Universal Portable Battery Charger

[Costas Athan]

I wonder if there is any reputable company that makes portable chargers like this one ==> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10000mAh-...107277?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item3a7988bbcd

 

[Ksyder]

I wonder if there is any reputable company that makes portable chargers like this one ==> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10000mAh-...107277?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item3a7988bbcd

http://www.amazon.com/Anker-10000mAh-External-GT-P1000-GT-P1000N/dp/B005NGLTZQ

 

[Costas Athan]

http://www.amazon.com/Anker-10000mAh.../dp/B005NGLTZQ

Thanks! If there are other options I would like to hear them too.

 

[zerogear]

http://www.amazon.com/New-Trent-comp...=trent+battery

New Trent 12000mAh

Is there any capacity you're looking for?

 

[Costas Athan]

http://www.amazon.com/New-Trent-comp...=trent+battery

New Trent 12000mAh

Is there any capacity you're looking for?

The bigger the better as the price stays reasonable.

Actually I'm not in a hurry to buy. I'm just looking around. I would like one for my GoPro. I had used my laptop as a charger for it in the past (on a long road trip). And I filmed all these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oNnrb2MhL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8CdFNxYUvs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swISDdA0Wis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vy9aUOMrR8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG9LJfLm8r0

So if a laptop is able to fully charge it I'm not so sure I need an external battery. But I'm exploring that direction.

 

[zerogear]

If you're on the road/car, can't you just charge it through the AC/USB adapter?

 

[Costas Athan]

If you're on the road/car, can't you just charge it through the AC/USB adapter?

While using it? It's in the housing. You can't connect anything then... And when you turn the engine off the car's lighter has no power. So I don't think it is possible.

 

[Ksyder]

Hey Costas Athan great driving videos by the way... makes me want to go visit Greece. Looks like a beautiful place.

 

[phucheneh]

While using it? It's in the housing. You can't connect anything then... And when you turn the engine off the car's lighter has no power. So I don't think it is possible.

How does the product you're looking for solve the issue? It still has to charge the battery via its own battery. It should put out the same voltage as a USB port or other charging source.

Also, did you check all the outlets on your car? Some vehicles have one or more that stay on while the car is off. I drive a Mazda, which has one 'always on' inside the console, and one switched one in front of the shifter. If you know someone who's good with electrical, it's also quite easy to change one from switched to constant power (emphasis on 'good with electrical;' don't let someone make a fire hazard in your car).

I'm not quite sure why these need to be as expensive as they are...Wouldn't you be able to use cheaper NiMH batteries to recharge your phone, so long as the voltage is right? I mean, could I just put together a 'hobby' battery back at the right voltage and throw a USB connector on the end? The regulation for normal charging is in the phone.

Although I guess you'd also need to regulate the other source. Not a problem with constant DC power, but the voltage of any kind of battery pack is going to change as it discharges...hmm. Has me thinking. As cheap as they can make battery chargers for AA's and the like now, I wonder how cheaply you could make a simple regulating device that works the other way ('charge a phone with any AA batteries! As seen on TV!' )

edit: oh wow, a 5v regulating circuit is even simpler than I thought. Even without mass production, I think I could build a charger than uses generic batteries for next to nothing...

 

[Costas Athan]

Hey Costas Athan great driving videos by the way... makes me want to go visit Greece. Looks like a beautiful place.

It is. I believe that you can find beautiful places almost in every country and Greece is not the exception. I think that you won't regret it if you make a visit.

How does the product you're looking for solve the issue? It still has to charge the battery via its own battery. It should put out the same voltage as a USB port or other charging source.

Also, did you check all the outlets on your car? Some vehicles have one or more that stay on while the car is off. I drive a Mazda, which has one 'always on' inside the console, and one switched one in front of the shifter. If you know someone who's good with electrical, it's also quite easy to change one from switched to constant power (emphasis on 'good with electrical;' don't let someone make a fire hazard in your car).

I'm not quite sure why these need to be as expensive as they are...Wouldn't you be able to use cheaper NiMH batteries to recharge your phone, so long as the voltage is right? I mean, could I just put together a 'hobby' battery back at the right voltage and throw a USB connector on the end? The regulation for normal charging is in the phone.

Although I guess you'd also need to regulate the other source. Not a problem with constant DC power, but the voltage of any kind of battery pack is going to change as it discharges...hmm. Has me thinking. As cheap as they can make battery chargers for AA's and the like now, I wonder how cheaply you could make a simple regulating device that works the other way ('charge a phone with any AA batteries! As seen on TV!' )

edit: oh wow, a 5v regulating circuit is even simpler than I thought. Even without mass production, I think I could build a charger than uses generic batteries for next to nothing...

