Scooley01 wrote:Can we get clarification on whether or not these will charge via USB Wall adapters, or require a computer's USB port to charge?

Absolutely yes.

They will charge from anything that has a USB port. Charged mine from a USB Wall adapters, from USB car adapters, and even charged two of them at the same time (along with a phone) from this little hub I bought from Woot, which was plugged into AC oulet, but NOT plugged into a computer.

Oh, and did I mention - I charged them from a computer too. It also works!

LEM- wrote:This question was discussed on sellout.woot at the prior sale (when I bought mine, by the way). The conclusion that was more or less agreed upon (after some math was involved) that it will not effectively CHARGE an iPad, but it will trickle-charge it to some degree if it's turned off, or it will keep it running a bit longer if it's on and being used (that is battery level won't go up, but it will be draining slower while the pack is connected).

The reason, however, is now what is claimed above, but simple fact that iPad requires more current than this battery can provide for fully functional charge, but it does provide some relief to an iPad user on the go.

:::sigh:::

Thank you for the reply. Not the answer I wanted, but I appreciate it all the same!

mdwyerfoo wrote:A
Don't get your hopes up about just replacing the cable with your own cable, though. USB uses a resistor across the data pins to signal a high-amp charger. In these packs, the signal resistor is in the CABLE instead of the pack! So, if you try to use a regular cable, your phone or battery pack may not charge or may only trickle-charge.

Maybe not. Non-shorted USB data specs for 500mA, and since these only produce 500mA@5V output, a data cable should work just fine with this charger.

On the other hand, using this little pigtail as a data cable might not work at all.

I wonder:

- if you can daisy chain these, to get let's say 6 x 1800mAh?

- How is this better than getting a holder for 4 of my AA Eneloop NiMh rechargeables in series?

mdwyerfoo, thanks for your info.
I too hate when they put micro USB connectors which are so fragile.

Is it possible to use this while it's charging? I have a device that runs on USB 5v that I would like to use this like a mini UPS for.

This will be good for my Kindle Fire on the 19 hour flight to Vietnam!

have one of these already, liked it enough to go in for two more!

If you know you're going to be out for a long time, and unable to sit in one place with your charger plugged into a hot outlet, this is awesome. I just toss the charged thingy in my bag and go, YOU DO NEED TO REMEMBER THE CABLE! :-)

the nice thing is that it will power just about anything that can accept USB power, so for it's good for BOTH things that don't have a replaceable external battery (iPod), and things that you COULD buy an extra battery for (phone, camera) but it's just the one thing that has the ability to power everything. It is extremely useful. grab a little thingamajiggy so you can plug a usb thing in the wall and you can keep one charging at all times, and you'll stave off a dead battery for a while. it's late and i'm high, i hope this comes off as clear.

it even works on my GSM/CDMA blocker! (evil grin)

a5m0deu5 wrote:Is it possible to use this while it's charging? I have a device that runs on USB 5v that I would like to use this like a mini UPS for.

yes. you can use it while charging. it does work. i've done it.

I missed yesterday's Woot! Can someone please tell me what it was - and the shirt woot too if you know it. Thx.

What does it mean "Up to 100 hours of backup power"?

vspen wrote:I missed yesterday's Woot! Can someone please tell me what it was - and the shirt woot too if you know it. Thx.

http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=20976
http://shirt.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=20978

You know you can see it by going to the BLOG link on top of the page?

Could you not pull from your parts bin (or order one) a "Y" USB A male to USB female cable, plugging the male ends each into one of the chargers, plugging your iPad cable in to the female plug. You would of course deplete both batteries to charge your iPad one time.

At the price, it might still be cheaper than buying a battery pack from the Apple store designed for the iPad...

ayuandmi wrote:What does it mean "Up to 100 hours of backup power"?

Take the 1800mAh and divide it by the mA your device uses and you will get the number of hours it will "backup power" it. More practically, if let's say your device has a 700mAh battery and works for say 2hrs on it, the Duracell will give it a little over 2x times on top, i.e. 4-5 more hours.

