As electronics get more powerful, the demands that they place on their power source increases, often entirely out of proportion to the ability of things like batteries to keep up. This is especially problematic with rechargeable batteries, which generally start off at a disadvantage anyway when it comes to voltage. I’ve had pretty good luck with high end NiMH batteries in the past, but the future is being brought to you by PowerGenix and their new NiZn (that’s nickel zinc) rechargeable cells.

This new nickel zinc technology appears to offer the high output voltage of premium alkalines (1.6 volts), the lightness of lithium batteries, plus faster charging, no memory, and relative cheapness and eco-friendliness (thanks to the zinc). The only downside is potentially the capacity, which is 1500 mAh, as opposed to some high end NiMH batteries, which offer in excess of 2500 mAh. By way of comparison, Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries have a capacity of about 3000 mAh, while standard alkalines store about 2700 mAh. You have to remember, though, that capacity and voltage are interrelated, meaning that the NiZn rechargeables that output 1.6 volts will perform far better in high drain devices than NiMH rechargeables, which only output 1.2 volts.

The other downside is the unsurprising fact that NiZn batteries require their own special charger, but a charger plus a set of 4 AA batteries is only $25 (pre-order) with free shipping on Amazon. I wouldn’t go swapping out all of your NiMH batteries for these new ones, but for high drain devices, nickel zinc looks like it should work significantly better, and they’re a damn sight cheaper, and much less wasteful, than buying disposable batteries of any sort.

[ PowerGenix ] VIA [ Engadget ]

Sanyo is hoping to boost the popularity of their eneloop rechargeable batteries with this overly cute tester named eneloopy, which is clearly an homage or parody of the Peanuts’ character Snoopy. But instead of hanging out with Woodstock or engaging the Red Baron in air-to-air combat, eneloopy will accept a AA or AAA battery (using his food dish spacer) and will indicate its charge level with his light-up LED nose.

Green means the battery’s fully charged, orange means it’s partially charged, red means it needs to be charged, and of course off means the battery’s completely dead. eneloopy will be available in Japan bundled with a set of eneloop batteries sometime in November, though pricing info hasn’t been announced.

[ PR - SANYO Releases 8-Color AA-size “eneloop” Rechargeable Battery Pack and
Product Sets that include the Simple “eneloopy” Battery Checker ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Here’s something interesting, it seems that Energizer is screwing customers who purchase rechargeable D batteries. Specifically, the Energizer E2 D batteries. People have noticed that these batteries seem weaker, and actually physically lighter than comparable batteries. Well upon closer inspection, it is found that they are rated at 2500mAh each, the same as a standard AA battery. An average single-use D battery is rated at around 12,000mAh. Guess what that means?

That’s right, if you tear open one of these batteries (I don’t usually recommend opening batteries, as it’s just a bad idea) you’ll find a something that resembles a AA battery inside a plastic case. Granted, the shape is a bit different, but the capacity is exactly the same. So for $25 you are essentially getting the same thing as a $6 pair of AA’s and a pair of cheap (we’re talking a couple bucks each) AA-to-D converters. For shame Energizer, for shame!

VIA [ NaturalNews ]

By Chris Scott Barr

iPhones aren’t known for their excellent battery life. In fact, they pretty much need recharged every night just to make it through the next day. If you’re a heavy user, then sometimes you’re lucky to make it through the day at all. This has lead to all sorts of interesting battery packs being created for Apple’s phones. One of these is the Mophie Juice Pack Air, which I’ve been testing out for the last week or so.

The Juice Pack Air is one of the latest battery packs from Mophie, who makes a host of iPhone products. It is essentially a hard case for your iPhone (3G and 3GS), which adds a small amount of bulk to your phone in exchange for roughly double the battery life. So is it worth it? Read on to find out.

The Juice Pack Air (I’m just going to call it the Air for now) is broken up into two pieces. Your phone slides into the larger bottom part, and then the top slides down to cover the rest of the iPhone. It fits rather snugly, and has openings for the button on top, headphone jack, volume rocker and camera. The dock connector is obviously covered, as it’s how the Air keeps the phone juiced up.

The Air does add some bulk to the iPhone, but it still slipped easily in and out of my pocket. When holding the phone, it did actually feel a bit more comfortable, since the iPhone itself is rather slim. I was worried that since the bottom area was covered, that it would cause issues with the speaker and mic. This is not the case, as those areas are curved slightly so as to accommodate the sound waves. People on the other end could still hear me just fine, and I thing the speaker actually worked better in the Air. This is because the sound bounces off the case and is directed somewhere.

