Assault and battery....

Well, OK, no assault but there is a battery question. I am very interested in staying up longer...no, no, no, I am not talking about Viagra but about using an h/pc for longer times, away from the recharger...I have read several articles about DIY batteries. I know of a few options. Rechargeable AA, C or D cells; notebook batteries with an adapter to work for the h/pc; lead-acid batteries, etc. Would you mind sharing your knowledge about this topic?

Thanks

T

How about a Die Hard automobile battery....

Imagine the reserve power you would have with that...heck you could stay on for days before needing recharging.

Or, you could simply buy a external rechargeable battery of the right voltage/current/polarity that is made for portable DVD players. They are available in both 7.2, 9, and 12 volts usually, and I've found that it will run my 900C for over 12 hours after completely depleting my normal main battery.

Something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/DYNEX-DX-LI101-PORTABLE-LITHIUM-ION-DVD-BATTERY_W0QQitemZ5825684945QQcategoryZ94888QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rayovac-Universal-Portable-DVD-Rechargeable-Battery_W0QQitemZ5824383161QQcategoryZ40975QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Rich

Thanks! That is one of the great benefits of the net...I would never have thought of applying this other kind of battery to my application.

T

Yes, you can use external lithium batteries, but they need their own charger. If you want to use a lead-acid battery, or make your own battery pack, you will have to know what you are doing. Get the polarities or the amount of power going into the H/PC wrong...and well...lots of smoke.

But essentially, for the nimh batteries of lets say, D size, you will need to get a battery pack with enough cells to give out the 7.2 volts. Or strap a few together. Then, you need to output all the voltage to two wires, negative and positive. After that, you get to take a trip to radioshack, get the plug adaptor of the right size to fit in your H/PC, and then figure out which of the two wires is negative.

Wire it up, seal everything tightly, and you have the battery. Same with the lead-acid, but no need for the battery packs. And, if you drop it, you might have to dodge the drops of sulfuric acid flying towards you.

yes *if* he wants to power a device that has a 7.2V battery by default.
dont forget the 2.4/3.0V ones and the 10.8/11.1V ones

Personally, I'd recommend not running your gadget off straight (i.e. unregulated) external batteries. Too much possibility of over or under-volting your device, just as part of the batteries normal operation, unless you're *positive* the DC input on your device is voltage regulated.

A 3-amp variable voltage regulator is very cheap, and easy to wire up. The 1-amp ones are more common but generally not enough (or barely enough) current output. Run it off a 7Ah sealed lead-acid cell (or two ) and you should have plenty of power.

For that matter, if you're using standard 12V lead-acid cells, there are many "off the shelf" solutions for voltage regulation. Any DC adaptor designed for Auto/Air use would work nicely. Buy yourself a female car socket connector and wire it up to the batteries, the plug off-the-shelf-adapter in to said socket and roll. Easier, but probably more expensive and much less fun.

Haha, I never thought about wiring it like a car adaptor...

But it is definitely not as fun, because you wouldn't learn anything!