Innovation: Rechargeable Battery USB Port

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Targol
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Innovation: Rechargeable Battery USB Port




by Targol » 22/09/06, 11:24

The British company Moixa offers rechargeable batteries on a USB port.
Equipped with a standard usb connector or a mini connector, these batteries called "USBCell" are available in different formats.
Some examples :
AAA
Image

9V
Image

laptop batteries
Image

The main advantage is that it is no longer useful to travel with a battery charger, any computer equipped with USB ports will do the trick.

At the level of specifications and price, AA is given for 1.2v 1300mah and is sold £ 12.99 the pack of 2 (or 19.31 €)

For more info: http://www.usbcell.com/
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by Christophe » 22/09/06, 11:39

Crazy! I thought it was a joke ...

It is still difficult to conceive that a USB connector "passes" in a battery diameter R6 ... but finally after checking there remains 2 to 3 mm on the diameter :)

Question: the USB port comes out of constant 5V ... Is this not detrimental to the battery which is in 1.2V? In addition, the battery capacity is necessarily reduced by the decrease in volume.

Otherwise I'm still on the ass that there is money to develop such products (and there is much worse) when we know the future energy problems that we will sooner or later face ...

ps: the 9V battery charged by 5V ... there is therefore necessarily an electronic circuit which refines the voltage in the battery ... unless it is managed by software (if technically possible?)
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by Obelix » 22/09/06, 12:14

Hello,

Anything is possible my good sir!
Especially in electronics ....

Okay, is there someone who wants to hit the performance of the thing ???
I turn on a standard PC, 300 Watts, to get 5Volts, which can charge me with a 1.2 volt battery .....

Have a good day
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by Christophe » 22/09/06, 12:29

Obelix wrote:Okay, is there someone who wants to hit the performance of the thing ??? I turn on a standard PC, 300 Watts, to get 5Volts, which can charge me with a 1.2 volt battery .....


Well I hope it's supposed to be used in addition to something else ... Otherwise, of course, there would be no less econological than that ....

As for varying the voltage of the USB port by software I know nothing about it ...
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by Targol » 22/09/06, 12:41

Christophe wrote:As for varying the voltage of the USB port by software I know nothing about it ...


For that subject, I can answer you right away: the pinout is defined by the port standard and is managed at the hardware level. It is impossible to change it by soft (fortunately besides, if not, hello the cramages of peripheral to the chain).
For info, this pinout is as follows:
Image
with:
  • 1: 5 V DC
  • 2: D +
  • 3: D -
  • 4: Ground


It is therefore obvious that, whatever the final voltage of the battery, the storage elements themselves are reduced by the presence of connectors and electronics.
Hence the big question: what could be the autonomy of such a device compared to a standard rechargeable battery or battery of the same size? :?:
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by I Citro » 22/09/06, 13:18

For me too it is a gadget whose performance is necessarily lower than that of good batteries of equivalent technology.

By the way, what technology is used; NiMh, Li Ion ... :?:

This can only interest gadget lovers or travelers ...

For the possibility of charging a 9V battery (7.2V in fact) with 5V it is quite possible with "pulsed currents". a recent post mentioned an inventor of this technique and his site.

The output is excellent (managed by micro controller) it is simply longer (logical).
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by Targol » 22/09/06, 13:28

citro wrote:By the way, what technology is used; NiMh, Li Ion ... :?:


It's NiMh.

Uhh, moreover, if someone knows, could he explain to us (to me, at least) the differences in terms of pollution, memory effect, capacity, ... of these different techs?
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by elephant » 22/09/06, 13:37

Indeed, I am not sure that it will make the crowds run ...

on the other hand my son has had for several months an MP3 player rechargeable by its USB socket (just like some diaries)
That I really find very good. I think we should extend to cameras, if not already done.
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by Targol » 22/09/06, 13:49

In my opinion, the main interest of this kind of thing will be when they have made batteries compatible with mobile phones.

Indeed, if the thing does not discharge too quickly on its own, it could serve as a backup battery (at the bottom of a bag) instead of those sold in mobile stores and where they are batteries disposable with a connector personalized according to the brand that are sold.

For any other use, it seems to me not very interesting.
Especially since they give 5 hours of charge for an AA !!!
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by Targol » 22/09/06, 14:10

elephant wrote:on the other hand my son has had for several months an MP3 player rechargeable by its USB socket (just like some diaries)
That I really find very good. I think we should extend to cameras, if not already done.


In this case, the philosophy is different. It would be style: as long as you are connected to a USB port to transfer data (MP3 in the case of a player, contacts, appointments and other programs in the case of a calendar or a smartphone), you might as well recharge the batteries at the same time.
It defends itself.
Electric charging without transfer, I'm more skeptical.

In my opinion, there is a kind of fashion phenomenon to plug everything and anything on USB port:

When will the vibrator on USB : Shock: : Lol:
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