How it would solve the problem? Isn't it obvious? It would charge GoPro's battery.

As I said while the camera is in use it's in the housing and it isn't possible to connect anything to it. While the car is parked (with the engine turned off) the lighter's receptacle has no power. The car has no other power outlets.

In order to make your own charger you should know the input voltage of the device. Even if the device has a regulator obviously you can't connect any voltage to it.

And of course a simple battery wouldn't make it to charge a high capacity Li-ion battery. If you have a battery that is 1000 mAh (that means it can deliver 1A for an hour) and in order to charge your device's battery you need 700mA for 4 hours for example, then the 1000 mAh battery isn't enough. You should use a 2800 mAh battery of the right voltage in this case.

 

[Imp]

I have a GoPro and have also used it to film a bunch of stuff in the car.

Here's what I use:
http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-Camera-A...eleton+housing

The Skeleton Housing allows you to plug your unit into the cigarette lighter, which charges the battery and runs off the car. Since the battery is still there, you'd have 2-ish hours (Hero 2, I hear the Hero 3 is worse) of run time. If you need to run it strictly off battery, then...

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-PowerUp-...=antec+powerup

It's from Antec and the most reputable company that I know of that makes power related stuff. I don't have one, but am thinking of getting one because it costs the same as a GoPro Battery Bacpac, which just adds one more battery. This Antec device is rated at 3000 mah compared to a GoPro's 1100 mah capacity. Antec also makes a 6000 mah model too for more money.

But you said you can't connect anything to it when it's in the housing, so that means you should probably get the Skeleton Housing first. The GoPro 2 is now "old" and most stores are clearing their old stock out. You might be able to get one for cheap.

As for charging from the car, I use my Garmin GPS cable, which is 1 amp. GoPro website says that minimum is 1 amp to run and charge it at the same time..

Edit: You might also want to think about adding a battery Bacpac. The older model is on sale in my country for only $35. I was going to get one, then decided not to. I only have one battery, so it'd be more for insurance.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=80c5cf18aafae8a9ea505a77418d0e0den02

The new model should also work, but it's designed differently with a non-removable battery.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=80c5cf18aafae8a9ea505a77418d0e0den02

You can ship to Greece from GoPro official store:
http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/hd-skeleton-housing

 

[Costas Athan]

I have a GoPro and have also used it to film a bunch of stuff in the car.

Here's what I use:
http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-Camera-A...eleton+housing

The Skeleton Housing allows you to plug your unit into the cigarette lighter, which charges the battery and runs off the car. Since the battery is still there, you'd have 2-ish hours (Hero 2, I hear the Hero 3 is worse) of run time. If you need to run it strictly off battery, then...

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-PowerUp-...=antec+powerup

It's from Antec and the most reputable company that I know of that makes power related stuff. I don't have one, but am thinking of getting one because it costs the same as a GoPro Battery Bacpac, which just adds one more battery. This Antec device is rated at 3000 mah compared to a GoPro's 1100 mah capacity. Antec also makes a 6000 mah model too for more money.

But you said you can't connect anything to it when it's in the housing, so that means you should probably get the Skeleton Housing first. The GoPro 2 is now "old" and most stores are clearing their old stock out. You might be able to get one for cheap.

As for charging from the car, I use my Garmin GPS cable, which is 1 amp. GoPro website says that minimum is 1 amp to run and charge it at the same time..

Edit: You might also want to think about adding a battery Bacpac. The older model is on sale in my country for only $35. I was going to get one, then decided not to. I only have one battery, so it'd be more for insurance.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=80c5cf18aafae8a9ea505a77418d0e0den02

The new model should also work, but it's designed differently with a non-removable battery.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=80c5cf18aafae8a9ea505a77418d0e0den02

You can ship to Greece from GoPro official store:
http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/hd-skeleton-housing

Thank you very much for your time posting to this thread!

The price of the Skeleton Housing (45 €) is more expensive than the AP-6000. I don't see a reason buying one except that you can use an external microphone with it. (GoPro's bult-in microphone is of low quality).

And with the external battery you can charge other devices too. The only thing is that you can use other devices as external batteries one in a while, like a laptop or a tablet. So I'm not so sure that an external battery is really necessary.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I have the Anker 10000mah and it works great for charging my phone up. It's quite a brick though.

 

[phucheneh]

How it would solve the problem? Isn't it obvious? It would charge GoPro's battery.

