Solar charger

[Guest zigzagindex]

Hi all,

I am a heavy user and always feel uncomfortable when the streak battery drains fast. I use fring, sipdroid and many other battery hungry apps. I also travel every day. Could somebody recommend me a quality solar charger or USB backup battery for the streak? Thanks in advance and wish you a nice weekend.

[Guest Flavio]

I second that.

I currently use a Just Mobile Gum Pro (4400mAh) but I prefer something thinner with approximately the same length and width as the Streak.

A retractable USB cable would be nice as well.

Edited September 24, 2010 by Flavio

[Guest mrmrmrmr]

I was considering to buy an extra Dell streak battery which costs around 50-80$ on ebay.

then I saw this thread and learned about Mobile Gum Pro . it seems to be a better choice.

do you recommend it ?

how long does it go with a full Mobile Gum Pro ?

[Guest degriz]

No idea if this would work..

http://www.gadgetsquick.co.uk/universal-so...rger-p-796.html

[Guest zx322a]

i had used solar charger for other devices and i find it not useful at all....... :S

[Guest morocc0]

Hi,

Has anyone tried the Proporta usb turbocharger 5000.

http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t...&t_mode=des

[Guest Flavio]

I was considering to buy an extra Dell streak battery which costs around 50-80$ on ebay.

then I saw this thread and learned about Mobile Gum Pro . it seems to be a better choice.

do you recommend it ?

how long does it go with a full Mobile Gum Pro ?

Can't tell exactly but it charges an almost empty Streak in less than an hour.

Judging by the capacity of the Gum Pro I guess it could charge an empty Streak almost three times.

I am tempted to get the Mugen battery. Although it looks horrible it is more convenient than using the Gum Pro with a USB cable all the time.

[Guest Ellis Grouse]

There's also a smaller, 1800mah Mugen battery that actually fits inside the Streak, although obviously this would provide less power than the 4800 monster.

[Guest miker71]

I keep umming and errring ... the 4800 means no accessories will fit, the 1800 means it will run barely longer than stock 1530 .... i'll wait until i have a camping trip next year ....

i had a mugen extended battery on my old Nexus One and it is definitely more convenient than carrying a separate charger or spare battery around.

[Guest zigzagindex]

There's also a smaller, 1800mah Mugen battery that actually fits inside the Streak, although obviously this would provide less power than the 4800 monster.

for Mugen battery I once have a very bad experience. I used to use a htc touch hd handset and purchased one from ebay, after just using the battery for a month, the hd screen got problem and it did not light. Eventually the handset became useless... perhaps I was unlucky and it had nothing to do with Mugen battery, but I dare not buy one anyway this time...

[Guest digthemlows]

i had used solar charger for other devices and i find it not useful at all....... :S

same here, I've tried a few, they all suck..........I wore a solar charger on top of a bicycle helmet on a 545 mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles and after 12 hours of full sun it couldn't even halfway charge an iphone...........

[Guest mrmrmrmr]

I second that.

I currently use a Just Mobile Gum Pro (4400mAh) but I prefer something thinner with approximately the same length and width as the Streak.

A retractable USB cable would be nice as well.

Hi,

I just got a "Just Mobile Gum Pro"

but it does not recharge my Dell Streak.

When I turn Gum Pro "on" , its 3 leds go green.

After that I plug my Dell Streak to USB-A plug on Gum Pro. Then all leds go off.

How do you recharge your Dell Streak with Gum Pro ?

[Guest mrmrmrmr]

Hi,

I just got a "Just Mobile Gum Pro"

but it does not recharge my Dell Streak.

When I turn Gum Pro "on" , its 3 leds go green.

After that I plug my Dell Streak to USB-A plug on Gum Pro. Then all leds go off.

How do you recharge your Dell Streak with Gum Pro ?

any comments ?

[Guest rebski]

Hi,

Has anyone tried the Proporta usb turbocharger 5000.

http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t...&t_mode=des

I have a similar one to this on order from PortaPow but a lot cheaper. It is the same 5000mAh but the two USB out are 700mA each whereas the Proporta Turbocharger has a high out of 1.5A and a low of 1A.

http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowPremium.htm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PortaPow-Premium-USB...#ht_3270wt_1139

I shall post my findings when it arrives next week.

I just got a "Just Mobile Gum Pro"

but it does not recharge my Dell Streak.

When I turn Gum Pro "on" , its 3 leds go green.

After that I plug my Dell Streak to USB-A plug on Gum Pro. Then all leds go off.

Does the charger work with anything else or is it just the Streak that has difficulty?

The lights are supposed to stay on, is the On/Off switch being activated - there are reports of this being a bit finnicky.

