USB Batteries

An anonymous reader writes "Tired of paying for new batteries all the time? Tired of searching for the charger for your rechargeable batteries? Worry not, because these new AA batteries will recharge direct from your USB port! This is such a cool idea, that I cant believe that no one has done it before." At $24 each I would hate to lose or break them on a regular basis.

Yay! Yet another use for powered USB ports.

[B3ryllium (571199)]

Too bad the one in my keyboard is unpowered, and my tower is in such an awkward position. :(

Re:

[The MAZZTer (911996)]

That's nothing, I have six ports, and only the two in front are powered. Needless to say I wasn't the one who did that. Also, there is a mic port and a headphone port in front, both of which have a solid piece of plastic behind them. I mean, I wouldn't mind if they had removed the ports, but when I first got this comp I tried forever to figure out how the hell I was supposed to fit my plug in (it's impossible to see it's solid plastic unless you open up the case and look inside).

Re: CmdrTaco

[dch24 (904899)]

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad.

Lame.

Yep...and...

[msauve (701917)]

in addition to having less capacity, and being very much more expensive, they recharge more slowly than regular rechargables do in a dedicated charger. If you're putting them into a USB port which is ultimately AC powered, well, why not just use a faster, cheaper, charger.

And if someone plans on charging off a notebook running under battery power, do they really intend (or are they even able) to run the notebook for the 5 hours needed to recharge these?

This makes no sense at all, and are certainly nothing to be "excited about." So much for "trusted reviews."

Re:Yep...and...

[snarkh (118018)]

Very simple -- if you are travelling, you can recharge them from your notebook when it is plugged in. You don't have to carry an extra charger with you.

Re:

[msauve (701917)]

You can easily find rechargable AA cells with twice the capacity of what they offer, and if you're travelling, Sanyo and Maha both make fast rechargers that don't take up any more room than a pair of socks. I have a Sanyo NC-MQH01U, which I got from Costco, complete with 6 2500 mAH AA cells and 2 AA cells, for a bit over $20, less than the cost of two of those 1300 mAH USB batteries. And it will recharge those batteries in a bit over an hour (if charging two at a time), instead of 5.

Not so fast...

[crazyjeremy (857410)]

Not so fast fellow /.ers. This new product may not be all it's cracked up to be for their price... Unless you have lots of extra ports on your computer and your electronics do not need strong batteries.

USBCELL batteries have a capacity of 1300mAH which is in line with most NiCd and NiMH batteries though some do go all the way up to 2500mAH. It takes five hours to charge a completely flat battery and an LED on the side will light up to indicate charging, flash for 10 minutes after charging is complete as an alert and switch off after that.

Uhm... First of all, using USB for this is generally a bad idea. But if you do want to charge batteries via USB: 1300 mAH is NOT in line with most NiCd and NiMH batteries selling these days. The standard for 4 off brand NIMH batteries from Walmart right now is $6 for 2000 mAH to 2500 mAH (depending on if they've restocked recently as the Generic Brand has upped their standard capacity for AA's).
Let's break this down.

4 batteries - $6 at Walmart for off brand or $10 - $15 for 4 name brand rechargables.
Cheap AA/AAA USB Charger $8 from tiger direct. [tigerdirect.com]
OR
Better AA/AAA USB Charger $20 from tiger direct. [tigerdirect.com]

The cheapest route gives you 4 batteries, each with twice the mAH for $14 plus shipping. The most expensive route gives you the same thing for $30 plus shipping. Either way, buying a battery with only 1300 mAH nowadays is like buying a midsized car with a 50 hp engine.

Bottom line? For novelty reasons, these batteries look interesting and you do not need to carry an additional charger. But at around $16 US apiece they are expensive and WAY underpowered. Additionally, you need one USB slot for each. If you buy a regular USB charger and use standard rechargeable batteries, you can charge several (up to 4) with one USB slot and spend half the money.

Conclusion? It's a neat novelty backup backup. But it is way to expensive.

These are $24 apice, not $16?

[crazyjeremy (857410)]

Whoops, I meant $24 apice, not 16. Man that's even worse.

Re:

[alienw (585907)]

You are wrong. The usb port provides 500mA AT 5 VOLTS. If you convert that down to 1.5V with a buck converter, you could charge a 2500mAh battery in under 1.5 hours.

Different approach...

[Nefarious Wheel (628136)]

What about making a little removable USB cap that fits over the rechargeable AA? Don't know how you'd hit the bottom electrode though.

Re:Not so fast...

