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$50 USB Power Pack for $9, Free Ship — Parallax Forums

$50 USB Power Pack for $9, Free Ship

Comments

  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-01-09 22:09
    Double capacity for the same price:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/390449318860
  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,652
    edited 2015-01-10 06:14
    CuriousOne wrote: »
    Double capacity for the same price:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/390449318860

    Thanks! Just ordered one.
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-01-10 09:46
    Great, please keep us informed how it will work.
    Personally I'm not using power packs, but friends around often need them, so suggestion will help a lot.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-01-10 10:07
    CuriousOne wrote: »
    Double capacity for the same price:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/390449318860

    There's a new erco in town! :)
  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,652
    edited 2015-01-16 09:42
    Don M wrote: »
    Thanks! Just ordered one.

    Just received mine today. Plugged in and charging now.

    BTW the package says 7000maH.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2015-01-16 10:03
    Mine arrived yesterday - currently charging up. They came with a partial charge.
    I haven't checked the cables yet, but they may be the "Power Only" type cables which are nasty because they get mixed in with the fully functional powered + data cables and can cause wailing and gnashing of teeth when you grab a cable.

    The packages were marked 7000mah also.

    I'm thinking of turning one into a robot chassis but I may need to wait for my 3D printer to show up to print a frame to fit around the battery and allow for mounting things. I just need to cross the line between thinking and doing!! :o)
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2015-01-16 10:20
    Don M wrote: »
    Just received mine today. Plugged in and charging now.

    I'm more than a little interested to hear how this goes. :)

    mindrobots wrote: »
    ...they may be the "Power Only" type cables...

    By all means wrap a piece of tape around all such cables. Avoids much frustration later. ;)
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-01-16 11:03
    My Motorola unit came yesterday, included 120v charger. Nice little unit, if only 3000 mAh!
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-01-16 12:21
    It would be great if anyone who bought that big pack, will open it and show us internals :)

    p.s. seller should pay me something for the advertisement. Just in january he sold more of these powerpacks, than he did in previous 3 months! :)
  • wmosscropwmosscrop Posts: 409
    edited 2015-01-16 13:28
    erco wrote: »
    Just buy one or two before they run out and we'll collectively figure out what to do with them later.

    OK, I bought two.

    erco, have you thought about going into sales? :)

    Walter
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-01-16 22:04
    Once I've decided to do a blog, where I'd post such offers and some articles, too. I even bought domain name, web hosting, installed wordpress and started posting, but it got hacked several times, spambots were making nasty comments, etc, so I give up.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2015-01-17 22:42
    Mine arrived today and is currently charging. In the meantime, I had forgotten about the one my wife brought home from her work that they were giving out. It is about 1 inch square by 4 inches in length. Rated for 5V and 1000mA. I decided to use it as a test and am powering my Prop BOE board with it that has a WS2812B that is blinking red and green with a one second pause. I just want to see how long this thing will last before needing a recharge. I fly a lot and this would be cool to be able to take on trips to work on projects while in mid air!!! I have done that in the past but have only had the USB power that is supplied by my laptop. Whomever came up with this idea was definitely on the right track!!!
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2015-01-20 19:25
    Has anyone determined the minimum current draw (that prevents the unit from turning off) of either of these devices? If they were to be used routinely as power sources, it would be well to know.
  • WildatheartWildatheart Posts: 195
    edited 2015-01-20 19:57
    The bottom of power pack is stamped, output 5.1V ~ 1A. With a meter I'm reading 3.2V out when all 4 of the device led's are lit. I believe it to be fully charged. Has anyone else checked Vout?
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-01-20 20:28
    @Wildatheart: Which unit, the Motorola from post #1 or the Tenergy mentioned in post #2?
  • WildatheartWildatheart Posts: 195
    edited 2015-01-20 20:38
    Ordered and received 2 of the Motorola units. Both units indicate a Vout of 3.1 - 3.2V. I cut a spare (Parallax?) USB cable and measured the voltage across the red and black wires - believing the green and white wires are for data I/O. Didn't check the pinout at the USB connector though. So I could be measuring voltage across the wrong wires.
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-01-21 00:05
    As far as I know, for several Motorola phone models and battery packs, so called "direct charge" method is employed - to reduce unnecessary losses by converting 3.7v to 5v and then again from 5v to 3.7v, Motorola phones detect presence of special battery pack, and they just simply connect external and internal batteries in parallel.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2015-01-21 11:41
    FWIW, the Tenergy unit outputs 5.01 V at the 1 A port and 5.02 V at the 2 A port. Must have a DC-to-DC converter inside. Possibly two.

    Also, a partial answer to post #14 is that an 85 Ohm resistor as load (59 mA) does not keep the power on but a 50 Ohm resistor (100 mA) does. So the Tenergy unit makes a better charger than it does a portable power supply. For the latter, you'd be better off with a 3s RC Li-po and one of erco's previous deals - a high efficiency buck converter for a buck and change. http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-DC-DC-4-5V-28V-to-0-8V-20V-Step-Down-Module-Power-Supply-for-Arduino-Hot-/301297751206
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-02-12 12:34
    Any more insight of the Tenergy one?
    anyone tested real capacity, or checked, what's inside?
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2015-02-12 16:24
    I have not checked for real capacity or what's inside of my Tenergy but I can say it works pretty well after having a full charge. I was able to connect a Prop BOE and a half dozen WS2812B's to it and it ran just fine while I was testing. I did not do any "real world" testing but it did last more than the 5 minutes that I was working on it for. I also noticed that it did not lose the charge after being unplugged for several days.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2015-02-12 18:34
    I haven't yet dug into the guts, although one of these days I may take an x-ray of it. But I can echo what Andy said. I've recharged several devices from my Tenergy unit without having to recharge it. Yet it still indicates a nearly full charge. So while I haven't verified its capacity, it certainly appears to be substantial.

    BTW, I like the idea of powering a string of WS2812's with it. That's the sort of steady and substantial load that will keep the device from turning off. It's a little OT, but the latest WS2812 widget I acquired, a 17cm ring containing 60 LEDs, is outstanding. http://www.icstation.com/icstation-ws2812-cascade-board-p-5313.html It provides great mood lighting! With a portable power pack, you can take it with you. :)
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-02-12 20:41
    I'm considering it as source of LiPo cell, so this is why I'm asking about contents, to see, whenever cells will fit my required dimensions.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2015-02-12 20:51
    http://www.icstation.com/icstation-w...rd-p-5313.html

    Page can't be displayed error.
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