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External Battery for Acer A500 on long flights?

Madzack

Newbie
Aug 17, 2011
15
0
I'll be going on 6 hour flight from Malaysia to Perth by next year, so I need a battery pack for the A500.

In Kuala Lumpur where I stay, only Energizer battery packs are available, which is bloody shame. I may have to look around the city's computer malls again for the other brands.

In the meantime, what other battery brands I should check out for the A500?

And if I'm stuck with Energizer, which capacity of what mAh that can support the A500?
 
You need regulated 12V and at least 1Amp output (the AC charger puts out 1.5A)
Make sure you don't get one of those external battery packs for phones that put out 5V 500mA like usb.

mAh just means hows long will the battery last. 6000mAh at 1.5 A (1500mA) will last 4 hours.

Some specs show Watt hours. Just divide by the voltage (12v for A500) to get mAh. So 72 Watt hours is 6 Amp hours (6000mAh) = 4 hours at 1.5A

The other thing is the connector. I am not 100% sure but I think it's a standard 2.5mm plug. The polarity must be positive, which means the inner core is positive and the outside is negative, but I think that is pretty common.

When I looked before, the ones I found were around $100. If you find a cheaper one that works don't forget to post here
 
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Check with your airline to see if they have 120v AC outlets on the plane. If you are in first or business class, you may just be able to plug in the stock charger. If not, look for EmPower capability on the aircraft and look for a suitable converter. More ideas here.

Or don't worry about it. I can get several hours of runtime from my A500. Just charge up while on the ground. If it dies for the last hour or two, so what?
 
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The plug that goes into your A500 is Acer spacific... it's a one of a kind. I ordered an extra 110 volt power plug from Acewr and cut the end off. I then went to my local electrical supply house for a cigarette lighter plug with a regulated 12 volt-2 amp power supply. Got mine at Radop Shack here in the States. I soldered the Acer end on the power plug and it works great. I use my Acer for mapping since I'm an over the road truck driver. If I don't plug it in I get about 4 hours of life before it starts to wine at me to plug it in. I have an inverter that I used before I made the lighter plug but the lighter plug works better and it's more convenient. Hope this might help you.
 
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P.S. If you go to Radio Shacks web site you can order the parts to make it there. They also have regulated power supply's for air plane power plugs... they are different than a cigarette lighter. So you might luck out and get just the right combonation to put together what you need right there.
 
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Are you talking about the Energizer XP18000? If so, it doesn't have a rated 12v output like the XP8000, it is 10.5 v.

Still, it might work depending on the charging circuitry of the A500, but given a choice I'd go with the XP8000 which is rated 12v.

But the main thing is still whether you can get a connector that fits the A500.
 
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Speaking of RadioShack, I live in Kuala Lumpur btw, so shipping fees might take out huge chunks of budget for Perth trip.

In regards to airline, I'm taking an Air Asia X flight, most likely A330 economy class, in which according to Seat Guru, may not have the A/C outlet.

Btw, I've found the Mili Power King at the Twin Towers mall in KL. Is it any good?

Again, here in KL, only Energizer branded ones can be found. If there are no other alternative brand available here, it's the only Energizer I'm stuck with.

Sucks.
 
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It might be OK, it's not a regulated 12v output though it's 9-12v which means it will vary as the battery pack loses charge.

But you only want to transfer charge to the A500 battery, so it should be OK
(the Acer charge circuitry may switch off if the input gets too far below 12v, as LiPolymer batteries are fussy about charging, unlike a car battery)

And another thing is whether any of those plugs will fit the Acer.
 
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The ones I've seen here are upwards of $100, so I think I'll wait until my next trip to China.

But I found a post from someone who is using an unregulated supply with the A500 (12.6v to 10.1v) without problems. http://www.*************s.net/forum/acer-iconia-tab-a500-forum/32623-external-battery.html

The link in that post shows a 9.8Ah CCTV pack which should give you over 6 hours.

Edit:
This forum obviously doesn't appreciate links to the competition and have censored the url above. But there aren't too many android tablet forums so you'll probably work it out.
In case you have trouble finding it, the link to the battery pack is here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-DC-Rech...576?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41614aaeb0
 
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