Forum menu
I've just been looking at the options for extending battery life for use on multi-day trips. I've had pretty good experience with using a Powermonkey/Solarmonkey for recharging a Garmin GPS but I suspect it'll struggle with the demands of a Smartphone.
I see there that are are slightly more powerful batteries out there which will fit in the existing case, but the difference is marginal and I'm always pessimistic of claimed battery power.
There are also much more powerful batteries (2x) which need a different case.
Given the relatively low cost, the other option would also be to take a spare (charged) battery.
Any feedback on the above would be great.
I picked up a couple of cheap Chinese batteries for my HD, that came with a desktop cradle/charger thing. They outlast the original battery, but problem is having to power down to swap means you have 2/3 lots of GPS data for one ride.
Its a shame there isnt a battery thing invention that just attaches to the rear & plugs into the charger slot.
something like this maybe ?
Spare batteries IMO - small, light and very easy/versatile. Plus if you do find power somewhere you're staying, you can recharge all of them.
I bought one of these:
I've not used it all that much, as I've got an old Nokia 5800 with extended battery which I now just use as my GPS. But initial impressions were that it does give much more runtime than the original. The battery reading tends to be a little haphazard - I use BatteryGraph to keep an eye on it and it's all over the shop - but it does seem significatly juicier. Whether that's true in all circumstances and remains true over time is perhaps another matter.
Oh and the case is "ok" (though doesn't have an extra clear panel over the camera), but I had to hack a moulding pip off the inside to actually get it to fit properly.
I would avoid third party batteries which fit in the original case. If you're going that route I'd buy OEM ones.
For my HTC I bought the bigger battery with the back cover to accomodate it off Amazon - lasts forever. I carry the original battery charged as a spare, but never needed it.
Most I've done is about 4 hours with two GPS apps running, but big battery was still more than 50% full.
I was out for nearly 7hrs last night using Endomondo, and I still had a green indicator on my Desire. I turned off all the internet stuff though - don't need to see my emails when I'm out riding...
http://www.firebox.com/product/2692/Pebble-Portable-Charger
Was tested on the gadget show. Meant to be good....
I had battery issues with my HTC but I found this
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2523297
have a read it does not envolve adjusting the software and it works for me doubled my battery life
might save you a few quid too 😀
I use the teknet battery linked in taxi25's post for my iPhone. It works well for me.
Just a thought ...
I did the C2C in early April & used the Endomondo free GPS app to track the route.
First day the battery ran out after less than 6hrs of riding ... then I sussed that, for the rest of the trip, I could switch to Airplane Mode and the GPS tracking lasted all day (10hrs+ on two of the days).
The downside is that I couldn't make or receive calls & emails whilst in Airplane Mode ... then I thought ... "so, that's a problem?"
hmm, thanks salad dodger, my desire (on Orange) lasts through the day usually but only just and most of the battery use is cell standby so hopefully that little setting tweak will make a differnce...we shall see tomorrow....
"[i]have a read it does not envolve adjusting the software and it works for me doubled my battery life[/i]"
"[i]hopefully that little setting tweak will make a differnce[/i]"
Ok, you're going to help out the idiot here. I can't find any suggestion in there to tweak a setting. All I see is someone complaining in excruciatingly tedious detail that (a) some places don't have great signal and (b) the signal attenuates when he picks the phone up. Well, duh.
If there's something useful on that page, any chance you can just paste it in?
Have a look at post 33 and 34 on page 2 of the link
yes the guy does have " more rattle to him than a skelaton tossing it's self off in a metal dustbin"
here you are
Go to the phone dialer and dial *#*#4636#*#* (DO NOT press send or call button) just wait a second and you will get the 'test' menu.
In the test menu choose 'Phone Information'
scroll down and choose on the first drop down - GSM auto (PRL) (for high speed data) or GSM only (You may get 3g if not use GSM auto (PRL). I have chosen GSM (PRL) setting and it works fine on my HTC desire.
