Pleo battery and battery charger suggestions [Archive]

pleoman

11-04-2007, 02:38 AM

Hi to everyone at Ugobe and other forumers!

I think that Pleos battery could run for a little longer. I think it really needs a higher rated battery (a battery that lasts longer than pleos current one) that can cope with the large power drain caused by pleos little motors, servos and so on. Supposedly pleos current battery will only last 1 hour after a full 4 hour charge cycle. I think the new battery could do with lasting at least 2 hours.

I found a website that sells rechargeable nimh batteries like the ones pleo has installed and 'fast charge' battery chargers that will charge the battery in 2 and a half hours!

Admittedly if you used any other batteries/chargers that were not approved by Ugobe for use with pleo you would void your warranty immediately.

I think that even though Ugobe has come up against problems with pleos battery life it could still be made good even with the battery that pleo currently has. I have an idea so stick with me on this one... the idea is that the battery charger could have more charging ports on it ( just like a usb hub where one end connects to a usb connector on your pc and the other end and has a hub with about 4 usb connections on it to run usb printers, scanners and the like). then you could buy lots of batteries to connect to the charger and charge the batteries all at the same time and you could play with pleo continuously for about 4 hours (depending on the amount of charging connectors connected to the charger).

This would be better than buying loads of batteries and having to buy separate chargers to charge up each battery that you've bought.

Sound good?

Feedback to this post would be greatly appreciated thanks!

ryane

11-04-2007, 04:46 AM

i think a charger with multiple ports (even if they only added one) would be a great idea. why buy an additional charger for every battery? i don't know though how many pleo owners will buy extra batteries to keep their bots running. it's definatly a good idea, i'll leave it at that.

PleoWorldHostCami

11-04-2007, 06:29 AM

Hi to everyone at Ugobe and other forumers!

I think that even though Ugobe has come up against problems with pleos battery life it could still be made good even with the battery that pleo currently has. I have an idea so stick with me on this one... the idea is that the battery charger could have more charging ports on it ( just like a usb hub where one end connects to a usb connector on your pc and the other end and has a hub with about 4 usb connections on it to run usb printers, scanners and the like). then you could buy lots of batteries to connect to the charger and charge the batteries all at the same time and you could play with pleo continuously for about 4 hours (depending on the amount of charging connectors connected to the charger).

This would be better than buying loads of batteries and having to buy separate chargers to charge up each battery that you've bought.

Sound good?

Feedback to this post would be greatly appreciated thanks!

Hi pleoman,

I'll pass your suggestion along to the appropriate people. Thank you for your suggestions :)

avery

12-02-2007, 04:08 PM

ugobe should make a walk up charger that pleo can detect and walk to and charge himself when his battery is low. that would be so much easier. LOL!:D

PleoJames

12-02-2007, 04:10 PM

I have one of those in my house all ready to go, its called a HUSBAND lol

PleoWorldHostCami

12-02-2007, 04:23 PM

I have one of those in my house all ready to go, its called a HUSBAND lol

ROFL toooooo funny! :D

mweed

12-02-2007, 07:00 PM

So, how does your pleo find your husband when the battery gets low?

PleoJames

12-02-2007, 08:06 PM

>coughs< My husband will be trained to never let PLEO out of site OF COURSE.
And to make sure his battery is charged at ALL times lol

GOOOOD HUSBAND

GREAAAAAAT PLEO :)

cmadmacs

12-03-2007, 01:00 AM

mweed I'm seeing a comic strip.

Love=Pleo

12-04-2007, 03:41 AM

Hi all,

I have a suggestion on the battery pack:
Li-ION > why? > laptops! they need lots of power too and lasting time.
So why is the power pack of pleo only NiMH?
I also like too see a dummy power pack with a wire (10feet) connected to a power brick, that way pleo can stay alife. (as the power pack is charging)

I hope they come to europ fast :D

Greetz and happy pleoing (new word :D )

Primus

12-04-2007, 07:11 AM

cost. simple as that.

pleoWhisperer

12-04-2007, 08:52 AM

I also like too see a dummy power pack with a wire (10feet) connected to a power brick, that way pleo can stay alife. (as the power pack is charging)

