Audiovox Dual Charger Idea

[Guest firebat]

Hi There -

I think probably there are many of you out there like me - i.e. I Have an MPX200 and upgraded to the Audiovox 5600.

I noticed the similarity between the batteries of the MPX200 and the 5600. I had a dual desktop charger lying around for the MPX200 and wondered if I could make it work for the 5600. Guess what - I did.

I thought I'd share this with some of you in case maybe you wanted to try the same thing.

Both batteries are very similar in terms of dimension. Also, the battery contacts are in approximately the same position. Electrically, the batteries are approximately the same voltage and amp hour rating. Both use Lithium Ion cells.

Here is the charger that I was using with my MPX200:

http://www.insten.com/productdetails.cfm?c...2&productid=345

(Don't know if URLs are allowed - if not, please remove and I apologize - this is NOT a smartphone forum URL)

Anyway, using a multi meter, I determined that the batteries appeared to be electrically identical - EXCEPT the polarity is reversed on the outer two of the four battery contacts. I started wondering - if I simply reversed the polarity of the contact points in the charger - would the charger work with the 5600 battery - guess what - it does!

I took the charger apart and de-soldered the red and black leads on the charging pins and simply soldered them back on in reverse. Voila - a dual charger for the 5600! (I don't think simply reversing the polarity of the AC adapter output would be a good idea!)

Now - a couple of words/disclaimers, etc. I know that this site is selling a desktop charger and I am in no way trying to subvert that effort - I just couldn't help myself as I like to tinker with electronics. I will probably buy the charger on sale here anyhow. Also, if you are not experienced at soldering - DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Furthermore, if you try this and blow up your phone, battery, or your house; you do this at your own risk and I assume no responsibility - probably the same for the operators of this very informative site. One more thing – since the batteries are almost, but not identical in size, I have to put a small spacer behind the battery in order to keep it in proper position in this charger – a small rectangular piece of a pack of matches works well. Also, to get the upright USB charging connector part of the charger to work properly, you would have to cut out part of the plastic on one side of this charger.

I would venture to say that this technique would probably work with other chargers designed for the MPX200.

These chargers are still available on eBay and possibly other places.

Just thought I'd share this with the membership – enjoy!

Edited May 29, 2005 by firebat