Back out to test menu then back into 'Phone information' to see if it sticks (if not try again) then back all the way out. Mine stuck with my chosen "GSM (PRL)" setting on the first attempt itself.
You might want to reboot (power on and off for those who arent familiar with reboot terminology), but I found the settings worked straight away and I didnt need to reboot.
I don't take any responsibility for step 6 - 6) Try other settings on the dropdown if you are brave as I don't know the consequencies of using settings like "EvDo only" and "unknown" as they may be better depending on the way your provider provides information. I have not tried any other setting changes. (..... yet!)
Ah. Cheers. Hadn't noticed the tiny page links.
Some useful stuff in there, shame it's all shrouded in EPIC waffle. Still, will give it a go...
I'd just like to say a big thanks for all the feedback to date. That battery saving option is certainly worth a try and I'm currently thinking that just taking a long a second, charged battery might be sufficient - especially as I tend to favour the Garmin as a GPS.
I echo druidhs comment. Thanks for all the tips folks. As snazzy as the HTC is its a pain how poor the battery life is. When will battery producers catch up and produce batteries which are acually capable to running modern tech. Goes to fiddle with HTC....
I've got round this on my tourer / commuter with an alfine dynamo hub and e-werk voltage converter. Permanent, limitless power supplied to the phone as long as the wheel is turning. I can ride with the screen always on, GPS and all comms, all day long. I also run decent LED lighting (Supernova) from it too. Due to the tiny power draw of the phone, It happily runs both together.
I'll be fitting the same setup to the mountain bike before the dark evenings return - no more riding round half lost with fading batteries..
"[i]When will battery producers catch up and produce batteries which are acually capable to running modern tech.[/i]"
That's not the issue - it's just a case of making a bigger battery. Unfortunately the "market" seems to decree that these devices be as slim as possible - god knows why, since the Desire is far easier to handle when it's thicker, whether by fitting a fatter battery or putting a rubber case round it.
4-5mm on the phone thickness would double the battery life and make it easier to use. Quite why manufacturers don't offer phones with two battery options I've no idea. Surely they must see people buying extended batteries and spare batteries, but presumably they don't want a piece of that action. Go figure.
FWIW I've tried the tweak mentioned in the linked page, and - although it's early days - it seems to make no difference to me: the line on Battery Graph is going down with the same gradient as it was yesterday.
e-werk voltage converter
Link please? Not showing on google for me.
I made the change to GSM-auto (PRL) - or whatever it is...I then rebooted the phone and I'm not sure if the battery will last any longer. What I did notice though (or thought I noticed) was that where I was getting an H for my data connection I was only getting an E after the change. However, went to my mum's house and tried and got an H so suspect it wasn't the phone entirely being the issue.
I suspect the battery life is going to be extended if you only use the GSM network - potentially means not such a fast data connection but everything else does use less power therefore a longer battery life.
If I can still get an 'H' for my data then I'll leave it set as-is as it can only bea good thing if the battery life is extended.
I have an Otterbox cover for my Desire but if I didn't, I'd be buying the bigger battery and quite happily live with the 'chunkier' depth of the phone - but it won't fit in the Otterbox case so can't (mainly due to me being a clumsy/sweaty oaf who regularly drops his phone or sweats so much has been known to rot the innards of electrical good that come in contact with my sweat - the Otterbox reduces these issues).
e-werk voltage converterLink please? Not showing on google for me.
This sorta thing. There are also some home brew kits on ebay IIRC
http://www.thinkbiologic.com/products/reecharge-power-pack
Cheers...I have a dynohub regulator which I think is 6V...would that kill my phone and if so there must ae ao easx way to regulate that to 5V?
And £25 WTF?
the HTC charger is normally 1 amp at 5V.
I tired the software jiggle...no difference for me. Searching around in the phone I did just discover I had background data always on...could have sworn I'd switched it off...it is off now and should add a bit of time to the battery.