I was discussing with a friend how Librem 5 batteries - if I swap them out and charge them a lot - are in some way similar to how my 2001 GameBoy Advance had replaceable AA’s.
And when I thought on this more, I had an idea. The GameBoy Advance had a removable back and battery compartment also, but something else it had were 3rd party “rechargeable addon” things that were physically larger than the battery chamber and used the extra space for extra battery capacity.
So the user would remove the back plate from the device and then attach the third party component which encompassed both the footprint of the batteries that would go into the battery compartment, as well as the footprint of the back plate that would normally cover the batteries, and then more.
That other thread made me aware that we can use the Purism open design and order modified and perhaps stronger custom back plates. But what if they were modified to also connect into the battery chamber and then supply power from a pack that covered the entire back of the L5?
I did some internet searching and it looked like maybe there is a standard issue 18650 size battery with 3.7v and 9900 mAh. Eyeballing it late at night on the internet (web browsing in bed on my L5) I began to wonder if we could 3D print some kind of holder for 4 of these batteries that would wire them into where the L5 battery would normally go, from the custom combined battery+backplate that I was simply imagining.
Is this an idea that would for some reason never work, and was the GameBoy Advance extension back attachment something that only worked because it could be mass produced? Or is this something that could feasibly exist and be 3D printed? Obviously it would make the L5 physically fatter for an already large phone footprint, but if those 18650 batteries are actually 9900 mAh and four could maybe fit in roughly the footprint of an L5 then am I crazy to think the construct would provide something like 8x the battery life of a standard L5?
This is a head in the clouds brainstorm so I was just curious for the opinions of others.
I wonder whether it will recognise the correct battery capacity and hence display the correct charge state percentage if you replace the standard battery with some other battery (whether custom built by yourself or store bought).
18650 is an ok choice if you make this thing such that they are easily removable for changing and charging with standard charger. That kind of holder adds to the thickness. If that’s ok, then no problem.
I’d probably approach this by making the whole backplate a changeable batterypack (as in, use original battery + external battery via USB-C) by sourcing a flat battery that doesn’t waste space by being round and needing a holder. Just make a couple of those “backplatebatteries” that are usb-chargeable, and the effect is the same (you can have as thick/powerfull as you want). And you can probably cleverly use some powerpack already out there to make it easy - just rip the case away, glue the battery and readily available electronics on your L5 backplate or a printed backplate that has a place for them. You’d probably get more power with less added space and mass.
The added benefit would also be that you can change these “powerbackplates” while the phone stays on, since the original battery is still there and L5 uses the usb-power/batterypack first. If you are worried about needing USB-C for something else, you can always get a mini port splitter. Alternatively this could be done to an external case instead of the backplate.
Not a bad thing, but it would have to be powerful and constantly towards the sun to have an impact to L5… unless that too device has a battery that the panel charges (instead of directly the phone). There’s nothing preventing adding a panel to the previous design.
Sorry, missed the second half. But to be fair, a black backplate will store solar energy anyways… Maybe we should try using Seebeck generator and harness the CPU excess as well?
They are. It’s kinda assumed and default at this point in time with this kind of devices and powerbanks. Larger search of the whole forum will show you lithium is mentioned.
Can it feasibly be done? Sure, with enough money, time, and interest. But isn’t that the case with anything?
You’d need a BMS of some kind to monitor everything and provide overcharge/undercharge/short/etc protection. Here is the protected battery pack module for the MNT Reform. Note that the L5 uses a Li-ion battery whereas the Reform uses 8x LiFePO4 batteries in series, and the battery chemistries have different voltages, C-rate, DOD tolerance, and a long list of other design differences.
Disclaimer: be extremely careful with batteries. As stated to me by my circuit design professor:
Batteries contain significant potential energy in a very confined space. Do you know what else shares these characteristics?
Looks like both power outputs are USB-A connectors, which may mean that it doesn’t negotiate a good outcome with the Librem 5. You really want one that has a USB-C connector and which supports USB PD 3.0.
Rephrasing for clarity: It did not charge the Librem 5.
Maybe I’ll get the other HyperGear power bank, once I switch over to the L5 full-time. The model I have charges my main phone (degoogled Android) from USB-A, even with a -C adapter on one end, so I’m covered in that respect.
Yep. I figured out it wasn’t delivering enough juice somehow. I thought it might register something at least, either in the Power Statistics app, or the notifications area.
will show you how the negotiations panned out. As an example, when I connect my Librem 5 with a USB-C cable to a USB-A port on my computer via an adapter, it negotiates to 500mA and not PD - which may just be enough to run the device but with little or nothing left over for charging the battery.
Two differences that may exist, in this scenario, between the Librem 5 and a spyphone:
The spyphone may be more energy efficient such that a bit more is left over for charging the battery even if only 500 mA is available.
The spyphone may support power protocols that the Librem 5 does not, such that higher current can be used even on a vanilla USB-A port. (As always, that is the beauty of standards. There are so many to choose from.)
So you would need to confirm with the manufacturer that the powerbank supports PD 3.0 on the USB-C output - or get a loan unit - or get one on a returnable basis - or test in store if buying f2f.
Maybe we should try using 