External battery pack ...

I am looking to build an external battery pack for my One. Something with a bunch of 'D' cells that I can leave in the bottom of my backpack and run a cable out to my One so it will run as if it is on AC power.

I've only started looking at this project so I haven't worked out any details yet. I am wondering if anyone else has done this and if anyone has any advice or warnings for me.

Also, I am at work and my laptop is at home. If anyone has theirs handy, can you post the voltage / current specs off of the charger and the battery?

Thanks,
Dave

 

The charger output is 19V 1.58A. The specs of myy battery are 11.1V 2200mAh/45Wh.

Maybe it would be better for you to get something like this external laptop battery instead. That one would probably give you an extra 8.5-12 hours battery life with the AA1's power usage and would probably be lighter than a battery pack full of D cells, though I suppose more expensive.

 

I got an external battery pack a few weeks ago, here it is on YouTube

I cant see the one I have on the Maplin site anymore, but here is something similar http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=N80FX&DOY=7m8

 

I ended up posting on an electronics site to get advice ... got some good feedback and went with a home made solution.

I went with 3 x 6V sealed lead acid batteries which are 5 Ah (or 5,000 mAh) each. I hook them up in series to get 18.75V (the charger is a little over 19V) ... I switch them to parallel to charge them with a 6V 1A charger (they pull about 0.75A when the three are charging together).

When you plug this into the laptop it thinks it has gone on AC power, the battery charges and everything runs beautifully.

Pros:
- these batteries have no problem running the laptop and charging the internal battery at the same time. They can handle the current ... I've heard some of the small commercial units cannot.
- great battery life (if the 2200 mAh @ 11.1V is 2.5h then this should be 9.5h on the external + another 2.5 on the internal *** not tested yet).
- a little bit cheaper than the commercial solutions
- I believe that the lead acid batteries will have a longer life, age better and handle the current needs better than the commercial L-Ion or NMH solutions.

Cons:
- manual build - you've got to be electrically handy
- I still have to package it nicely and get a system to easily switch over to parallel for charging
- heavy - the batteries I have are a little under two pounds each so it is ~ 5.5 pounds or 2.5 kg

There is a large selection of batteries ... I could have gone with 3 Ah and dropped the weight/size significantly. Personally I was fine with this size/weight so I went for long life.

 

That battery pack that you link to is only 11.1V. This is the voltage of the internal battery but that is not what you are replacing. When you plug into the external port you are replacing the 19V power supply which has the double duty of running the laptop and charging the internal battery.

I am not an expert in this but I would recommend that if you are going to get an external battery pack that you get something at or near 19V (without going over).

 

No, I looked at the Maplin universal laptop battery and it does put out 19V (as a switchable option). The 11.1V is rather their way of indicating the battery's capacity (to be gauged with the 4400 mAh figure). I think it can be used with the Aspire One; only it would last less than the 6hrs advertised. In fact I may get one for my AO when I return to UK for school this September. At 40 quids, it will probably be cheaper than Acer's own 6-cell bulge of a battery also.

 

So what runtime are you getting from these 3 x 5000 mAh units?
Did you regulate the output voltage, if not, just after charging you could have over 21 volts available from those packs?
Have you measured the current when connected to the One?

Another power source is A123 cells (like dewalt use in their power tools)
You can get 9.6v units (use to packs)
They are:
75% Lighter than Lead Acid
25% More power than Lead Acid
They have twice the life of Lead Acid

 

This is pretty cool. The 6 cell battery is hideous and I really don't want that monstrosity sticking out of the back of my One. Also, most of the time 2-2.5 hours would be fine as I am not usually away from a mains socket for that long so something I can take with me when I know I shall be.

I would be interested to know how long your One lasts using both internal and external batteries.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-48-11-1 ... d_sim_hi_3
http://www.amazon.com/Makita-194205-3-L ... TGXYEEBYG7

 

I get about 2.5 hours on the internal battery, and then I get about 5 hours out of the external battery, and charging my mobile via usb. Its a good bit of kit this external battery.

 

Hey!

Has anyone seen this? I came across this on EBay and I'm real curious about it. I think it would work for my AAO and could be a great way to have a cheap external pack.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Slim-External-Unive ... m153.l1262

Thanks,

Paul

 

Won't work. The AAO requires 19v input.

Cheers.