Charging Your Phone

Pernig · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Jul 2006 Karma :

To the purist this may be deemed an unnecessary accessory, but my phone is also my camera, music player, organiser and sat-nav so it will be a handy thing for me to take on my journey in a couple of weeks.

The problem is that while I can keep my battery charged whilst on the bike, there may be days of no riding (ie hangover!), and I don't fancy charging without the engine running.

My first attempt to solve the problem was to buy a Nokia DC-8, which is basically a rechargeable AA battery in a tube with a charging attachment, but this only gives about an hour of charge before becoming depleted. It's well worth carrying in case of an emergency, but not what I'm after.

The phone will last 3 or 4 days on a full charge being used for general tasks, but if I switch the GPS on this could be cut down to 12 hours or less. I am also finicky about charging the phone when the battery isn't low.

What I was thinking of was purchasing a solar-powered charger to use in the window of the tent as and when I need it. Anyone have any experience of these, or any alternative ideas? The phone is a Nokia E90, and uses the smaller type Nokia charger. My camping buddy has an N73, which uses the same socket. If we find a solution he will probably be using it as well.

Thanks in advance Very Happy

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Banned · World Chat Champion Joined: 29 Jun 2009 Karma :

does not take much to charge the phone, i think your over worrying, just charge it via the bike and have a batterry monitor so you know the state of the batterry.

you could get a wind up charger as well.

steve

Howling TerrorOutOfOffice · Super Spammer Joined: 05 Dec 2008 Karma :

Tip for Charging E90s

- Charge your devices battery 10-14 hours at the first time, after you buy it.
- Always charge your device switched off if possible. This makes the charging time shorter and helps the battery to "calibrate".
- Start charging when battery is almost or totally exhausted.
- Finish charging only when the battery is full.
These rules are increasing time between the charges and increasing battery lifetime as well but may not be useful for Ultra Mobile Computers (UMC)

Battery Monitor Software
https://www.filebuzz.com/findsoftware/Battery_Nokia_E90/1.html

Pat
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Banned · World Chat Champion Joined: 29 Jun 2009 Karma :

yes good batterry advice, but also like im going to do, buy another batterry from memorybits , you dont need to go to the lenghts you suggest, laptop yes phone no...

steve

Howling TerrorOutOfOffice · Super Spammer Joined: 05 Dec 2008 Karma :

covdude you maybe wrong. Different types of cells hold charge longer and live longer if they go through a full cycle whereas others can be topped-up adhoc. mAH types prefer a full cycle.

Pat
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

Banned · World Chat Champion Joined: 29 Jun 2009 Karma :

I MAYBE WRONG caps it was your advice not mine !!!! ... lol

Phoenix · Twisted Firestarter Joined: 01 Aug 2002 Karma :

As suggested, buy 2 batteries and keep one fully charged spare, they're only about £3.50 posted from China for most phones.

Charging your phone off the bike battery won't drain it, just take it off charge once it's full, you could probably get away with quite a lot of charge cycles on the phone before it drained any real capacity from a bike battery.

natv4 · Brolly Dolly Joined: 31 Dec 2004 Karma :

PowerMonkey chargers work for me.
I have one which takes 2 AA rechargables and one with a fixed internal battery (which holds more charge).

They do exactly what you asked for.
Charge them up whilst using the bike and then recharge your phone whilst off the bike.

Incidentally, unless you are on a c90, charging a phone over night is unlikely to kill your bike's battery.
All the best.

Nat.
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kitty kat · World Chat Champion Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Karma :

I have recently come back from a bike tour & overnight I used to charge either the intercom system we were using, my phone or 4 rechargeable batteries from my bike battery. All of theses items were left on charge all night (one at a time though) and I never had a problem starting the bike every morning.
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ytrewq321 · Renault 5 Driver Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Karma :

G1_ · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 May 2002 Karma :

Also bare in mind (depending on where you're going to), lots of camp sites can provide you with somewhere to charge your cell phone battery.

Pussy Magnet · Scooby Slapper Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Karma :

some cafes / campsites provide little booths with about 20 small lockers in that hold your phone securely and also charge at the same time ( they have all different charging leads )

preview what they look like:

https://total-locker-service.co.uk/images/BQ010578-052258small.jpg

or you could just get a cheap wind up phone charger for about £20-50 pounds off ebay or amazon or a camping sort of shop.