USB rechargeable batteries

[Skillian]

http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/news_usbcell.jpg

http://www.usbcell.com/product/1#specs

How cool is that? :cool:

[tesco]

woah :O

[suprafreak6]

that is quite the cool

[lynx]

There's enough power available for a fast charge option, that would be more useful.
Easily charge cells in your game station and just swap over to continue play5 hrs charge time is too long for that scenario.

Generally a nice idea though.

[Appzalien]

Seems redundant to me. If I use my portable laptop I reduce its battery to charge these, and if I plug them into a desktop computer then whats the point since I have ac available to charge nicad or lithium ones that way. Plus the fact that shortening the battery to make room for the usb plug also shortens its run time. This is a silly idea but will find a few silly people to invest and buy.

[lynx]

Yes, you can take your charger to work with you too. In fact you can take all sorts of things with you, just make sure you've got a truck big enough.

[Sneakydave]

mmm it does seem a bit silly, surely where theres a usb port theres a plug to charge a normal battery at, to be honest if im going somewhere for long enough to need to recharge batteries ill have enough space to fit a charger in my bag :P

[Tempestv]

they make chargers for cell phones that plug into usb ports to allow you to drain a bit of the laptop battery on to the cellphone and to make it so that you don't need the cell phone power brick, so I guess this is the same thing. I would be curious to know if appzalien is right about the usb plug reducing the run time dramaticly. also, for use while travaling, which is the only time that they would be usefull, with a five hour charge time, you couldn't charge them off battery power on a laptop, most laptops would die before the battery charged. the only real use I can see it for is you can plug them into your laptop while the laptop is charging at night. it still seams that it would be easier to carry a small battery charger, maybe one that could plug into usb or the wall.

[tesco]

A situation where it could be handy:
You take your mp3 player / cd player to school to listen to in class but realize the batteries are dead (:O). So you plug them into one of the computers and they charge up.
Problem is that it's a 5hour charge time but atleast you get something?

But more than likely this is just a novelty and concept idea.


Me and mikeco were talking about these a few days ago and agreed that it would be neat if cars, planes, etc. started installing USB ports stock since they are becoming pretty universal these days.
It would let you run your mp3/cellphone/pda/whatever off the USB port's power and possibly let things charge as well.

[Virtualbody1234]

I think it's way too expensive.

A 4 pack of Alacaline AA cells goes for $1 these days.