[by Anonymous Coward]

Well sure, for AA it's pointless. But what if you could charge a laptop battery with it? With two of them you could charge the main battery and the spare and never run dry!

"In this house we obey the laws of Thermodynamics!"

Re:You can't charge laptop batteries via USB.

[ncc74656 (45571)]

Well sure, for AA it's pointless. But what if you could charge a laptop battery with it? With two of them you could charge the main battery and the spare and never run dry!

Do you understand the power and current it takes to charge a laptop battery?

That sound you hear is the joke whooshing over your head. The Simpsons quote should've been a major tipoff.

Yes but you can't lose it

[goombah99 (560566)]

Imagine you are on travel. Your battery is discharged. Well it's pretty certain you know where your expensive computer is. And it's pretty certain you know where the battery is--it's the damn thing you need to charge. But where the heck did I misplace that charger. Oh damn, it's at home. Or it's at work or it's in the other computer's computer bag. Out of luck.

Re:

[hyfe (641811)]

Conclusion? It's a neat novelty backup backup. But it is way to expensive.

Heh, capacity is only a big deal if charging / switching is a pain.

For any computer with a cordless mouse/keyboard, this sounds like a god send. Have two sets, always keep one charged, and your battery troubles will be over forever*. Sounds practical as hell too me.

* albeit the lower end of forever.

Re:Not so fast...

[Pharmboy (216950)]

Until somebody comes out with a standard DC power connector, the answer to your question is "yes".

Ha! I can show you two dozen different standard DC power connectors here in my desk drawer...

"An anonymous reader writes..."

[by Anonymous Coward]

And not affiliated with the product in any way.

Thanks for another Slashvert.

More like $22 each

[hudsonhawk (148194)]

The little "L" like symbol means pounds not dollars.

It's what those crazy Brits use as money.

Re:

[mustafap (452510)]

And you guys only use dollars because

Micro$oft looks rubbish spelt as Micro£oft

Re:More like $22 each

[gutnor (872759)]

Micro£oft

that pretty much summarise my renting experience in London.

Good Point

[Bill, Shooter of Bul (629286)]

So what Brittish companies can we ridicule with the £?

Obviously ££oyds of £ondon
Lets think... there's the £and Rover, although not really Brit owned now.
Virgin Air£ines?
Che£sea footba££ C£ub?
anything that has Eng£and in its name
How could anyone forget the Roya£ Fami£y?
GlaxoSmithK£ine is Brittish based and thats a good one, a drug company we know they on£y care about money
Uni£ever is also Brittish

an

Re:

[Tim Browse (9263)]

any other suggustions

Yes - cut to the song; the routine's not working.

Not really new...

[Rorschach1 (174480)]

I used to have 'D' cells that'd plug in to a wall outlet, too. Trouble is, a large portion of the volume is devoted to the connector and charging circuit. But if 50% capacity is enough, I suppose they'll work.

not as useful as first thought

[Frag-A-Muffin (5490)]

I thought this might be useful, then I looked at some of my toys that take AA. My old Canon A70 takes 4AA. I use NiMH. I have a charger that can charge 4 batteries at a time. Ummm ... I don't think I even HAVE 4 USB ports :) and even if I did, I don't think they'd all fit. (Because you know how they like to cram a bunch of USB ports together and if you plug in something larger than a regular cable, the slot next to it is wasted)

So really, it's only useful for say, an MP3 player that takes a single AA battery. But then again, my brother's little samsung mp3 player has a built-in Li Ion battery and a USB plug built in that can flip up. And it's hardly bigger than a AA battery.

Hmmm .. I'm back to "I can't think of anything useful for it" :)

Re:

[TheRaven64 (641858)]

It does look like a gimmick, but charging things from a USB port is not new. I have a USB 'phone charger which is great when I travel. It means I just need one power adaptor for my laptop and none for my 'phone (and since my laptop is a PowerBook, I don't even need an adaptor, I just take the US or EU plug with me).

Combine this with 15min quick charge

[ylikone (589264)]

I have a 15 minute quick charger (by Rayovac) and I would hate to go back to having to actually wait hours for my batteries to charge. This is a cool idea, but lets try and speed it up and then I'll be interested.

Re:Combine this with 15min quick charge

[pla (258480)]

I have a 15 minute quick charger (by Rayovac) and I would hate to go back to having to actually wait hours for my batteries to charge. This is a cool idea, but lets try and speed it up and then I'll be interested.