I like that idea. Should be easy enough to do. But I wonder what kind of an effect that would have on the "lactic acid' code, that reads the battery charge and drain. :confused:

seanmcdona121

12-04-2007, 01:57 PM

I think so aswell! cus like u don't want ur Pleo to die:-(

grmf

12-05-2007, 01:00 PM

They could make a Li-Ion battery, it would be a good accessory. Pleo is a fairly high current device. The battery is 2.2ah. Mine lasted less than one hour on the first charge. That means Pleo is pulling over 2amps. To be so small it is probably pretty difficult to get more capacity. Pleo probably should have been a 12 - 18v device.

grmf

12-05-2007, 01:07 PM

ugobe should make a walk up charger that pleo can detect and walk to and charge himself when his battery is low. that would be so much easier. LOL!:D

That's the way Sony's Aibo worked. But then again it was $1000 more.

grmf

12-05-2007, 05:26 PM

I found this guy (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2536). 4500mah Over twice the power. I think you guys should really look into a "bigger" battery,

Keith

12-06-2007, 04:12 PM

The Radio Control community has been switching over from Nickel Metal Hydride type batteries for their electric cars, airplanes and helicopters in favor of the newer longer lasting Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries. LiPo batteries can give you nearly twice the run time of NiMH batteries.

Ugobe may want to consider offering those instead of NiMH or a version of Pleo with LiPo batteries and charger.

kelley5454

12-07-2007, 09:08 AM

I agree the battery could last longer, but I love my pleo non the less. When will we be able to buy extra batteries? It's a bit frustrating to have to stop in the middle of play. I really need extra batteries......So does anyone know when they will be available for purchase?

Amsera

12-07-2007, 09:37 AM

I agree about the batteries too. But on another note, have you guys noticed that the gears are too loud?:confused: For instance, when my little guy is wagging his tail, I can hear it across an 20' carpeted room. Seems a bit on teh loud side to me so I wanted to know if others are hearing that too, or if my guy has an early case of arthritis.:(
Thanks,

grmf

12-07-2007, 09:55 AM

Yes, the gears are very noisy. That has been a complaint from others too.

whiteknight

12-07-2007, 10:41 AM

Hello everone, I am new here but not new to robots , My solution to the charging problem will be to use my Peak battery charger from my RC cars. my problem will be to find a way to connect the battery terminals to my charger, it would really help if I had a spare Pleo charging cradle to gut and just use as the connection. I wish I could buy one . The peak charger would work great because you set it to charge on the amount of cells in the pack ( in this case 6) then you just set the rate and press the button. I would gut my own cradle but I really don't want to change anything that came with Pleo.

PleoPet

12-07-2007, 11:47 AM

IMHO: NiMHd batteries are appropriate for Pleo.
LiPoly batteries are much more expensive. So are LiIon. They also require more complicated recharging circuits, and increased chance of exploding if not charged correctly.
For a robot like Pleo, weight is not a big problem.

Also LiIon/LiPoly batteries typically have special chips inside to regulate charging. This makes them more expensive and hard to replace down the line. This is a problem for AIBOs now as the OEM batteries are getting old (AIBO uses LiIon). You can't just buy off the shell batteries.
My suggestion - stick with basic batteries.

mweed

12-07-2007, 03:27 PM

Yes, the gears are very noisy. That has been a complaint from others too.

The noise didn't bother me. Pleo is constantly moving, so the sound is constant, like a background noise. In fact, when pleo stops moving momentarily, the silence kinda makes me panic, afraid somethings wrong with him! :p

fortgeorge

12-07-2007, 07:01 PM

When will extra battery packs become available? Could we get an official word on this please?

Before Christmas would be great, though not very likely.

PleoWorldHostSauri

12-07-2007, 07:19 PM

When will extra battery packs become available? Could we get an official word on this please?

Before Christmas would be great, though not very likely.

As soon as we know we will let everyone know fortgeorge :)

Keith

12-08-2007, 05:40 AM

Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer are two different kind of batteries. They aren't heavier than NiHD batteries and are the latest in battery technology. They are light in weight, otherwise they would not be used in small electric powered RC helicopiters like this one:

http://video1.hobbico.com/gallery/hmx/hmxe03-deluxe.mpg

dschenekl

12-09-2007, 01:38 AM

I agree lithium polymer or lithium ion are way better batteries from a technology standpoint. I work for a High Tech company and we use them/manufacture them for ieverything from cell phones, power tools, robotics, etc.

Yes they cost more, and no if charged correctly they will not explode !
Explosions will occur with any rechargeable battery if not charged properly.