You’ll find three things of interest on the Air. On the back is a button, which when pressed lights up four LEDs to indicate the current battery life (of just the Air, not your iPhone). Next, at the bottom of the phone is a simple switch. This is used to turn the battery on and off. I’ll explain more about that later.

Finally, you’ll see a small port that you’ve likely never seen before. I mistakenly thought this was some proprietary port, but it actually isn’t. It’s a microUSB, which is the first of it’s kind that I’ve seen. I’m disappointed to see this, as I have a plethora of miniUSB cords lying around. This port is used to charge the Air, but it also does something extra. If your iPhone is in the Air, you can still connect it to your PC using the microUSB port. You’ll be able to charge your iPhone and sync it with iTunes, just as if you were using the cable that came with the phone.

Now, back to that switch on the bottom. This gives you two choices when using the battery. You can either keep it on, and allow it to perpetually charge the iPhone until the Air is dead, or you can wait until the iPhone is low on life and recharge it. It’s rather difficult to compare which of them is more effective, since my usage varies from day to day, but it seemed like leaving the switch off until it was needed provided a bit more life.

So how much extra life are you going to get from your iPhone when using the Air? Here’s the official word from Mophie. Bear in mind that these are additional hours, which don’t include the amount of life you’ll get from the iPhone’s battery:

iPhone 3G S:

• Standby Time: Up to 270 hours
• Talk Time: Up to 4.5 hours on 3G | Up to 10 hours on 2G
• Internet Use: Up to 4.5 hours on 3G | Up to 8 hours on Wi-Fi
• Audio Playback: Up to 27 hours
• Video Playback: Up to 9 hours

iPhone 3G:

• Standby Time: Up to 270 hours
• Talk Time: Up to 4.5 hours on 3G | Up to 9 hours on 2G
• Internet Use: Up to 4.5 hours on 3G | Up to 5.4 hours on Wi-Fi
• Audio Playback: Up to 20 hours
• Video Playback: Up to 6 hours

If you compare it to the battery expectancy of the two iPhone models, you’ll find them to be almost the same. The Air will almost double your battery life according to Mophie. I can safely say that the Air lives up to those claims. As I said, it’s difficult to measure just how much extra time I got with the switch on all the time. However, twice I let my iPhone die completely, and it was back to nearly full when the Air gave out.

I was pretty happy with the Air, but there are a couple of negative things that I should point out. The first being that your iPhone can actually be a bit difficult to remove from the case. It’s a very snug fit, and when you remove the top piece, there’s still very little of the iPhone to grab onto. This brings me to my second point. I hook my iPhone to my car via the dock connector, which means removing it from the Air. The same idea applies to anything that requires a dock connector. Thankfully, since the microUSB port can be used to sync and charge your iPhone, you won’t have to remove it for either of those tasks.

Overall, I’d say that I’m pleased with the Mophie Juice Pack Air. It nearly doubles my iPhone, and gives it a nice protective case at the same time. I usually don’t have issues with battery life in my usual day-to-day business, as it charges both in my car, and on my iHome alarm clock at night. However, if I’m going to be out of town on business, or just plan on heavy usage away from home, I can pop in my iPhone and not have to worry. Honestly, I’d have killed for one of these during E3. The Mophie Juice Pack Air retails for $80 and can be found in black, white and purple.

[ Mophie ]

This morning Sony announced a new type of lithium ion secondary battery that includes all the major improvements one expects to hear from a new battery including higher power output, extended lifespan and faster charge times. The batteries, which are designed to be used in larger rechargeable batteries like the kind used in power tools (hence the basic label) feature an olivine-type lithium iron phosphate used as the cathode material. As someone who never progressed past high school chemistry I’m not quite sure why that’s a better material to use, but according to Sony it results in a battery that has a power density of 1800W/kg with 20A continuous discharge, a 2,000 charge-discharge life cycle and the ability to recharge up to 99% of its capacity in a mere 30 minutes. And apparently the new batteries have been shipping since June of this year, so thanks for letting us know right away Sony!

[ PR - Sony Launches High-power, Long-life Lithium Ion Secondary Battery Using Olivine-type Lithium Iron Phosphate as the Cathode Material ] VIA [ Sony Insider ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’ve got portable chargers for my cell phone, portable chargers for my iPod, portable chargers for my little video recorder, portable chargers for my AA batteries… The only thing I don’t have a portable charger for (besides my laptop) is my DSLR, because it takes those annoyingly square 7.4 volt battery packs that require their own special charger. Energizer is about to solve this problem with a little clip that has teeth to attach to the contacts of battery packs of any size. The other end can be plugged into a USB port, and if I may say, props to Energizer for not making it some kind of proprietary plug.

Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that you can’t charge a 7.4 volt DSLR battery out of a 5 volt USB port, which means that you’ll have to instead use one of Energizer’s new line of XPAL universal power packs (out next month) that come with 8.4 volt outputs. Nothing wrong with that, though… The battery packs looks pretty useful, and some of them even come with solar chargers. We should be seeing a review unit sometime in the near future, and we’ll keep you updated.

[ Energizer XPAL Power ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you’ve got an HP laptop that you purchased between August 2007 and March 2008, you might want to stop and pay attention for a minute. Yes, I know there’s plenty of other fun stuff to look at, but if you value your legs and the pants you’re wearing, stop for a moment. HP is recalling some 70,000 laptop batteries due to overheating issues. Apparently there have been incidents of property damage with some of these, so it would be worth checking into. The models affected are listed below, more info after the jump.

If your laptop happens to be one of the models affected, you can take a further step and look at the bar code on your battery. If it matches any of these, then you qualify for the recall.

If you do in fact have one of these batteries, you’ll need to stop using it. Head over to the HP site setup specifically setup for the recall and request a replacement. Until then they suggest keeping the battery out of your laptop and running it off of the power cord. Sure, that’s inconvenient, but there is a bright side. You’re getting a brand spanking new battery to replace the one that’s a year or so old and probably doesn’t stay charged quite as long as it used to.

[ HP ] VIA [ GearLog ]

By Evan Ackerman

We’re big big fans of rechargeable batteries, but they’re not usually something that you think of powering devices that suck up a lot of electricity over a long period of time. Something like, oh, I don’t know, a laptop. But it looks like netbooks are just barely low power enough to achieve a decent amount of on-time using a bunch of rechargeable AA batteries, and NorhTec has taken the first step with their Gecko Edubook, which uses eight integrated NiMH batteries for power. More info and specs, after the jump.

The specs on the Edubook are even more modest than the standard netbook configuration, since low power consumption is the priority. The Edubook has a 1 GHz processor, up to 1 gig of RAM, a 9″ 1024 x 600 LED display, either a standard or flash HD, 3 USB ports, a VGA port, Ethernet, and an SD slot. Rather than come with integrated WiFi, there’s an internal USB port that accepts whatever kind of wireless dongle you want. Interestingly, the CPU and RAM are completely modular, and there’s even a secondary internal SD slot, making the Edubook very easy to mod or upgrade.

You can expect up to 4 hours of battery life from NiMHs, or up to 6 from Lithium packs. I’m not sure what the actual amp-hours on the NiMH batteries NorhTec uses are, but I bet you can find ones with greater capacity. There are several advantages to using rechargeable AAs: they’re easy and cheap to buy, easy and cheap to replace, you can charge them externally, replace them if you start noticing a memory effect, and in a pinch, you can always use disposables. This convenience means that the laptop is going to be a bit bigger and heavier, of course, since the custom lithium batteries that generally power laptops have a much better power to size and weight ratio.

The best part about all this is the price: in base configuration, the NorhTec Gecko Edubook should cost under $200. Look for it this July.

[ Edubook (PDF) ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Evan Ackerman

Yes, I know that this thing is most likely not real, especially since it’s from a company called “Naivetek.” The idea is you stick D batteries in one side, and it charges up AA or AAAs on the other. It sounds silly, kind of like the solar powered flashlight, but it actually could end up being something useful.

Disposable D batteries have a typical capacity of 12,000 mAh, whereas rechargeable AA batteries normally have capacities of 2,500 mAh or less. It looks like this thing can hold maybe 4 D batteries on one side, and 2 AAs on the other. So hypothetically, that gives you 48,000 mAh capacity with which you could recharge your AA batteries 9 or 10 times. Say you’re off camping for a week and need to keep your camera running… Would you rather carry 10 sets of AAs, or 1 set of AAs, 4 Ds, and this charger?

[ Flickr ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

Even though they’re still in the prototype stage and not terribly efficient at this point, I still think these solar powered rechargeable batteries are a brilliant idea. Designed by Knut Karlsen, the SunCats are basically a set of old NiMH rechargeable batteries wrapped in a flexible Photo Voltaic cell created by the Institute for Energy Technology. When the batteries are drained, you simply leave them sitting in a windowsill or anywhere with ample sunlight and they’ll recharge themselves.

The PV cells were simply glued onto the batteries and wired up using a conductive silver pen and some flat wires scavenged from a broken canon lens. At the moment they only provide a weak trickle charge to the batteries, but Knut envisions a second version with built-in capacitors and electronics to make the charging process more efficient.

[ Notes from Knut - The SunCat Batteries - DIY prototypes ] VIA [ Inhabitat ]