For the longevity of your batteries (ie, the reason you pay about 4x as much for rechargeables in the first place), you really should use an intelligent trickle-charger (around C/10) with an automatic pre-charging discharge. I seriously suspect the battery manufacturers (such as Rayovac) came up with the idea of a 15-minute charge just to drastically shorten the life of your rechargeables. It has to seriously hurt their profitability that we can now use a single set of batteries that will last for five to ten years if properly maintained.

It amazes some of my friends (who, like you, use a 4C flash charger) that I have 5 year old NiMH batteries that, after several hundred charge cycles, not only still work, but still hold over 90% of their stated capacity. Well, now you know the secret. Stop abusing your batteries, and just let them charge overnight.

Keep the flash charger in the car for emergencies, but unless you absolutely need a battery now, don't use it.

Re:

[Powercntrl (458442)]

For the longevity of your batteries (ie, the reason you pay about 4x as much for rechargeables in the first place), you really should use an intelligent trickle-charger (around C/10) with an automatic pre-charging discharge.

You're overlooking the fact that if the batteries survive those 4 cycles, you've broken even and everything after that is gravy. I've got one of the Ray-O-Vac 15 minute chargers as well. The batteries have paid for themselves and then some, with no signs of slowing down. And when they

These will fail

[GWBasic (900357)]

I predict these will fail. Today, electronics that one would typically use rechargable batteries come with custom batteries and are self charging. (For example, my MP3 player, camera, and phones use a custom battery and have the charger build into the unit.) Other electronics, like remotes, last so long on a single pair of batteries that using rechargables is pointless.

Does anyone remember the rechargable ankalines that came out in the mid-90s? (I don't remember the brand name.) I used to use them in

lost charger

[flynt (248848)]

Tired of searching for the charger for your rechargeable batteries?

Even with this, VA employees will still be looking for the battery charger.

Um.... why?

[Kenja (541830)]

In most cases, if you have USB power you have an outlet. In rare cases where your out in the middle of no where with nothing but a notebook and a GPS unit running on AA batteries, and you need to keep the GPS charged so you can make it out there before dark, I guess these would be of use. Cant realy think of any other time.

Nope, still not of any use...

[raehl (609729)]

"Hey look, this battery dies twice as fast, but if it's dead, you can recharge it on USB!"
"Uh, yeah, couldn't I just have used a regular battery that wouldn't be dead yet?"

You can have:

- an expensive, dead, 1300 mAh USB battery that you need to recharge on your laptop (good luck on your laptop battery not going dead first!)

- a cheap, half-full 2500 mAh regular rechargable battery that you don't need to recharge at all.

Enough for now...

[PalmKiller (174161)]

OK, no more about batteries unless its something like new AA cell is rated at 1200may. (note thats years, not hours).

Useless junk.

[Registered Coward v2 (447531)]

Let's see - 5 hours to charge so you either leave a laptop on and run it's battery dead - wait - that little 3 prong hole in the wall - AC power - I can plug my laptop in there save its battery or I can plug in a real battery charger and fast charge my much cheaper, higher capacity AA/AAA's.

A battery charger is small, small, lightweight and can be has with dual voltage. Mine is 6 years old and weighs a few ounces - including cord and EU adapter.

If you really don't want to carry a charger you can buy a dozen high capacity rechargable AA's at the price of these - and simply carry them with you. (If you really would use that many you probably would carry a charger anyway).

This is an expensive answer to a question no one is asking.

Slashdot - we now spam the globe for you...

Umm some problems...and why this is stupid

[grapeape (137008)]

Most computer have the usbports stacked so they would only be able to charge one at a time.

If you have access to the power brick you have access to an outlet so why not charge them from one.

Charging from the laptop while on battery power would surely drain things probably quicker than the battery could fully charge up.

You can buy around a dozen or more regular rechargables for the price of one of these so whats the point. This is definately one of those "because we can" products like usb mitten warmers and

A bit risky

[Dan East (318230)]

Unless the electronics are really well engineered (aka foolproof design) then a failure could result in a damaged motherboard, especially considering the amount of current these things are capable of drawing. Surface mount fuses aren't much fun to replace, especially in laptops. I'd wait a while to see if any horror stories surface before plugging that thing into my machines.

On a related note, the Motorola Razr cell phone's power connector is mini-USB, so it can charge off of your USB port as well.

Dan East

Not all AAs are created equal

[texaport (600120)]

The first rechargeable AA batteries were properly 1.5V each. Then 1.25V became the norm and my devices requiring six volts from regular batteries are only getting five.