As I said while the camera is in use it's in the housing and it isn't possible to connect anything to it. While the car is parked (with the engine turned off) the lighter's receptacle has no power. The car has no other power outlets.

In order to make your own charger you should know the input voltage of the device. Even if the device has a regulator obviously you can't connect any voltage to it.

And of course a simple battery wouldn't make it to charge a high capacity Li-ion battery. If you have a battery that is 1000 mAh (that means it can deliver 1A for an hour) and in order to charge your device's battery you need 700mA for 4 hours for example, then the 1000 mAh battery isn't enough. You should use a 2800 mAh battery of the right voltage in this case.

Erm. You're definitely misunderstanding some stuff. I may be, as well.

The 'how it solves anything' comment: Charging from a regulated 5v source, be it battery, computer, car charger, ect...it all yields the same result. Ohm's law is in effect here. Apply 5v DC to the same item, and the same amount of current will flow, independent of the source of the 5v.

I thought you were saying you didn't want to use chargers because there would be a cable connected to the phone...when the devices you're talking about would still charge via the same cable connection.

I'm aware you can't connect any voltage to a cellphone. There is specific reasoning for their use of 3.7v lithium batteries and a 5v charging source. I was just saying you could take a battery pack of 6-7v and make a very simple 5v regulator that would negate problems with the variation of voltage. This is not terribly relevant, I was just thinking out loud.

That last bit of your post, though, implies that you're not really understanding the theory here. Yes, you can charge a 2000mAH phone battery with a 1000mAH source. It would simply be impossible to get beyond a half a charge (in reality it would be less than half).

The 'amp hour' is a unit that combines electrical flow and time. Saying you need '700mAH for four hours' is a nonsensical statement. The time is already factored into the first measurement. What you need is 5v for a certain number of hours. The state of charge of the battery (which essentially acts as the 'load,' or the consumer of voltage) will dictate the rate at which current flows. It is the voltage differential between the charging source and battery voltage that causes current to flow; it has nothing to do with the rated capacity of either the 'source' or 'destination' battery.

 

[Costas Athan]

Erm. You're definitely misunderstanding some stuff. I may be, as well.

The 'how it solves anything' comment: Charging from a regulated 5v source, be it battery, computer, car charger, ect...it all yields the same result. Ohm's law is in effect here. Apply 5v DC to the same item, and the same amount of current will flow, independent of the source of the 5v.

I thought you were saying you didn't want to use chargers because there would be a cable connected to the phone...when the devices you're talking about would still charge via the same cable connection.

I'm aware you can't connect any voltage to a cellphone. There is specific reasoning for their use of 3.7v lithium batteries and a 5v charging source. I was just saying you could take a battery pack of 6-7v and make a very simple 5v regulator that would negate problems with the variation of voltage. This is not terribly relevant, I was just thinking out loud.

That last bit of your post, though, implies that you're not really understanding the theory here. Yes, you can charge a 2000mAH phone battery with a 1000mAH source. It would simply be impossible to get beyond a half a charge (in reality it would be less than half).

The 'amp hour' is a unit that combines electrical flow and time. Saying you need '700mAH for four hours' is a nonsensical statement. The time is already factored into the first measurement. What you need is 5v for a certain number of hours. The state of charge of the battery (which essentially acts as the 'load,' or the consumer of voltage) will dictate the rate at which current flows. It is the voltage differential between the charging source and battery voltage that causes current to flow; it has nothing to do with the rated capacity of either the 'source' or 'destination' battery.

I know Ohms law. I didn't refer anywhere to it. What do you want to say? The external battery solves the problem because it can charge the camera even if the car's engine is turned off (unlike the car's lighter which has no power when the engine isn't running). That was what I meant. That's how an external battery solves the problem.

I didn't write anywhere about 700 mAh for four hours. That's what I wrote:

And of course a simple battery wouldn't make it to charge a high capacity Li-ion battery. If you have a battery that is 1000 mAh (that means it can deliver 1A for an hour) and in order to charge your device's battery you need 700mA for 4 hours for example, then the 1000 mAh battery isn't enough. You should use a 2800 mAh battery of the right voltage in this case.

I wrote 700mA for 4 hours, not 700mAh for hours as you can see! And yes we agree that you can charge a battery using one with less capacity, but in that case you can't fully charge it. If you do the math in the example I gave 700mA * 4 hours = 2800 mAh. I was calculating the mAh for a full charge. And that was the example all about. To show that in this case a 1000 mAh external battery wouldn't be enough for a full charge.