Re: Ultralast Charger Comes with Hybrio Batteries, and can run off USB port (plus 120-240 VAC and 12 VDC)

On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:58:08 -0700, SMS wrote:

Powering/charging from USB is a great idea in many cases. 500mA is
sufficient for a lot of devices, and of course most USB ports can supply
up to 1000mA. As we see with USB powered NiMH chargers, you can even
trade off speed for convenience, with lower current but longer charge time.

It would be nice (not to mention honest) if you'd list a few of
the products that have USB ports that can supply 1000mA. Otherwise
this can only be seen as another of your bogus, unsubstantiated
claims. 500mA may be sufficient for many devices, but it is NOT
sufficient for a battery charger unless you don't mind it being a
*very* slow charger. Energizer's USB powered charger gets by with
only a moderately slow charge time, but does so by only having the
capability of charging up to two AA cells at a time, and even here,
if the USB has to provide power to any other devices, the charge
time leaps from 5 hours to well over 20 hours. So using two of
Energizer's USB chargers at the same time to be able to charge 4 AA
cells wouldn't really help very much. Charging two sets of 4 AA
NiMH cells that way would take a full weekend! :)

Now if Ultralast also makes a charger that can use the USB port to
charge USB devices (as the Duracell charger is able to do), *that*
could really be useful. And for hikers that might need to travel
very light but want to have some way of charging their cell phones,
or their little mp3 player's Li-Ion batteries (ruling out carrying a
laptop in a backpack), Energizer also makes several USB chargers.
One model uses a single AA battery, and the other uses two. They're
both small enough that several could fit in a small shirt pocket.

They are also widely available, being sold in many convenience
stores (Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreens) and supermarkets (Pathmark), etc.
The one that uses two AA cells includes two lithium AA cells, but
alkaline AA cells do almost as well, and are much more cost
effective. I could use that for my Sony mp3 player, but it wouldn't
be necessary for my small iAudio mp3 player because it gets 50 hours
of life from a single alkaline AA battery. In this case I could get
up to 150 hours from the iAudio player by using the Energizer USB
charger just as a small case to hold two spare AA batteries. :)

.

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