VisorCentral.com - Prism Battery Extender

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Accessories (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=3)
-- Prism Battery Extender (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=8976)

Posted by Herkimer on 10-29-2000 01:19 AM:

Well that will work if it is the best i can do i guess.....

Posted by MarkEagle on 10-29-2000 01:57 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by tyler
How about "screwing up" a $20 hotsync cable?

Can you actually open the connector shell to gain access to the pins? I thought they were sealed (glue, ultrasonic weld, etc)...

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Posted by kenneth_here on 10-29-2000 01:24 AM:

Hand power generator

That hand power generator mentioned above would probabaly work. Here is another hand generator connected to a palm pilot. Pretty nifty actually. You need translation software to read the Japanese instructions but not to look at the pictures. http://homepage1.nifty.com/jl1bmw/temawasi/charger.htm

Posted by Herkimer on 10-29-2000 04:37 AM:

yes you can open them up with just 4 screws (2 hidden under rubber feet) and then they just pop open but watch close so you can see where the small parts fit back....

Posted by dkessler on 10-31-2000 03:43 PM:

Well, after a little more testing, I've found that the Prism gets very unhappy if the battery extender can't provide enough power to keep the charging circuit going. In testing with a AA battery pack, I found that when the voltage at the connector drops to around 4.8V, the Prism's charging LED stops flashing and just lights continuous (as though it thinks it's fully charged) even though it's battery level is still down around 70%.

To make matters worse, when I droped it in the charging cradle after that, it still wouldn't charge! Just a solid green light. Fortunately a soft-reset cleared the condition and the unit is now charging happily in the cradle. I figured this was worth mentioning so that those of you playing with alternate charging techniques won't experience that moment of "oops, I broke it panic" if you encounter this problem

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Posted by sawbvd on 10-31-2000 05:08 PM:

Solar Panels

dkessler:

I found this site that supplies solar cells, panels, kits and even chargers for pocket PC's. Check it out.

http://www.siliconsolar.com/

Let us know if you think anything will work.

-Scott

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Posted by Herkimer on 11-04-2000 02:25 AM:

Hey guys check out InnoGear MiniJam PowerPack i think is is just what we have been looking for for $19.00

[Edited by Herkimer on 11-13-2000 at 11:01 AM]

Posted by Rob on 11-04-2000 02:49 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Herkimer
Hey guys check out InnoGear MiniJam PowerPack i think is is just what we have been looking for for $19.00

I'm not so sure, Herkimer. From James' earlier review:

http://www.visorcentral.com/article.php3?id=55&pv=2

>Powering the MiniJam
>
> PowerPak Extended Playtime battery pack -- This small battery box holds 4 AA batteries
> and powers the MiniJam directly through the top DC jack of the MiniJam or the Visor cradle
> connector by using a modular cable that allows you to use either end....
> I asked if the PowerPak could be made to power the Visor alone, and unfortunately
> the Visor doesn't have the capability for this.

[Edited by Rob on 11-03-2000 at 09:52 PM]

Posted by JHromadka on 11-04-2000 07:22 PM:

I checked with InnoGear and the PowerPak may be able to charge the Prism. That would be great if it could.

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Posted by Herkimer on 11-04-2000 08:36 PM:

Yes it would. I just sent them an E-Mail my self and made the note that if it will work as a charger they may wish to put this in there ad to sell more power packs, so i will let you all know what they say.

Posted by ByronC on 11-12-2000 05:17 PM:

Full Charger

Hi All,
Maybe the "Full Charger" is what you are looking for?

http://www.extendcomputer.com/html/..._for_visor.html

Byron

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Posted by dkessler on 11-13-2000 12:51 PM:

Re: Full Charger

quote:
Originally posted by ByronC
Hi All,
Maybe the "Full Charger" is what you are looking for?

http://www.extendcomputer.com/html/..._for_visor.html

Full Charger won't work for the Prism ... the Prism's battery is not externally accessible. But the original goal was to find a way to keep the Prism running without a source of A/C power. For recharging off A/C, Handspring is already taking orders for a Prism travel charger.

By the way, for those who have built or are planning to build a Prism battery extender as described at the start of this thread, RadioShack part #276-1114 (available in stores) solves the diode dillema. That part can handle a full 2.5A and has less voltage drop than the 1N4001 spec'd in the original article. I wired mine up with connectors so that I can plug the diode in between the cable and the battery pack. When battery voltage drops too low to keep charging, I unplug it and plug the cable directly into the battery pack. I'm doing a test now to see just how much run time I can get out of four AA batteries - I'll post the results later this week.

