Battery Pack for iHP Series

[Nick114]

On a completely random note, i saw a Radio Shack in Dubai in the Middle East in February.........odd that...........

[rockdamic]

found it.

[coreman]

Originally Posted by claretant

Does anyone know if the charging process can work in reverse? I mean, if you have a battery pack with ni-mh recharegeables that carry less charge than the internal iriver battery, will the latter discharge into the former? Is this possible, or am I just power-paranoid?

Not knowing the recharge circuit, let's try and apply what we do know about the batteries.

Recharging of the internal battery causes the cell voltage to increase. As the voltage builds, the current draw from the battery pack will decrease. At the same time the voltage on the battery pack will drop as well.

However the battery pack voltage is starting up around 4.8V while the iHP battery is starting around 2.7-3V.

NiMH don't have a low voltage cutoff like Li-ion-poly cells. So as long as there is a current flow from the battery pack, it should be recharging the internal cell.

The question is whether or not the max 3.6V of the lithium cell is sufficient to start a reverse charging of 4.8V worth of NiMH or even if they show up as a discharge load...

I think not, even if a reverse current flow were possible, I think the lower voltage of the Li cell is too low to do much charging in the NiMH. I think you need much higher voltages, like 5V or higher.

But this is a guess. One way to find out would be to hook up discharged battery pack (measure voltage first) and hook it up to charge circuit of iHP for 30 minutes or so and then remeasure the battery pack voltage. If it increased, then discharging of the internal battery is indeed possible.

If that happens, a diode on the (+) line should stop reverse charging.

[Tang]

Just to add the direct link to the Powerbank:
http://www.semsons.com/semsons-inc/pocpowban.html
Bye and thanks for this very interesting thread...

[306]

Originally Posted by Tang

Just to add the direct link to the Powerbank:
http://www.semsons.com/semsons-inc/pocpowban.html

i have 1 of these units, albeit an older model, primarily for my ipaq.

however, i have found that it does not actually charge the unit, ie the green light does not come on, but the power symbol on the lcd does light up. i know that the internal battery is not full, because when i change it back to the oem charger, the green light does come on.

but i think this is a good thing, u do not want the external battery pack charging the internal battery. it just drains the external battery faster.

i will check again tonight if you are interested.

[anton]

So the powerbank works well with the iRiver 120? With the included cable do you just plug the USB end into the Powerbank, and the other end into the iRiver? Or is some sort of adatper needed? It looks like a great product, i just want to make sure it works before i order one.


anton

[chris_hutton]

Hi Everybody!

I was reading your very helpful post. I work at the Mighty Maplin Electronics
It is a branch of Radio Shack
Tandy has shut down

This post was very useful


Chris H

[chris_hutton]

Sorry, Me again

With the maplin box, you have to use 1.25v batteries? or was someone using the normal 1.5v with this box
Don't want to frazzle the player

Please help me

Chris

[Big D]

See the third post on the first page of this thread.

[Musicalrebel]

After deciding between the H140 and H340 I have gone for the 140 since your views have changed my mind. Only disappointment I have beside the colour screen not being on the H140 is an external battery pack. However won't the H300 battery pack work with the 100 series? Would make our lives easier...

[Mike]

I originally thought an external pack would be great, but I have yet to run out of power during the day and I just recharge, as needed, then, at night. But I can see that in some locations where there is not access to electricity, the external pack would be great. The best I've heard/seen is for you lucky folks in the U.K., with an inexpensive and simple 4 AA battery, I think, pack at your local electronics store chain (which one could DIY in the U.S. with Radio Shack parts).

[CompDude]

I think an external battery pack is great an' all, but people like me who don't use their player for extensive amounts of time would need one, unless i went on a trip....hmmmm Well i kno i do when i go away for the summer, so maybe i could use it then, that would rock.

[clevetus]

I don't know if this has allready been said or if it's unwanted information but www.dapreview.com sells finished battery-packs for several different DAP's, including the H-series. Be weary though as the site is not always upp and running (sometimes an old version of it is up) and one of the guys who runs it is kind of an pretentious prick who really does'nt like iriver.

[Mike]

Clevetus-- Where at that site is this? Went there but didn't find anything (guess I'm just missing it).

[clevetus]

No you didn't miss it, its just that right now their old version is up, I really don't know what the hell they're doing over there but it's not going to well. Check up on it every now and then. It should be under "DAP Gear" or something like that.

[clevetus]

Okay - the site is up and here's a direct link so you can read about it yourself: http://www.austinv.com/forum_viewtopic.php?36.854

[Mike]

Clevetus-- Many thanks for the link, altho it looks like the battery pack ain't bein' sold yet.

[clevetus]

I know, which is really wierd since he made the announcement weeks ago and that he said it'd only take a week or so. I recomend you post a message or mail him to make sure if they are or are not available.

[PhilS]

I love all the postings on the AustinAV site with people asking for UK delivery - get one from Maplins!

[mistic_ram]

Can I add a few notes. First, the radio shack battery pack works great with 4xAA NiMh 1.2v batteries. Until I set this up, the lack of "we need more power" was the greatest problem I encountered with my H120. I got it to record my congregation ministry school and it works great. It lengthens any recording session to longer than I would want to be there. Then when I'm relaxing, I can still use it to play all my music without running out of power. For any use where a charger is out of the question, the amount of extra power is limited to the number of batteries that are available. AA alkaline batteries also work, 'tho I prefer to stay with the 1.2 v rechargables until I hear more about using 3 or 4x1.5v alkalines.
In regards to the battery pack, I twisted the two wires from the pack, then coated them with LIQUID ELECTRICAL TAPE. You can find this in the electrical section of most hardware stores(at least in North America). This extra step helps form a bond where the wires exit the pack, and strengthens this link to my iriver. Twisting the wires rather tightly before coating them with the liquid electrical tape also strengthens this set-up. Thanks for everyone's previous postings. It was a great help for me!