this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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Fairphone

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So I got a crazy #idea for #Fairphone ... Would be fun if some one could proxy this idea to the official folks there. @gael, @WeAreFairphone, @fairphone ?

Fairphones has a replaceable battery. Sometimes I would like to have a spare battery with me, to replace on-the-fly. In some situations, that is more convenient than to have the extra "dongle" known as an external USB battery pack.

The challenge is: How do you charge them? Back in the old phone days, you could have desk chargers for spare batteries. Another challenge: How do you carry external batteries safely?

So I got this crazy idea. Combine those two challenges! With an additional twist!

What if there was a portable "box" which could carry up to two Fairphone batteries, with a USB-C port to charge them. But! Let it also function as a USB-C battery pack which can be used with Fairphones (via cable) or other USB devices.

That gives you a portable battery charger, battery carry case for 2 batteries and a 3905 or 7810mAh OTG battery pack (based on FP4 batteries, depending on if 1 or 2 batteries are present).

If these cases can be designed to support more FP battery generations, you get something which could even be quite sustainable.

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[–] testman@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

that sounds like a good idea
a hybrid between powerbank and battery case community could probably make some prototypes, just as a proof of concept I would be interested in trying one out

[–] loputozirak@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

how do you carry your spare battery? I did it inside the original plastic envelope that came when purchased. during some bike routes I did having my FP4 as GPS this saved my life.

how do you charge your spare battery? what I did was:

  1. every Monday I charged the FP4 to 100%
  2. power it off and replace the battery
  3. use the new battery the whole week until next Monday between 15%~20% and 80%~85%

so you have a spare battery during the week charged at 100%, if I used the spare I do the se steps whatever the day of thw week was

[–] Piatro@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You're making a battery last a week in an FP4?

[–] loputozirak@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago
[–] grapemix@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So it's like fairphone version of this https://a.co/d/9OfZpOu , right?

[–] dazo@infosec.exchange 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

@grapemix

Yeah kinda ... but that it can also charge other devices when not connected to a charging source.

Use case 1: Charge FP batteries
The "box" is connected to a charging source, which charges inserted batteries

Use case 2: Charge USB devices
When the batteries inside "box" are charged, connecting a USB device to this "box" will start charging the connected device

Use case 3: Swap out the FP battery from this "box" with a discharged battery in the FP

It would be a great bonus if it could also accept more generations of FP batteries. FP3 or FP4 and newer would probably be most realistic.