rcxAsh

I'm beginning to believe bongarcon about the 5.6V being fine for the Clies. I have yet to try it out properly, but I have charged my UX40 with four alkaline AA batteries. Granted, they were used elsewhere before, so their voltage may already have dropped some.. but nothing was fried. I have charged my UX40 fully twice with those batteries, and AFAIK, there is still some power left in those batteries.

The next time I get some fresh alkaline batteries, I'll try them out. (On my SJ20 first though of course)

__________________
/* rcxAsh */
SJ20 ..> TG50 + WiFi MS ..> UX40 + SGH-E730 ..> SE P990i ..> Lifebook T4010D + Nokia 5800 XM
Let's hope that's the end for me...

bongarcon

4 Alkaline batteries will give 6V totally. What out for that.
They may be safe for a short time but may put too much stress to your circuit or device and shorten your device life. That is only a possibility. Unless we can have the schematic of the circuit, we will never know.

To be safe, I would suggest using Ni-MH rechargable but not Alkaline or ordinary 1.5V batteries.

rcxAsh

Thanks for the warning. I'll stick with lower voltage batteries for now..

Thing is though, from what I gather online, I notice that the official Sony AA battery packs (for Clies that use the standard connector) don't mention anything about not using alkaline batteries.

So I'm just wondering about those. Does anyone have one? If those don't have anything extra inside, then perhaps the Clie's are ok with that much voltage? These are all just thoughts with no weight though.

Or, then again, the UX series could be different since they were never meant to be used with AA battery packs anyways.

I'm still curious about this, because I don't have any NiHM batteries. I initially started using NiCad batteries, but they really don't last long. Alkalines are ubiquitous.

__________________
/* rcxAsh */
SJ20 ..> TG50 + WiFi MS ..> UX40 + SGH-E730 ..> SE P990i ..> Lifebook T4010D + Nokia 5800 XM
Let's hope that's the end for me...

JAmerican

antoinepierre actually used 4 AA batteries in an extender and charged his device with it. It seemed as if he did this on a regular basis with no problems. I think the USB restricts the power to 5V even though 6V is being sent.

JAmerican

__________________
JAmerican

Handspring Treo 90 --> Royal RG135nx --> T-Mobile Sidekick --> T-Mobile Sidekick Color --> PEG-UX40 -- > PEG-UX50--> Samsung T629 (Returned) -- > Palm TX (SOLD)/T-Mobile Sony Ericsson T610(Defective) --> T-Mobile Dash(Broken Screen) --> ASUS EEE 1000H Black/Treo 800w/PEG-VZ90

Accesories: Transcend 16GB SDHC | 8GB Transcend microSD

rcxAsh

I'm actually not using USB. I'm using the JC40.

I wonder about the USB cable restricting the voltage to 5V, because it doesn't seem to have anything inside it to do that..? If it's just the wire you're using, wouldn't anything you pump through it work?

Of course, I don't know either. Would love to hear more about this.

I'm guessing that the Clie has some kind of resistor to get it down to the right voltage.. but as bongarcon says, it still may not be a good idea..? The resistor may be handling it, but for how long/well/safely is what I understand he's saying.

Any comments about the official Sony AA pack though? Anyone have one?

__________________
/* rcxAsh */
SJ20 ..> TG50 + WiFi MS ..> UX40 + SGH-E730 ..> SE P990i ..> Lifebook T4010D + Nokia 5800 XM
Let's hope that's the end for me...

bongarcon

SONY's battery pack may have DC-to-DC components inside the box so the output voltage is always regulated to standard 5.2V. With 4 Alkalines AA batteries, the original voltage of the batteries will range from 6V discharged down to 4V, and the output still hang on ~ 5V. That's what DC-to-DC do: a range of inputs will output a designed fixed voltage.

Since our UX50 is so precious, I would suggest using Ni-MH only, not Alkalines. Well, unless you have inside DC-to-DC to limit output voltage.

Usually you won't see any damage but it is theoretically harmful to the electrical charateristics which may cause your device charge no more in the long run. Maybe 2 year or 3 year, no one knows. Over stress is always not good at all, anyway.

On the other way, if SONY's battery pack is just a box with 4 battery connectors, and cost you more than $30 (maybe) ?? That's not possible for me. :-)
Anyway, using 4 Ni-MH is much safer and cheaper.

rcxAsh, you're the first one that I heard about having no Ni-MH but own a PDA. :-)

Danj

I've been looking for a cheaper way to extend battery life on my UX50 than the EB40 and I actually found this thread on Google. I've read it with interest but unfortunately it seems like this leather Brando charging case thing is no longer available? What do you guys suggest as an alternative?

vwovw

i've seen them on ebay recently. I just think a $150 is to much. plus they stopped making them when? So how long can the battery stay good in a package for three plus years.

rcxAsh

You could try what I did instead, which is instead of using the USB cradle, just use your stock cradle. You will want to have an extra AC adapter though. I cut off the tip, and wired it to a battery pack. It's analogous to what everyone was doing with the USB cradle. If you only have one AC adapter, you can possibly make the tip modular, so that you can easily connect and disconnect it from either the AC adapter or your battery pack. This was my original plan, but I never got around to it.

Not sure if you're still reading this, bongarcon, but yah, I had no Ni-MH batteries in AA form! I think I have a few now, but they're for my digital camera.

__________________
/* rcxAsh */
SJ20 ..> TG50 + WiFi MS ..> UX40 + SGH-E730 ..> SE P990i ..> Lifebook T4010D + Nokia 5800 XM
Let's hope that's the end for me...

Naderro

Does anyone know if one wires two Clie rechargeable batteries in parallel that will turn them into an extended battery?