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<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by Slacker on 12-06-2000 01:13 PM:

Ok dkessler, here's a challenge for you:

I need a serial cable that I can connect to my GPS that I can also connect a power supply to. My intent is to use it in my vehicle so that I can have unlimited GPS use even on long trips. The auto adapter is an easy Radio Shack buy but the connector that will accept a power input as well as provide serial connectivity is another story. Can you help?

I have a cable I made to connect to my GPS and I probably could add a power connector to it, but I am afraid I would screw it up. What pins would I need to connect the + and - leads to and what should my power adapter provide?

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Posted by Babylon5 on 12-06-2000 04:47 PM:

Re: Re: Full Charger

quote:
Originally posted by dkessler
By the way, for those who have built or are planning to build a Prism battery extender as described at the start of this thread, RadioShack part #276-1114 (available in stores) solves the diode dillema. That part can handle a full 2.5A and has less voltage drop than the 1N4001 spec'd in the original article. I wired mine up with connectors so that I can plug the diode in between the cable and the battery pack. When battery voltage drops too low to keep charging, I unplug it and plug the cable directly into the battery pack. I'm doing a test now to see just how much run time I can get out of four AA batteries - I'll post the results later this week.
[/B]

Well it has been more than a week, what are the results

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Posted by dkessler on 12-07-2000 02:27 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Slacker
Ok dkessler, here's a challenge for you:
I have a cable I made to connect to my GPS and I probably could add a power connector to it, but I am afraid I would screw it up. What pins would I need to connect the + and - leads to and what should my power adapter provide?

The "+" lead from your power supply needs to connect to pin #7 on the hotsync connector (that's the second from the left as you're looking at the front of the Visor). The "-" lead from your power supply would connect to ground which is pin #4 (fourth from the right) on the hotsync connector. Your power supply should provide between 5 and 6 volts DC at up to 2 amps.

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<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by dkessler on 12-07-2000 02:50 PM:

Re: Re: Re: Full Charger

quote:
Originally posted by Babylon5
Well it has been more than a week, what are the results

Oops, I mentioned that in the Emergency Charger thread, but forgot to post it here.

With AA Energizer E^2 alkaline batteries, I was able to get an additional 4 hours of runtime out of my Prism. That's with the backlight averaging about 50%, a lot of keyboard use and hotsyncing and some intermittent CompactFlash use (which hits the batteries pretty hard). It basically doubled my Prism's battery life, so people who are easier on the battery could expect to see even better results.

One thing worth noting is that you will get more out of the AA batteries if you use the battery extender to "top off" frequently rather than recharging when the Prism's battery gets very low.

I'll try a "C" cell battery extender on my next trip to Europe in a couple months. I expect to get about 3 to 4 times the capacity of "AA" batteries. In any case, using the Battery Extender (or TCL's emergency charger for those less inclined to homebrew hardware) definitely brings back the convenience of being able to run off disposable batteries in situations where plugging in an A/C adapter just isn't possible.

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<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by zelchenko on 12-07-2000 06:52 PM:

minstrel s extender?

My Minstrel battery gets low long before my Prism. Anybody have plans on making an extender for the Minstrel? According to the Minstrel charger, it's preset for 5 volts, 2 amps.

Posted by dkessler on 12-07-2000 08:27 PM:

Re: minstrel s extender?

quote:
Originally posted by zelchenko
My Minstrel battery gets low long before my Prism. Anybody have plans on making an extender for the Minstrel? According to the Minstrel charger, it's preset for 5 volts, 2 amps.

If the modem battery charges when the Prism is in the cradle then any of these Prism chargers should charge it as well. Although a 4 pack of AA batteries probably won't last long charging both devices, a charger using "C" or "D" cells would probably work quite well.

If it can't charge from the Prism cradle then the Minstrel developers really dropped the ball.

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<ul><li>Dave Kessler President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by zelchenko on 12-07-2000 08:33 PM:

my guess is no

The Minstrel has a receptical on top where you plug in your charger, so I'm guessing it does not charge through the cradle, but I don't know for sure.

Posted by Visor Guy2 on 12-08-2000 09:09 AM:

Minstrel S

No it does not use the charging cradle, Instead it uses a very common connector used for cd players and such.

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