Man...I've still got my two Xpal (now energizer) XP2000 packs. My ONLY gripe with them is the dongle that it needs to charge with...I didn't get a mini-USB version.

These would be great just because they charge my micro USB, today's standard. But they're 50% thicker than my XP2000. And just not quite as sexy...get some of the Energizer packs Woot!!

niks wrote:http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=20976
http://shirt.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=20978

You know you can see it by going to the BLOG link on top of the page?

Didn't know that - but now I do! THX!

Terfer01 wrote:Could you not pull from your parts bin (or order one) a "Y" USB A male to USB female cable, plugging the male ends each into one of the chargers, plugging your iPad cable in to the female plug. You would of course deplete both batteries to charge your iPad one time.

At the price, it might still be cheaper than buying a battery pack from the Apple store designed for the iPad...

If it was straightforward batteries - yes, you would be running them in parallel and it will work. But because of the electronics in these, I don't know. Perhaps someone who has tried it?

Anyone know how these compare to the Anker Battery pack?

http://www.amazon.com/Anker-SlimTalk-External-flashlight-Motorola/dp/B0054U6CEE/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1326272419&sr=1-3

Was going to get the Anker, but at this price I want to see what the opinion of the general public is before I buy. Thanks in advance for any help!

I'm tempted, but I won't use them often. How long of a shelf life do these have? (Not how long it will hold a charge, but can I leave untouched still expect it to work?)

Will these charge a Samsung Galaxy vibrant phone battery?

So, first off - sorry if this was already addressed, but i'm curious if these could actually charge a Laptop, or at least prolong its battery life before shutdown?

I understand that you can CHARGE the duracell battery packs via a PC USB port, but is that only a one-way street? Thanks for any clarification.

VivianC wrote:With 500mA output, it should work for older iPods and phones.- Won't work with iPhones or other larger draw items.

It will work with my Sansa and Kindle so it might be worth it.

unquality post. also fail undersranding of electricity. 500 ma is what you get from a computer USB port. it will charge any phone or iPhone. especially since iPhones have such poor battery capacity. it will even partially charge a tablet if it isn't dumb and disables it like an ipad

redspecial wrote:Hey! Dude! You're confusing me. For a moment I thought I was on FT! ;)

Wow that wouldn't even be logical at all... even if it works ur batteries would die just as fast because of energy consumption loss. It will dissipate energy even doing that

molcajete wrote:So, first off - sorry if this was already addressed, but i'm curious if these could actually charge a Laptop, or at least prolong its battery life before shutdown?

I understand that you can CHARGE the duracell battery packs via a PC USB port, but is that only a one-way street? Thanks for any clarification.

If these can't power a iPad2 I don't think they'll power a laptop, they're more for mobile devices.

Also. In for 2! These look great. Though I am too curious to how long these will be good for, like a few have asked before.
Both how long will it hold a charge and long will they last if untouched for x amount of time.

I bought these last time they were on woot. They're pretty good for what they're for - recharging your cell phone. It will charge anything that will charge in a regular, ordinary powered USB port (in other words: not an iPad). It works especially well with micro-USB phones, since you can just use one cable. Use your phone charging cable to charge your battery, then flip the cable around to charge your phone.

The only thing I wish it did was show battery level during discharge, so I have some idea of how much juice is left if I need to share it between a few phones.

rooness wrote:If these can't power a iPad2 I don't think they'll power a laptop, they're more for mobile devices.

Also. In for 2! These look great. Though I am too curious to how long these will be good for, like a few have asked before.
Both how long will it hold a charge and long will they last if untouched for x amount of time.

They don't last too long. I want to say I had one off the charger for about three months and it was dead when I went to use it. With two (or more) of them, it's pretty easy to keep them in cycle. A week or two is fine, but these aren't for long-term storage. They're designed to be used, not for emergencies.

molcajete wrote:So, first off - sorry if this was already addressed, but i'm curious if these could actually charge a Laptop, or at least prolong its battery life before shutdown?

