External Battery Bank for iPhone.

[paulclarke]

Hi to all,

I'm interested in using my iphone along with the Strava App to monitor my riding activities in general..

Using either Strava or the Runtastic road bike App on my phone is a real battery hog, so I'm looking to improve things.

Just wandering about these external battery banks,you know, the sort of thing you plug your mobile phone into to extend the battery life..

What I'm interested to know is how long, on avarage, could I reasonably expect these devices to last between charges ?

I'm looking at the 5000mAh for extended life. But how long will that last using GPS on my phone..

I would be very interested to know if anybody is using this setup..

Regards..

 

[glpinxit]

I have one of these. The phone (iphone 4s) slides/plugs into it and it is like a slightly bulky case. It doesn't say on it who made it but I bought it on eBay for under £10 and the small print inside says it is 'lithium polymer' capacity is 1,900mAH and output current is 500mA max.

It doubles battery life. I looked for the highest capacity unit but you have referred in your post to 5000mAH so you may want to check this isn't a stray zero!

And for what it is worth, I use Runkeeper and imagine it uses the same power as Strava, etc. To save battery life I fire it up, start my activity and immediately press the off switch - it then runs perfectly happily until I reawaken the phone. This gives me battery life easily well in excess of 4 hours. With the aux battery I'm still on full (phone) battery after over 4 hours riding.

 

[paulclarke]

Hi, Thanks for the reply,

All the information of the battery pack states it's a 5000mAh, the capacity is mentioned a few times in the description so I guess it can't be some typo error..

This is an ebay item priced at £11.49 - The add states it can power dual devices, mobile phones at 500mAh / tablet devices at 1A output.
Seems cheap enough..

Sorry, just want to be sure I understand what you've mentioned..
Am I correct in thinking that you start your Runkeeper App at the beginning of your session, switch off your phone, go on your ride, then switch your phone back on again at the end of your session and the app has still recorded your activity whilst charging ??
Is that was your saying ??
That sounds interesting, I wouldn't have thought of doing that..

Have you tried running the app with your phone switched ON ? Any noticable difference ?

Also, I'me wandering if you had to charge your ext battery device a few times befor you were getting full capacity out of it ??

Thanks..

 

[glpinxit]

Sounds like the pack you are looking at is heavier duty. I've checked eBay and there are lots like mine there now - for example item no 130997745426. (Just try to find a UK seller if delivery time is important to you - I've always been happy with stuff ordered from China but don't always want tot wait.)
On your Qs. After starting the activity I lock the phone by a short dob on the power/lock button. This turns off the display but whichever audio announcements I have chosen keep on at set intervals. When I first started using it I set the phone to not auto lock and this ran the battery down in around two hours.
Does the Strava website have any power saving advice?
The way my power pack works is to charge the phone battery. In essence this means that the aux pack runs down in priority over the phone so using it a few times means you charge than number of times and I didn't notice any increase in capacity.

 

[Robbied196]

A friend of mine uses a solar charger I think he paid about £30. It won't power the phone and charge at the same time, but with a bit of clever switching on and off he has pretty much unlimited phone access.

 

[retroracer]

Shame you don't have a samsung as I really recommend this; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZeroLemon-Sam ... 43bffae77d
I have just ordered mine, my dad has one and it can last a couple of days.
James.

 

[Carge]

Any recommendations on solar chargers out there?
Strapped to your back-pack all day to recharge your phone in the evening..

 

[retroracer]

The 'Freeloader' is well made and robust, having seen it in person.
Not too sure how quick it is on charging thou but I presume that you could run a lead from it to the inside of your bag.
James

 

[dyna-ti]

Found the ideal thing

 

[retroracer]