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by ggm
922 days ago
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Back when Mp3 players were a thing (before the iPod) Archos were making an MP3 player which took 4 AA, and the mail list for alternate runtime (rockbox) was full of discussions about NiMH trickle charging, approaches to maximising battery life, as were Apple Mouse conversations. People went wild for the most long lived, fastest recharge AA. In some ways, I think it's a shame we didn't go to consumer goods run on Lithium batteries but in this form factor, with discrete charge management cards. So for instance, replacing the batteries in a Thinkpad could have been commoditised. Bagged cells are damn good for small devices, but they do make it harder. My Minidisc players were equally 'my battery, my form factor' as are most digital cameras. I guess some people (Dyson) cannot go past the opportunity to make accessories and replacements bound in them, at their price. After sales income is big. |
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It sucks that we don't have a universal battery standard for lithium yet though. Seems like at the very least, the OSHW community should have one.
We could have separate charge and discharge pins, and I2C data, so everything stays chemistry-agnostic, and you could parallel two batteries just with diodes on the discharge pins.
You could have all the connections on one side, and only have one width, just different lengths, so the small ones fit anything with just a a spacer block.
Or you could even specify an integrated screw hole.