I understand that you can CHARGE the duracell battery packs via a PC USB port, but is that only a one-way street? Thanks for any clarification.

No, you can only use these on devices that plug in via USB. The device doesn't support a power draw big enough for a laptop, or even an iPad (which draws more power than the USB specification provides for).

Link to Duracel product description (I think this is the right one)
http://www.duracell.co.uk/en-GB/product/portable-charger-1800mah.jspx

skywarrior3 wrote:How long do these hold their charge? I was thinking about getting these for travel and it would be nice to not have to charge them during the trip.

Months at a time. I've had one since Duracell released these with their MyGrid (review items) and I keep it on my bedside table, off the charger, mainly in case the power goes out and I need to keep my phone charged over night. We rarely have power outages so it sits on the table, unplugged, most of the time.

The little battery at the bottom corner is a display that you can press in to see the current charge (in thirds).

A lot of people in this forum have been talking about charge only cables that here that enable fast charge on your phone or tablet. Doing some Google-fu, I just learned that aftermarket Micro USb data cables may not charge your phone properly or not charge at all.

The supplied cables with these chargers are modified with a resistor shorted on D- and D+ terminals at the plug, increasing the amperage throughput from any capable charger that exceeds 500mAh. In essence, it charges your device faster than a regular data enabled micro USB cable.

Here are some useful links to explain what they're talking about:

http://ask.metafilter.com/197249/All-micro-usb-cables-are-not-created-equal

http://winhlp.com/node/855

http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-647086.html

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=709226

You can also get a Mini to Micro Charging only usb adapter which have the Data Pins already shorted w/o modifying the cable: http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Mini-USB-to-Micro-USB-Charging-Adapter-Converter/5241654/product.html

Hope this helps...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3rhQc666Sg

dernst_ca1 wrote:quality post

That's good stuff!

This are great for keeping e-cigs charged, especially if you have a 'pass-thru' charger.

500mAh only? Pretty weak. Look into getting a Tekkeon MP1580 and eneloops. It puts out 1000mAh. I have plenty of eneloops laying around so I rather make use of what I have rather than buying more battery units. One AA eneloop has 2000mAh and the tekkeon holds 4.

Yes, you can plug them into a wall USB or a car USB.

As long as these are new, this is a great deal...... I recently searched the net, and bought ONE @ 22 bucks--cheapest I could find-(I use mine with my Samsung Galaxy 2 Skyrocket) Wish I waited now...Two for 20?? No brained- -Others should take advantage !!

Can you power a laptop with these

Witnessing this level of electronic dependency makes me feel like gawdang Thoreau.

I got 2 sets last time they were on sale. They are nice and small and can ensure my phone lasts a full day of heave use.

I would easily recommend these to any user of portable electronics.

hagarthehorrible wrote:Can this be plugged into a wall outlet using a phone USB adapter? It says computer USB, that makes it a no sale for traveling light.

I do it with my touchpad charger.. so yes

Tried one of these for a camping trip. Does not work.

I have an APC UPB10 which offers a similar function rated at 10WH. I wanted to compare that to these items, since Amazon sells the UPB10 for $59.99. I found this formula:

WH = mAh/1000 * V

The listing says these output 5V, so

WH = 1800/1000 * 5 = 9WH

In other words, these are pretty close the APC UPB10, only at ~1/10 the price.

I use my UPB10 a lot when traveling. I use it on my motorcycle, plugged into a powerlet so that it conditions the power coming out and continues charging my phone when the bike is off. I once used it to power my navigation GPS when my wife's camera died; I stole the AAs from the GPS for her camera and used the UPB10 to power the GPS until I could get replacement batteries. That was a big deal in the wilds of Big Bend National Park. And, of course, it has charged my phone many times during its life.

It's nice to know that I can get a MUCH cheaper alternative for an extremely useful battery. I love the UPB10, but at $60, it's way too spendy.