In the last couple years they've dropped rechargeables to 1.2V which means normal batteries are delivering 25% more power if the amps stay the same. I don't want 'em.

Re:Not all AAs are created equal

[Wordplay (54438)]

I suspect this has more to do with labelling than actual capacity. Rechargeables have been putting out a 1.2v for years now. They are around 1.25V just after charge, and it's possible they were claimed as such by some manufacturer or the other. I've never seen a 1.5V NiCad or NiMH.

Anyway, alkalines are only 1.5V out of the box. When they're "dead", they're at around 0.6V, and it's a fairly linear decline over time. In fact, electronics made to run on alkalines are generally fine down to around 0.9V or so, since the decline is expected.

NiMHs and NiCads are ~1.2V after a charge, and stay there until just before they die, when they nosedive. This is why cameras recommend non-alkaline batteries--the flash actually requires that the voltage is somewhere around the maximum; alkaline batteries drop voltage so quickly that the flash only works a relatively small number of times.

It's about the chemistry

[backwardMechanic (959818)]

It's all about the chemistry, not some kind of voltage deflation. Zinc cells give 1.5V (alklines, etc). NiCd and NiMH gives 1.2V. Lead acid gives 2 and a bit V. You can't make a NiCd battery at 3V. A battery is a stack of cells, so it can only provide an integer multiple of the cell voltage (2.4 or 3.6V is as close as you'll get with NiCd).

WTF is the point of this?

[DragonWriter (970822)]

Okay, unless I'm recharging these from my laptop battery (which is, I'd say, pretty dumb in most cases, but might have very limited utility somewhere), my charger is going to be close to my plugged-in computer, which is going to be close to a power strip with several outlets.

Where I could just plug in a more conventional charger, instead of plugging it into my USB port of my computer. Its no harder to remember where that charger is than the one plugged into my USB port. Where is the benefit?

Y'know what would be more useful

[AC-x (735297)]

A USB batter charger [mrgadget.com.au]. This way you can use 2500mAh batteries rather then having half the capacity taken up by the usb port and charging circuit.

1300 maH?

[duplicate-nickname (87112)]

I just replaced all of my regularly used rechargeable batteries with 2500maH sets and I will never go back to lower rated batteries again. On my vacation last week I shot over 400 photos and about 4 minutes of video on my Canon S1 IS and I only recharged the batteries once.

You don't have to worry about charging on a USB port if your batteries don't die all of the time.

Cool idea, but no thanks...

[Chabil Ha' (875116)]

There's more geek factor here than real usability. Anyone had their charger melted to slag because of leaky batteries? Yeah, me too. Personally, I wouldn't mind too much if a $10 charger got toasted, but not my $1xxx laptop. I can garentee that they won't be held responsible should anything get toasted with your lappy...besides, there has been enough troubles with the official laptop battery blowing up without throwing something like this into the mix...

What if they integrated storage too?

[mr_zorg (259994)]

Now, throw in a couple-o-dozen megs of flash built in and you might actually have something. I could store the device drivers for my peripherals in the very same batteries that run them. No more hunting for driver discs. Oh, that and increase the mAh capacity.

USB spec?

[Bassman59 (519820)]

Obviously, this thing doesn't meet any of the applicable specs, especially the specs that address power consumption when a device is not configured. I don't see a USB logo anywhere on their web site.

Use at your own risk.

Whenever a see a post

[ralf1 (718128)]

where an AC talks about a cool new product, I automatically assume said AC is a marketing rep from producer of product.

USB-powered cities

[dangitman (862676)]

At the rate things are going, cities will be powered not with nuclear power stations, but by a gigantic laptop, with the grid plugged into the USB port. Better watch out the battery doesn't explode, though.

Re:$12? Where is this from?

[blitz77 (518316)]

erm, it said 12.99pounds for TWO-which then is similar to 12 dollars each.

Re:

[dopaz (148229)]

kind of like all the different flavors of ipod?

Re:

[PalmKiller (174161)]

My usb cable for my phone will charge the phone battery while I hack it...I never knew how much on the edge my cheesy little samsung phone is.

Re:The answer to a question nobody asked

[TheRaven64 (641858)]

A USB 'phone charger is great for travelling abroad. I plug my laptop in in a hotel, and I can charge my 'phone and iPod from it without having to carry a load of mains adaptors around. I would probably fall right into the middle of the target market for these devices, and even I can't see a use for them. Who buys equipment which takes AA batteries these days? I can't remember the last thing I bought that didn't have a custom Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer battery.