I made this suggestion about a year ago fpr Ugobe to use one of the battery technologies I suggested, and no follow up (answered e-mail) was received back from Ugobe.

Honestly, I would rather have ONE battery with a longer run time and shorter charge time than a bunch of ONR hour run time batteries.

BTW I think the battery base is brittle and so are the nubs on the charger. I would have rathered paid more for durablility and efficiency than have something cheap that breaks easily.

I have posted thsi suggestion in several Forums already and I hope Ugobe addresses this issue in some way.

dschenekl

12-09-2007, 01:42 AM

Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer would be the answer ! I work with these to technologies in my regular job.

PS---I made this suggestion to Ugobe about a year ago with no reply !

Who cares if they cost a little more, isn't the performance well worth it ?

plauro

12-09-2007, 05:07 AM

that wont work until ugobe can solve the problem with the battery charger turning green to fast you cant fully charge the battery for 2 hours let alone 4[unless you shut it restart repeat so by the time you get a couple of charges the memory stored up will give about 20 minutes play and then just die,ugobes charger is defective there working on the problem it may mean getting a new charger and batter as happened with i-cybies years ago but it may take a year or 2 to solve im workingon making a charger to force charge mine regardless of the warrenty im just charging pleos battery to full capacity the 1st 2 or 3 times will keep the battery for years...

whiteknight

12-09-2007, 08:00 AM

I think plauro has a point, these batteries do not like charging this way, it will degrade the batteries after a very short time. I still say if we need to stay with this type of battery for the short term Peak charging is the way to go.

plauro

12-09-2007, 12:12 PM

yes whiteknight you are wise,we must increase charge capacity soas not to degrade charge time i say dilithium matter/antimatter will work!!!!

seanmcdona121

12-09-2007, 12:43 PM

If it only lasts one hour thats not that good! but if ur Pleo dies(like the battery runs out) do he have to start his evolution all over again?!?

PleofromVirginia

12-09-2007, 02:21 PM

No. After recharging the battery (each time) he takes up from where he was last time you had him out.

Caaahl

12-19-2007, 07:26 AM

"Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones"

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html

It sure will take a while, till we see such batteries on the market, but i think its important to be aware of the fact, that they are in development! :)

cmadmacs

12-19-2007, 11:08 AM

Thanks for sharing that information.

ryane

12-19-2007, 02:21 PM

wow thats pretty amazing. our electronic devices could run 10 times longer. a robot like pleo could run most of the day!

eric

12-19-2007, 02:27 PM

This reminds me of a guy from italy that contacted the i-cybie.net forums a year or two ago
me managed to wirelessly power the i-Cybie robot.

Told us he burned himself while testing it but he got it to work.

Last i heard he was trying to get funding for it .

Ridgeback

12-24-2007, 12:43 PM

pleofans

12-26-2007, 08:20 AM

We just got Pleo (A.K.A. Blue) for my son and today is our first day playing with him. I have been wondering how long the battery stays charged after charging 4 hours. Blue seems to fall asleep and I think it's time to recharge his battery but then he wakes up ready to go again. I dont want to take his battery out and charge it when it does not need to be. I've read many blogs all saying different things about the life of the battery.

dhsiung

12-26-2007, 11:18 AM

Is any possiabe, I can get a wire power cord too. Since my Pleo walk slowly now, I don't mind Pleo walk with a long power cord. In that case, I can always keep Pleo live even run out the battery.

mweed

12-26-2007, 12:07 PM

Good point. The battery pack has the circular notch in one side to grab the ring, so I have learned which way that faces on pleo, but I usually get it wrong on the charger. :)

Eeyorefan

12-26-2007, 12:43 PM

I'm not dsylexic but I AM directionally-challenged. I studied the diagrams carefully...and then inserted the battery the wrong direction in both the charger and Pleo. Ultimately, it was the fact that they only fit--and work--one way that saved me. LOL!

auctionenvyus

12-27-2007, 01:31 PM

I love love love the idea. What's amazing to me is that a maker could come up with this advanced of an item and provide a battery with one port that only lasts one hour and then you have to wait another 4 hours to enjoy the item. Ok we can send a man to the moon, hear your purchasers UGLOBE -- we love the item enough to think outside of the box.

crawshanty

12-29-2007, 12:05 PM

ptr727

12-29-2007, 03:29 PM

Did you also notice that the battery locking mechanism is the "wrong" way round from standard clockwise locks, maybe the battery designer was dyslexic ;)

brian55127

12-29-2007, 05:18 PM

A mark of some sort on the battery so that we can tell which way to put into the charger and Pleo. Thought the diagonal guide on the bottom helps protect the battery it's still hard to see which way it goes. For now I've used a sharpie to place a small mark on all three, the battery, charge and pleo.

