Who is smart enough to write a simple program?

Here is what I want: A very simple program that when it runs it simply writes a simple file to the CF memory card. And it continues to do that every minute...over and over and over. It can simply overwrite the existing file or it can incrementally add a new file. It never turns off or quits...just every minute it writes a file.

Now why you might ask...well here is my reasoning.

I'm going to plug in my Mobilepro to an external battery holder containing two 18650 cells. I'm going to pull all the other batteries from the unit and run only on the battery holder. I'm going to charge the batteries in an external charger to full capacity.

Then I am going to start the Mobilepro, have the wifi card active, have an MP3 player running music in a loop, and I'm going to run that program that writes a file to the CF card. I'm thinking max current drain conditions.

When the batteries deplete and the Mobilepro shuts down...I will still be able to pull the CF card and view the last file write. Since I know the time was 12:00 when I started, I should know exactly to the nearest minute when it all died by looking at the file write time.

I can then compare my other 18650s and see how they fare. No silly software battery monitoring or stuff like that...this will be a real world time showing how long the batteries will last. I could even compare my normal Mobilepro batteries...

But I need someone who knows how to write an application to do that...just start, and then every minute write a file to the CF card...nothing else. Any takers? Time to show your stuff!

I'll see of I can do it for you tomorrow.

Did you get what you need? You could configure nPOPuk to check your e-mail account every minute and turn on the log file (SocLog=1) so it would record its attempts.

Never thought about that...might have to give it a try...sounds like that would do the job just fine, especially if I ran it from the CF card...

Thanks.

I never quite got there over the holiday did I, sorry!

No problem...I've been going nuts...I couldn't figure ot why I wasn't able to connect with gmail using npopuk...duh...I kept getting an SSL error. I even tried installing the separate SSL files to no avail...

Of course when you pull the batteries out of a handheld, it helps to reset the date...duh...I feel so stupid some times.

Oh well, makes me appreciate how my wife must feel all the time...

Rich! Shame on you! But I did just have a great laugh though...I really hope your wife never re-reads your osts...you would be in trouble...!

Actually, for what you want to do, Rich, having it fail to connect might be just fine. The log file should still say what time it tried to connect.

-------------------------------- 1/2/2013 7:15:21 AM (recv)
[GJC Gmail] Finding Host...
[GJC Gmail] Connecting...
[GJC Gmail] SSL connect...
[GJC Gmail] verify: ok (0)

Look, I am no scientist...nor am I any electronics engineer, but here are my test results for my own battery benchmark.

And it is possible that I am comparing apples to oranges here, because I didn't charge all the batteries in the same fashion.

For the individual 18650 cells, I used a generic 2 cell charger that I bought on eBay for a couple of bucks. It has overcharge protection built into it, so perhaps the level it charges the batteries to is different than the level the Mobilepro charges the batteries to. And the Ultrafire batteries also have their own circuitry to prevent overcharging and over-discharging of the cells...so perhaps that will make a difference in the overall capacity as well. With those caveats, I will continue.

To drain my batteries, I used my MP790. I used Smalltweak to turn off all the alerts and to keep the system on. The LCD on my 790 was set at maximum brightness. I used an Lucent Orinoco card and made a wifi connection. I used npopuk to keep the card active and it checked my gmail account every minute. I turned off all power saving features on the wifi card and set it for max power. In otherwords, I put as heavy a drain on the thing as I could.

BTW gjcoram, npopuk log file made it so easy...I checked the starting time and subtracted it from the last log entry before the thing went kaput...thanks!

For the batteries, I used the standard MC-BA9..an old one still running after 14 years. I also use an MC-BA14, and a newer Laptops for less 2000mAh battery in a MC-BA9 shell. For the individual 18650 cells, I just hooked them in series and plugged them directly into the power jack on my 790. The Panasonic batteries were pulls from an old HP laptop battery. The Ultrafires are the newest and I just ordered and received them this past month.

The results are shown below. As exepcted, the higher mAh rated cells lasted longer. The Ultrafires did not last as long as you would expect a 4000mAh battery to last. Theoretically they should have doubled the endurance of the LFL MC-BA9. Instead they lasted about somewhere between 3000-3500mAh cells would if the chart holds true. Still, they were significantly more powerful than any of the other cells I had on hand. I have some Sony 3200mAh cells coming...I'll see how they compare to the Ultrafires when they get here...







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Glad to have been of help.

Interetsing, so there is something in higher capacity cells (other than a scam). Good investigation!

Okay...still playing with these 18650 cells. Interestingly enough, the charger makes a difference. When charging using the external 2 cell charger I purchased, the batteries take a higher charge than when charging using the power supply and the built in protection circuit that came with the battery.

Anyways, I've slightly changed the battery holder in my Skeye Pad SL. I ordered and received one of these circuit boards. Pretty simple really, just took about 30 seconds of soldering wires to hook it all up. (picture below)

Now I am using unprotected 18650 cells since the protection is there for whatever battery I stick in.

Also I got my Sony Energytec 18650s in. They are 3200mAh rated and they work far better than the Ultrafire cells. When the Sonys are in place, the built in battery/power level of the CE.NET OS says that I have 91% full power. The best the Ultrafires ever showed was 83%...and they seemed to drain pretty quickly. These Sonys seem to be lasting longer..but maybe it is wishful thinking on my part...not sure.

Anyways, I'm now using unprotected cells in a protected circuit.





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circuit.jpg (11KB - 0 downloads)