Edited November 14, 2010 by rebski

[Guest mrmrmrmr]

Does the charger work with anything else or is it just the Streak that has difficulty?

The lights are supposed to stay on, is the On/Off switch being activated - there are reports of this being a bit finnicky.

The charger works with my bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth headset.

However, it does not work with my Dell Streak.

I also tried with a Samsung Galaxy S and it didn't work.

If this is generic to Mobile Gum Pro then how does the other user in this thread use it ?

[Guest 00roberto00]

I have a similar one to this on order from PortaPow but a lot cheaper. It is the same 5000mAh but the two USB out are 700mA each whereas the Proporta Turbocharger has a high out of 1.5A and a low of 1A.

http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapowPremium.htm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PortaPow-Premium-USB...#ht_3270wt_1139

I shall post my findings when it arrives next week.

Does the charger work with anything else or is it just the Streak that has difficulty?

The lights are supposed to stay on, is the On/Off switch being activated - there are reports of this being a bit finnicky.

hello

for what i know streak and others need at least 1A at 5V for charging.

so far i found 4 items:

proporta

energizer

newtrent

hypermac

this last one i think its the best cuz it can be recharged 1000 times and not only 500times like all the others

[Guest rebski]

The PortaPow arrived yesterday and the results were disappointing. It does not charge the Streak, the status bar says ‘Waiting for Connection’.

Furthermore it gave aberrant results with my SPAM 7. It brought the charge up to 80% and then seemed to drain power from it down to 12%.

However it charged my iRiver H140 and iBasso D10 so it does work

The big bummer is that it bricked my Sansa Clip.

The seller is being very reasonable and has promised to refund the price plus postage but at the cost to me of a new Sansa Clip it is an expensive experience.

@00roberto00: Check out the New Trent Dual-port Pack IMP50D 5000mAh External Battery

http://www.newtrent.com/IMP50D-dual-USB-50...ry-p/imp50d.htm

This looks identical to the PortaPow.

[Guest fester61]

Power traveller Gorilla not cheap but very versatile.

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primat...r/solargorilla/

[Guest 00roberto00]

The PortaPow arrived yesterday and the results were disappointing. It does not charge the Streak, the status bar says ‘Waiting for Connection’.

Furthermore it gave aberrant results with my SPAM 7. It brought the charge up to 80% and then seemed to drain power from it down to 12%.

However it charged my iRiver H140 and iBasso D10 so it does work

The big bummer is that it bricked my Sansa Clip.

The seller is being very reasonable and has promised to refund the price plus postage but at the cost to me of a new Sansa Clip it is an expensive experience.

@00roberto00: Check out the New Trent Dual-port Pack IMP50D 5000mAh External Battery

http://www.newtrent.com/IMP50D-dual-USB-50...ry-p/imp50d.htm

This looks identical to the PortaPow.

the imp50d or imp500 gives 700mA, not enough, u need 1A

and u need 2.1A if u got an ipad or a samsung pad (1.5A if u charge it when switched off)

[Guest rebski]

the imp50d or imp500 gives 700mA, not enough, u need 1A

My requirement for the Streak is to charge it when it is not in use, so a trickle charge will suffice.

This thread sheds some light on various issues

http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-strea...ak-my-tips.html

The OP mentions “the streak needs pins 2 and 3 (the middle two) on the USB socket to be short circuited.” I have seen similar comments on the Nokia N900 for instance.

See this thread

http://android.modaco.com/content-page/311...streak/page/20/

Post #34 “bought an Energizer XP8000 (xpal) ...doesn't charge the streak either” The XP8000 is rated at 5V 1000mah so according to you this is sufficient for it to work? Yet it doesn’t.

I use a 5 port AC USB adapter rated at 3000mah. Similar to this revised version at 2000mah

http://usb.brando.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00844

3000 /5 = 600mah per port and this charges the Streak perfectly. Or does the adapter provide more juice when requested by the device?

This is a confusing subject and if you have some explicit and detailed information then I would be grateful if you would share it because I don’t think the issue is as simplistic as you say. See the above observations especially that for the Energizer XP8000.

In the meantime I have just ordered: -

http://www.digizo.co.uk/products/Power-Cha...s-iPad-etc.html

Quote: “The charger has been specifically engineered to charge Apple's iPad.

Max output: 2000mA @ 5V”

So let’s see how this goes.

[Guest 00roberto00]

My requirement for the Streak is to charge it when it is not in use, so a trickle charge will suffice.

This thread sheds some light on various issues

http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-strea...ak-my-tips.html

The OP mentions “the streak needs pins 2 and 3 (the middle two) on the USB socket to be short circuited.” I have seen similar comments on the Nokia N900 for instance.

