you can pop it out, stick in the battery pack, and put in some AA's or something. This would also help the pandora to stay portable even many years later when they might have stopped making that size or shape LiIon battery and all of yours are dead.

-God Ginrai

Great idea. It would probably add some bulk onto the system but, who cares if you need it.


Exactly. I love that Pandora has come to LiIon, but I definitely still want a way that I can use normal batteries if I'm desperate. If the Pandora is half as good as I'm expecting it to be, I'll be playing it for years, and I don't want the reason that I stop to be that I can't just carry it around anymore, because I can't get the right size battery for it. (No way I ever want to be stuck to a plug unless I'm not planning on going anywhere)

-God Ginrai

 

[javaJake]

Weren't the "LiIon"s necessary because AA's don't provide enough juice?

 

[God Ginrai]

Weren't the "LiIon"s necessary because AA's don't provide enough juice?

No, they were chosen because they provided a longer battery life, and made it easy to recharge.

-God Ginrai

 

[OrR]

If your AAs don't provide enough juice for anything, just add more of them. B)

 

[Squidge]

If your AAs don't provide enough juice for anything, just add more of them. B)

Yeah, like the Atari Lynx. 6xAA to give you probably 4 hours?

 

[#1 GameMaster]

If your AAs don't provide enough juice for anything, just add more of them. B)

Yeah, like the Atari Lynx. 6xAA to give you probably 4 hours?

Sounds very similar to the Sega Game Gear. 4 hours of play if you were lucky on 6 AA's.

 

[God Ginrai]

If your AAs don't provide enough juice for anything, just add more of them. B)

Yeah, like the Atari Lynx. 6xAA to give you probably 4 hours?

Sounds very similar to the Sega Game Gear. 4 hours of play if you were lucky on 6 AA's.


And similar to the Nomad. Seems like 6 AAs is a trend! ;P

-God Ginrai

 

[_VWV_]

http://www.mtimicrofuelcells.com/technolog...ctdirection.asp
This should be nice.. maybe for the Pandora MK2.

 

[javaJake]

http://www.mtimicrofuelcells.com/technolog...ctdirection.asp
This should be nice.. maybe for the Pandora MK2.



From that page:
QUOTE

MTI Micro is developing Mobion® cord-free rechargeable power pack technology as a superior solution for powering the multi-billion dollar portable electronics market. MTI Micro's strategy is to enter the market with low power products for use in the consumer electronics industry for applications like cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players and other handheld electronic devices.



Good luck.

 

[Null]

Sounds very similar to the Sega Game Gear. 4 hours of play if you were lucky on 6 AA's.

4 hours? I only ever managed to get 45mins to an hours use out of mine before the batteries died.

 

[goobers]

Sounds very similar to the Sega Game Gear. 4 hours of play if you were lucky on 6 AA's.

4 hours? I only ever managed to get 45mins to an hours use out of mine before the batteries died.


Regular alkaline or Ni-MH?