Gizmodo: battery charger

Energizer Energi To Go DSLR Charger Gives Paparazzi More Portability

Jason Chen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:40:00 EDT

Need to hide in the bushes for eleven hours outside Megan Fox's house while taking the occasional super-zoom shot? Need to recharge your batteries but have no outlet? Energizer's portable charger clip is there.

This DSLR battery clip charges via a special USB source (like Energizer's own portable battery pack, which has a higher voltage than standard USB) and clamps on to "any" digital camera or camcorder battery. The compatibility list is probably high, but we're unsure if any actually means any, so check out the site before buying. The entire Energi To Go line will be available next month. [Gearlog via Oh Gizmo]

Toasty Charger is Part of a Power-Packed Battery Breakfast

Sean Fallon — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:15:00 EST

Over the last few years, pop culture has become enamored with all things toast (and bacon). Everyone loves a cool toaster—except this one isn't cooking up bread. It's powering-up your gadgets.

The "Toasting Charger" concept by Hyun-A Ko is designed to charge your batteries like a toaster cooks bread to a golden brown. Just slide in a lithium ion battery, push down the handle and wait for it to pop up fully charged. There is even a color coded light on the side to keep you informed on the battery's progress. I love the idea—but, alas, it is only a concept at the moment. [Yanko]

Teknocreations' InCharge Juices Wiimotes Without Contact

Elaine Chow — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:45:00 EDT

We've featured a couple of Wiimote charging solutions before, but here's one that's gotten around the pesky problem of charging without metal contacts—annoying if you actually use those Wiimote jackets. Teknocreations' InCharge allows you to dock up to two 'motes, silicon and all, to grab 25 hours of gameplay juice. How? Magic (i mean, inductive charging)! InCharge retails for $34.99. [IGN via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

M2E Developing Kinetic Cellphone Charger That is Up to 700 Percent More Effective

Sean Fallon — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:00:00 EDT

This isn't the first time we have seen a cellphone charger that is powered by kinetic energy, but the difference is that M2E is working on a charger that can produce 300 to 700% more juice than current technologies. They hope this will translate into a full-on replacement for cellphone batteries somewhere down the line. According to earth2tech, M2E's short term goal is to develop a charger that will produce an hour of talk time for around six hours of normal movement. Currently, M2E is in talks with major accessories manufacturers about bringing a device to market as early as 2009. [earth2tech via Inhabitat]

Brando's Mini Universal Battery Charger is Jawsome, USB-Powered

Kit Eaton — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:13:00 EDT

Brando has a new universal battery charger available, working on the same jaw-grip/adjustable electric contacts principle as Thanko's version before. This time though, the gizmo is designed to be portable and draw its power from a USB source and it's got "high capability switch power supply with efficient transforming." It's even keyring mountable. So if you're constantly charging up a variety of batteries for all your gear, and don't fancy hauling all the power bricks around this might be an elegant solution. Can be yours now, for $12. [Brando]

FastMac U-Charge is the First Universal External Apple Laptop Battery Charger

Jason Chen — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:50:00 EDT

We've reviewed MacBook and MacBook Pro battery chargers before, but the problem with that is that they aren't compatible between different laptop types. Not so with FastMac's U-Charge. Their external battery charger lets you juice up MacBook Pro (15 and 17-inch), MacBook, PowerBook G4, iBook and even PowerBook G3 batteries externally all from the same unit.

Why would we need this? Because we go through multiple batteries in a day of liveblogging, and this is the perfect thing to charge up more than one battery at night without having to wake up multiple times in the middle of the night to swap them out from your laptop. At $69, it's fantastic, and even better than the NewerTech chargers since it charges pretty much every recent Apple laptop. [Fastmac]

Brando's Jaw-Tastic Solar Charger Will Power All Your Gizmos

Kit Eaton — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:30:34 EDT

This mashup from Brando takes some of Thanko's electric vampire universal charger idea and the "survival" solar charger and mixes them into one multi-purpose device. Its adjustable contact teeth mean its jaw can grab onto and charge a wide range of batteries, it's got a set of adaptors to suit different cellphones and has a USB output for your iPod and the like. Better yet, you can charge up its 1,350 mAh internal battery up by sunlight, USB or AC adapter. Basically you'll never be without a source of power for your gadgets. And it's got an LED torch. Is there a better power gizmo out there? [Brando]

Freeloader USB Battery Charger Supposedly World's Smallest

Kit Eaton — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:39:14 EDT

This new gizmo will charge a pair of your AA or AAA NiMH/NiCad batteries in three to four hours of slurping power from a USB socket, no power brick required. It's also apparently the "smallest and lightest" in the world. That may or may not be true, but it certainly is small enough to slip into your laptop case and not worry about. It's even rubberized to make it a bit tougher for portability, so if you're the type who needs AA batteries out in the field, it might be useful. Available now, for $25. [Geek Alerts]

A Steam-Powered Battery Charger Seems Really Practical

Jason Chen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:15:49 EST

You read that right. It's a steam-powered battery charger. Yeah, this is something we can picture everyone building on their own.