See this thread

http://android.modaco.com/content-page/311...streak/page/20/

Post #34 “bought an Energizer XP8000 (xpal) ...doesn't charge the streak either” The XP8000 is rated at 5V 1000mah so according to you this is sufficient for it to work? Yet it doesn’t.

I use a 5 port AC USB adapter rated at 3000mah. Similar to this revised version at 2000mah

http://usb.brando.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00844

3000 /5 = 600mah per port and this charges the Streak perfectly. Or does the adapter provide more juice when requested by the device?

This is a confusing subject and if you have some explicit and detailed information then I would be grateful if you would share it because I don’t think the issue is as simplistic as you say. See the above observations especially that for the Energizer XP8000.

In the meantime I have just ordered: -

http://www.digizo.co.uk/products/Power-Cha...s-iPad-etc.html

Quote: “The charger has been specifically engineered to charge Apple's iPad.

Max output: 2000mA @ 5V”

So let’s see how this goes.

well, u are right, you need also the usb adapter or to short the middle wires in the usb plug

[Guest rebski]

well, u are right, you need also the usb adapter or to short the middle wires in the usb plug

If I still had the PortaPow and one of these then I reckon it would charge the Streak

http://www.xmultiple.com/xwebsite-iXP1-500-xpower1.htm

http://www.lindy.co.uk/usb-charging-adapte...ipad/73336.html

The new charger that I have on order has " The top USB charging port is optimized for smartphones and other devices that are capable of taking an optimized charge, including Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod family of products." so I am confident that it will charge the Streak

However "The bottom port uses the standard USB specification and will charge devices that do not utilize the optimized USB charging specification." so my expectation is that this port will not charge the Streak and may need one of the iPad charger adapters.

I shall be able to tell once it arrives, atm there is a delay on stock.

[Guest rebski]

The Power Charger just arrived. To all intents and purposes it could be a generic Zagg Sparq, identical in every detail to what I have seen in photos and videos, down to the box shape and operating instructions. The only difference is that it doesn’t have the golden Z sticker and only cost me £21.98 including delivery rather than Zagg’s $99.99 + delivery.

The Zagg Sparq has had a history of poor quality and even the improved version 2 comes in for criticism and at $99.99 it should be held to a high performance standard. For the price I paid for the Power Charger my demands will be less fussy. Although, that said, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be exemplary as there has been ample time for the factory to get it right. But only a long term evaluation will determine whether that is so.

After the initial recommended 9 hour charge and I have tested its capabilities on a variety of devices.

The new charger that I have on order has " The top USB charging port is optimized for smartphones and other devices that are capable of taking an optimized charge, including Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod family of products." so I am confident that it will charge the Streak

However "The bottom port uses the standard USB specification and will charge devices that do not utilize the optimized USB charging specification." so my expectation is that this port will not charge the Streak and may need one of the iPad charger adapters.

OK there go my theories up in smoke. The good news is that it actually does charge the Streak. I had fully expected it to charge on the Optimised port and the curiosity is that it won’t. It will only charge on the General port. However the other devices such as Sansa Clip, iBasso D10, iRiverH140, etc. all charge on both the Optimised and General ports which means that both the Streak and another device can be charged simultaneously. So all the objectives have been achieved.

If anyone has any ideas, I would be interested to know why the Streak doesn’t charge on the Optimised port. Also, I am not sure I can bring myself to pay £12.98 incl delivery for a Lindy USB charging adapter, in fact I am pretty certain that I am not that desperate.

The seller Digizo has been exemplary. The web description page says that a UK adapter is included but it wasn’t in the jiffy bag and when I enquired if this was an oversight they responded with one in the post.

[Guest rebski]

Just to update with my observations after a few weeks of use. First off, the Streak now charges on the Optimised port so not sure why it didn’t do so previously. And of course it still charges on the General port.

The main issue to mention is the amount of time it takes for the unused, sitting on a shelf, charger to run itself down from fully charged to fully discharged. And that is 7 days. So it needs to be kept topped up every 2 or 3 days otherwise you will come to use it and find it empty.

Apart from that it is fine.

[Guest zigzagindex]

Just to update with my observations after a few weeks of use. First off, the Streak now charges on the Optimised port so not sure why it didn’t do so previously. And of course it still charges on the General port.

The main issue to mention is the amount of time it takes for the unused, sitting on a shelf, charger to run itself down from fully charged to fully discharged. And that is 7 days. So it needs to be kept topped up every 2 or 3 days otherwise you will come to use it and find it empty.

Apart from that it is fine.

Thanks for your update