This is a nice emergency power solution

for cellphones...

http://www.herringtoncatalog.com/es328.html

Finish Critical Calls — Get Hours of Back-Up Power From a Single AA!

Just throw a Pocket Power in your jacket, and you’ll never be stranded by a dead cell phone battery. Using any alkaline, lithium or rechargeable AA, Pocket Power weighs next-to-nothing — thanks to rugged but lightweight aluminum construction.

Too bad they dont mention much about the connectors and which phones are compatible.

Matt-

Nice find; could be, literally, a lifesaver under right (wrong?) circumstances.

Here's a page on the manufacturer/distributor's website giving detailed model-compatibility information. Apparently, you have to specify make/model when you order to get appropriate connector.

Of course, my Motorola V188 isn't listed <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Dan

Radio Shack is carrying battery back cell phone stuff around here, too.

I've had one of those for several months. Works as advertized. When showing my co-workers, they said, "Why do I need one? I have a plug-in charger." Katrina validates the usefulness of a battery operated charger.

I usually use nimh rechargable batteries in mine.

Using another adapter I discovered it will give my Garmin IQue 3600, a handheld GPS/PDA combo, a half charge.

Mine wasn't either, for that particular charger. So I googled "vx4400 emergency battery" and found one that did fit. You might have some luck that way.

Cool.

You know what would be really spiffy? A little DC-DC power supply that hooked up to my phone on one side and would take anything from 1.5-20V on the other. Then, all kinds of things become extra talk time... AA, AAA, C, D, CR123A. Also, Any wall wart... if you still have power, but don't have your charger, just nip the end off the wall wart and clip the leads from the portable power supply. (The supply should have a polarity indication for the incoming power).

Make it... Oh, about the size of a bic lighter, and I'll take 5. :-) (Make nice gifts)

Actually, this sounds doable. Anyone familiar with what a cell phone needs to be convinced it's running off its car adapter? After that, this is just a fancy buck/boost DC-DC power supply, right?

Cool Matt, Thanks for the info. Going to order one tomorrow.

Generally the cell phone requires a certain voltage to trigger the charger detection, these days something around 5V is gaining popularity as it allows for charging from USB.

An important consideration is that the charging source needs to be current limited as the internal charger in the phone will often use the current limit in the charger to dissipate power due to the limited power dissipation capabilities of the internal devices.

Other than that, 5 to 6V, 500mA current limit will get you into the right ballpark for most phones.

Check into the "sidewinder". Its a little hand crank charger for most cell phones -- runs about $25.

TRO

Clever gadget. It seems to come from here:

http://www.chargetogo.com/index.html

Some more pics and specs are at that site.

Alternative: just use four NiMH AA cells in a holder to supply 5 volts directly without needing the dc/dc converter.

I have one of those crank charges. It's a cool little gadget (and not expensive), but it takes a while of cranking to get enough battery for a decent call. I like it because as long as one of my arms is working I'll have a way to charge my phone.