Hacking USB portable battery

[doyama]

Hello All

I have a trip coming up and I'll be hopping airports and on 12 hour plane rides. So I was thinking of getting some kind of battery pack so I could charge my iPod and NDS during those long flights and stop overs. My preference would be to use the USB connector, so I could charge both my iPod or NDS depending on which dies first. So 'buy a 2nd battery' isn't really what I'm looking for.

In any case I wanted to see what other people had tried or used for this kind of situation? I have looked on Dealxtreme which is a good site overall, but some of those supposed 20,000mah batteries seem to be filled with lead plates to make them feel heavier (since more weight usually means more energy storage). I somewhat regret not picking something up when Sharper Image when belly up

Thanks in advance

 

[kobykaan]

Hello All

I have a trip coming up and I'll be hopping airports and on 12 hour plane rides. So I was thinking of getting some kind of battery pack so I could charge my iPod and NDS during those long flights and stop overs. My preference would be to use the USB connector, so I could charge both my iPod or NDS depending on which dies first. So 'buy a 2nd battery' isn't really what I'm looking for.

In any case I wanted to see what other people had tried or used for this kind of situation? I have looked on Dealxtreme which is a good site overall, but some of those supposed 20,000mah batteries seem to be filled with lead plates to make them feel heavier (since more weight usually means more energy storage). I somewhat regret not picking something up when Sharper Image when belly up

Thanks in advance

what about a SOLAR CHARGER ?? not sure how well it would work on a plane but you could be charging one while using the other if there's enough light to put charge into one or the other they come with multiple adapters

 

[Brian117]

Do you have a laptop?

You can just buy a iPod USB charger, and a NDS USB charger:

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-DS-Lite-USB...r/dp/B000MV3VV2
For that, just use the USB part.

http://www.mall.hk/product_info.php?info=p...od-Nano-5G.html

 

[doyama]

Do you have a laptop?

You can just buy a iPod USB charger, and a NDS USB charger:

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-DS-Lite-USB...r/dp/B000MV3VV2
For that, just use the USB part.

http://www.mall.hk/product_info.php?info=p...od-Nano-5G.html

Well I have all the usb cables for my devices, I was thinking of something a tad more portable than my using my laptop as a glorified battery. Using a laptop in coach seating is pretty much impossible

 

[Pedobear]

what about a SOLAR CHARGER ?? not sure how well it would work on a plane but you could be charging one while using the other if there's enough light to put charge into one or the other they come with multiple adapters

err...wouldn't he have to play with the DS to the window?
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/515/ (Solar ds)

 

[DanTheManMS]

I had the same predicament but with a bus ride, not a plane trip. I too originally looked at combining a "9 volt battery USB charger" with a hacked DS USB charger cable, but that fell through when my friend's USB charger turned out to be faulty.

Instead, I went out to Radio Shack and picked up a single battery pack that holds 4 AA batteries. I cut off the end of a DS car charger I didn't need and hooked it up to the battery pack with a bit of solder. Since the battery pack had its own on/off switch, that was all it took. Each AA battery provides 1.5 volts, so I'm sending in a combined total of 6 volts when the port itself says to use 5.2, but it's close enough that it doesn't affect the hardware.

I can usually get about 2 complete charges done before I have to replace the AA batteries. Makes a great portable DS charger.