Before you go and ridicule these people with emails they'll probably never read (because they're insane mountain people), the charger doesn't charge your standard AA batteries. It charges a 48V battery bank. You know, to power their house. It's the same battery bank that they use solar arrays and wind turbines to charge when not using that steam engine. Because they're crazy hippies that none of us can relate to. [Other Power via Boing Boing]

Thanko Charger Bracelet Has More Wrist Power Than The Hulk

Jason Chen — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:10:24 EDT

Of all the crazy thing's Thanko's come up with, this USB charger bracelet's probably the least crazy. Instead of having a separate charger that you have to keep close to a PSP, DS Lite or a cellphone by putting both onto a table, this wrist charger lets you wear the power on your person and play/talk like you normally would. It charges from USB in approximately 4 hours and gives 22.5-28.5 hours on the DS Lite (lowest brightness) and 3.5-4.5 hours on the PSP. [Thanko]

Design: Kineticel, the Human Powered Battery Charger

Jason Chen — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:59:15 EDT

One of the ideas submitted to the Next Generation competition featured in Metropolis Magazine was this Kinetic Energy-harnessing battery charger by Yael Miller. The concept is to take something we're already doing—such as working out, flopping around in a baby rocker, vacuuming, or flushing the toilet—add the piezoelectric effect, and come out with batteries that are charged by "human power." Imagine all the television remotes we could power just from flushing our droppings. [Reuben Miller via Oh Gizmo via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Lightning Round: Newertech MacBook/MacBook Pro Battery Charger

Jason Chen — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:55:56 EDT

The Gadget: Newertech's MacBook and MacBook Pro Battery Charging Station, which let you charge and condition laptop batteries without having to swap out the one in your laptop.

The Verdict: Great build quality, fast charging, and overall convenience makes the price a non-factor when you need to charge multiple batteries simultaneously.

The Catch:

It actually charges only one battery at a time, but holds onto two so it can charge the second one in series after the first one's done.

The Performance: Charging took around the same time as a standard charge in our MacBook Pro (when not in use). Conditioning takes all night, but actually added a couple percentage points to our batteries (judged from CoconutBattery). If you put two drained batteries in when you go to sleep, they'll be done by the time you wake up.

The Price: $149 for all types of Mac laptops (MacBook, MacBook Pro 15/17, PowerBooks, iBooks)

The Recommendation: If you have the need to carry and use multiple batteries in the same day, pick up this charging station. If you've only got one battery, you can accomplish the conditioning yourself on your own laptop by carefully charging and draining your battery.

[Newertech]

Apex USB Battery Charger

Jason Chen — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:03:58 EST

Similar to the EverFast USB charger, this Apex USB battery charger can charge four batteries in as many hours just from your USB port.

Essentially the same as a regular battery charger, this thing plugs into your USB port instead of the wall, which means the only people who have more USB ports free than wall sockets will want this. And if you combine it with the Battery Box, you have a stupid and inefficient way of transferring power from one set of rechargeable batteries to the other. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Thinkgeek via PopGadget]

Turbo Charger Portable AA Cell Charger

Jason Chen — Mon, 22 May 2006 16:20:29 EDT

Our husbands are always getting on us about not charging our cell phones. No longer! Using this Turbo Charge battery charger, you can stick in a simple AA battery and plug it into your phone to fill up the juice. Better yet, it comes in a lipstick-like container, not some boxy black plastic looking thing.

Available now for $29.95, which comes with the charger, an adapter and one battery. Or, for $44.95, you get eight more adapters. One less thing for him to ~~beat~~ yell at us for.

Turbo Charge Portable Battery Charger [MobileWhack]

Solar Powered Battery Charger

Jason Chen — Fri, 19 May 2006 18:42:29 EDT

Out here in sunny California, people are always going out to the beach or the pool or the park. Not us though, we're inside blogging, just the way we like it. But even indoors, we can take advantage of this solar powered battery charger to fill up all our AA's.

This charger charges four of the same type of battery at a time—AAA, AA, C or D—and finishes within 6 hours. Great for people on the go or the electricity conscious.

Available now for $28.

Product Page [Maplin via Red Ferret]