4 ms·

Or get a phone charger that runs on AA batteries

bubuga 10y ago
> Or get a phone charger that runs on AA batteries This. There are cellphone chargers on ebay that cost $1 and take AA batteries, which are quite capable of charging any phone that supports the USB charging interface. I bought one to use when I travel abroad and it works very well.
- reustle 10y ago
  > There are cellphone chargers on ebay that cost $1 and take AA batteries, which are quite capable of charging any phone that supports the USB charging interface Please do not plug your $600~ smartphone into a $1~ charger. That's just asking for trouble.
  - Dylan16807 10y ago
    A 3 to 5 volt booster is not easily going to damage a phone. But fine, get a $5 model from a reputable brand. You can also get an entire phone for $10. It will even have a screen! Don't spend $50 on a piece of garbage.
  - bubuga 10y ago
    > Please do not plug your $600~ smartphone into a $1~ charger. That's just asking for trouble. You're assuming that supplying 5v to a cellphone through a 5v USB charger is something that damages the phone.
  - ars 10y ago
    > Please do not plug your $600~ smartphone into a $1~ charger. That's just asking for trouble. Why? Do you think they'll fight because they don't make the same amount of money?
reidacdc 10y ago
Yes, this is very easy. One of my favorite features of my olde Palm IIIxe PDA was that it ran on batteries you could buy at the drugstore, and I wanted that for my smartphone, so I have an AA-to-micro-usb device ("AA power bank charger") that get me there. Ten bucks on Amazon, probably you can do better if you shop around.
nickpsecurity 10y ago
I didn't know those exist. What's the comparison like vs this phone? As in, one AA battery provides 10 hours worth of talk time per their claims. How many times or how much charge do you get from the USB version?
- icebraining 10y ago
  How many times or how much charge do you get from the USB version? Considering that different phones consume different amounts of energy, and that different AA batteries have different capacities, that's hard to say. If you carry a Wiko Lubi like me, you can probably talk more than 10h with a single battery. If you carry an energy-hungry smartphone, you'll probably get an order of magnitude less.
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    Gotcha. Makes sense.
- int_19h 10y ago
  It all depends on the phone, obviously. With a Nexus 5 and 4 Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries, I could recharge it to 100%, and then once again to 50%.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  Lets try some math. Most mobile batteries today is 3.7V. An AA is 1.5V (rechargeable AAs are 1.2V). Once that is established, it all comes down to the mAh. Most AAs sold these days are listed as 2500mAh, multiply that with 1.5V and you get 3.750 Watts. Note that this is very close to what you get from a 1000mAh li-ion battery found in many phones (3.7*1000=3700). Now with a external li-ion emergency battery you will get conversion losses, as it has to go up to 5V for the USB and then back down again at the other end.
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    Very interesting and EE-like approach. :)
pchristensen 10y ago
This was hard to search for. Here's one that looks ok: http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Power-Bank-Charger-97928/dp/B007MLHS2S http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Power-Bank-Charger-97928/dp/B...
- digi_owl 10y ago
  One thing to note is that it will at most produce 1A, and many variants may well balk at giving out more than 500mA (and only do so to Apple devices).

> Or get a phone charger that runs on AA batteries This. There are cellphone chargers on ebay that cost $1 and take AA batteries, which are quite capable of charging any phone that supports the USB charging interface. I bought one to use when I travel abroad and it works very well.

reustle 10y ago
> There are cellphone chargers on ebay that cost $1 and take AA batteries, which are quite capable of charging any phone that supports the USB charging interface Please do not plug your $600~ smartphone into a $1~ charger. That's just asking for trouble.
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  A 3 to 5 volt booster is not easily going to damage a phone. But fine, get a $5 model from a reputable brand. You can also get an entire phone for $10. It will even have a screen! Don't spend $50 on a piece of garbage.
- bubuga 10y ago
  > Please do not plug your $600~ smartphone into a $1~ charger. That's just asking for trouble. You're assuming that supplying 5v to a cellphone through a 5v USB charger is something that damages the phone.
- ars 10y ago
  > Please do not plug your $600~ smartphone into a $1~ charger. That's just asking for trouble. Why? Do you think they'll fight because they don't make the same amount of money?

reidacdc 10y ago

Yes, this is very easy. One of my favorite features of my olde Palm IIIxe PDA was that it ran on batteries you could buy at the drugstore, and I wanted that for my smartphone, so I have an AA-to-micro-usb device ("AA power bank charger") that get me there. Ten bucks on Amazon, probably you can do better if you shop around.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

I didn't know those exist. What's the comparison like vs this phone? As in, one AA battery provides 10 hours worth of talk time per their claims. How many times or how much charge do you get from the USB version?

icebraining 10y ago
How many times or how much charge do you get from the USB version? Considering that different phones consume different amounts of energy, and that different AA batteries have different capacities, that's hard to say. If you carry a Wiko Lubi like me, you can probably talk more than 10h with a single battery. If you carry an energy-hungry smartphone, you'll probably get an order of magnitude less.
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  Gotcha. Makes sense.
int_19h 10y ago
It all depends on the phone, obviously. With a Nexus 5 and 4 Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries, I could recharge it to 100%, and then once again to 50%.
digi_owl 10y ago
Lets try some math. Most mobile batteries today is 3.7V. An AA is 1.5V (rechargeable AAs are 1.2V). Once that is established, it all comes down to the mAh. Most AAs sold these days are listed as 2500mAh, multiply that with 1.5V and you get 3.750 Watts. Note that this is very close to what you get from a 1000mAh li-ion battery found in many phones (3.7*1000=3700). Now with a external li-ion emergency battery you will get conversion losses, as it has to go up to 5V for the USB and then back down again at the other end.
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  Very interesting and EE-like approach. :)

pchristensen 10y ago

This was hard to search for. Here's one that looks ok: http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Power-Bank-Charger-97928/dp/B007MLHS2S http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Power-Bank-Charger-97928/dp/B...

digi_owl 10y ago
One thing to note is that it will at most produce 1A, and many variants may well balk at giving out more than 500mA (and only do so to Apple devices).