A USB AA Battery

http://www.usbcell.com/

Only 1.2v, 1300mah though. Not full 1.5v/1500mah of an Alkali, but still. What a nice idea!

I guess it would eliminate the need of a charging device...but I can't think of any advantage to them over that.

I'll put them into my "another nice idea doomed to failure" category.

I don't know, in the field recharging, easy at work recharging, DC charging. All advantages

They've been out in Canada for the last several years, mostly found at "green" stores, National Park stores and camping/hiking/mountaineering stores. I don't know anyone who has ever tried them so I may have been seeing the same packages over and over again. I can't think of any reason to buy them - too few MHa.

Rick

Edited by Richard Plume 2014-06-12 3:32 PM

Definitely agree on the ma problem and with Rich's sentiment they probably won't be around for long. I still think it's a nice idea, one that might be more useful in AAA.

Now if they would only drive your laptop upon insertion...

At any rate, the hinge looks a little suspect.

Jake

There is only one thing that I'd really like to see with batteries...and that is I wish all handhelds and laptops used 18650s like any other device uses AA or AAA batteries...that is I wish you could just unscrew a cap, lift a lid, open a slot, or whatever and just insert a couple new cells when you need them because they finally quit taking a charge.

That's a good point. And if that happened, there would be a way to set it up so that all companies involved would make money. You'd think with the green movement, there'd be a call for more of a universal approach. But hell, you can't even replace an Apple battery except in a few models.

Jake

1.2 volts is standard for rechargeable alkaline batteries. All the ones I see in stores give that voltage rating. But the capacity of those is pretty low. The ones I see in stores are usually 2450 mAh.

I like the idea, but I imagine that it'd take quite a while to fully charge one cell through a USB port, even to that lower capacity.

The EU has already forced phone makers to use a standardised charger port, so if you hold out long enough the supreme dictators benevolent elected officials in the waste of space time and money EU parliament might hear your plea and mandate compliance.

We are the Borg EU Commission, your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own (and fully funded by someone else). Resistance is futile.

And how do you spell sarcasm?

Or you can come over and light up our neighborhood with European LED replacements, LEDs that Sarah Palin rails against as gov't death panel mind control. I'm as suspicious of central authority as the next person, as long as the next person can spell "light bulb," which I'm not certain she can.

I would follow a leader through this eco mess if I could find one.

Jake

Sarcasm. That's spelt:
E-U-R-O-P-E-A-N- -U-N-I-O-N

Or is that the definition of joke? I'm not sure, the EU does like to redefine things. Cucumbers, other peoples laws, justice.

I'm not against the principle of having the EU, it's more that it's an undemocratic mess that gets to give away other people money with little or no consequence and too often operates for the betterment of the French social state than for the wider necessity. Don't get me started on it wasting money.

Reform it and make it credible or go back to a free trade open market.


Jake, you might find this interesting



Amongst other things, he compares resource consumption between the US, EU and India, it's harrowing.

We do poorly over here, that's for certain. Though in the European and South American countries where I lived, I found littering to be far more extensive, something I never quite figured out. In the US, you no longer see people throw things out the car window; somehow, we learned not to do that.

I just signed a deal with my electric company--they put in a new thermostat, knock twelve bucks off my monthly bill, and during the few critical usage days of summer, they get to cut off my a/c now and then.

A good deal all around; there needs to be more carrot-stick stuff.

Jake

I think that littering is either a sign of affluence that has allowed for education campaigns or the mark of a totalitarian state approach on the subject (Singapore). I wouldn't say that the British or the French are a nation of litterers - the British are a nation of failing to clean-up-er-ers so when we have storms and bins get knocked over local authorities don't clean it up, ever. You do get that clash around socio-economic boundaries though people who culturally aren't interested or have come from a place (EU open borders) where they haven't spend the first 18 years of their life being drilled on the message of anti-littering, anti-spitting, anti-chewing gum etc.

Quite by coincidence the regional media were up in arms about http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/travellers-set-up-camp-and-bury-london-park-under-mountains-of-rubbish-in-just-three-days-9533965.html yesterday. A park between where I live and the nearest town was invaded about 8 years ago. They smashed all the fences so they could drive on it. Wrecked the playing fields, playground, flower beds. Rendered the cricket pitch useless and were finally turfed off after a week. After the council got the repair bill they spent even more money building earth mound banks around the entire site at massive expense to ensure it wouldn't happen again. Of course they just became some other towns problem.


So does this just shut off the AC unit (one circuit) or other things too? Sounds like a good idea I suppose if it's subsidising industry. If it's subsidising rich people who don't want their power turned off then I'd object. We don't have the power issues that you do in the US over here (yet). We don't have a climate that requires AC. That said it may not be long until we do have power issues, there haven't been enough high capacity power stations built here in the last 20 years and no nuclear since 1995 despite the fact that all bar one of the existing fission reactors will EOL by 2023. To get them to EOL in 2023 rather than 2019 the government a couple of weeks ago had to allow the (entirely foreign owned, off shore) plant owners to lower safety standards in order to extend the reactor life. Yay!

Did you watch the Mark Maslin video?