The black hole on the bottom of one corner of the battery (with no silver connector) is the ONLY spot that should line up with nothing on both the bottom of pleo and the bottom of the charger. That's how I can tell how to insert it :)

rckclmbr

12-29-2007, 08:15 PM

My battery won't charge all the way before it starts blinking red. I think it gets too hot. If I take it off the charger to cool down for several minutes, then replace on charger, it will then charge until "green". Anyone else experiencing this? Needless to say, it makes the battery-life issue even more vexing, but we still love our Pleo!!

Yep, I made a thread about it last night - I have the exact same issue, but hey, at least eventually we are getting a full charge --- some people have far worse issues (though hopefully our issue will be solved as well!). Just wanted to let you know you aren't the only one with that problem!

geckofrog

01-02-2008, 06:21 PM

I think it's stupid that ugobe didn't put Li-on batteries in with pleo. Geesh how stupid is that. And cost factor it would increase it a max of $100. I would be more then willing to pay $449 for a longer lasting battery.

I think ugobe and irobot need to get together. Because if my roomba can last 4 hours and use more power (via suction) then ugobe...come on!

johngao

01-03-2008, 05:49 AM

Battery life is too short, looking for better solution. Pleo is very often to fall a sleep due to battery reason I guess!

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 06:44 AM

PleoWorldHostCami

01-04-2008, 06:51 AM

I am charging the battery now the first time, but the keeps turning green every 10 minutes... does this mean the battery came charged already or do i have to put it back in every 10 minutes in the chrager, till the 3-4 hours are over!?

I dont want to hatch him without a properly loaded battery, you know. ;)

PS: And with 10 minutes I mean exactly 10 minutes....strange O_o

Hi Caaahl,

Make sure the battery is seated securely. Very slightly angle the battery so the back of the battery clicks into the charger and then firmly seat the front of the battery. You should hear two very distinct and fairly loud clicks.

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 06:58 AM

Hi Caaahl,

Make sure the battery is seated securely. Very slightly angle the battery so the back of the battery clicks into the charger and then firmly seat the front of the battery. You should hear two very distinct and fairly loud clicks.

Yep, i know. :) It clicks 2 times and the red light is constant (not blinking). But it keeps turnin green exact every 10 minutes. Mhm.

bologdl

01-04-2008, 08:06 AM

I would like to see a new charger with a recycler feature to make sure your NiMH battery is discharge and will not get the memory issue found with most NiMH batteries. Also a unique tone from Pleo to let you know that the battery is low and needs re charging.

rckclmbr

01-04-2008, 08:17 AM

Yep, i know. :) It clicks 2 times and the red light is constant (not blinking). But it keeps turnin green exact every 10 minutes. Mhm.

Mine charges normally for about an hour or 1.5 hours and then does the same thing as yours.

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 08:31 AM

Mine charges normally for about an hour or 1.5 hours and then does the same thing as yours.

So you keep putting it in every 10 minutes then?

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 11:40 AM

pleoman

01-04-2008, 11:45 AM

Ok, its now the 2nd charge and it keeps turning green after 10 minutes. .....mhpf..

Can an admin confirm that the battery is definitely not charging while on green status? If not, at least i hadnt to put it back in every 10 minutes and just leave it on green for 3 hours. :rolleyes:

Caahl check to see if the battery is properly seated in the charger. I tug gently on the battery to see if it is properly seated and if it does not move it is properly seated. Go to www.youtube.com/pleoworld to find the battery charger video for more info.

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 11:56 AM

Caahl check to see if the battery is properly seated in the charger. I tug gently on the battery to see if it is properly seated and if it does not move it is properly seated. Go to www.youtube.com/pleoworld to find the battery charger video for more info.

Yeah, i know, i watched it before. ^^ The video says "if you put a fully charged battery in the charger, it will take about 10 minutes till the chrager turns green."
So, this means in my case, the charger "thinks" everytime, my battery is full, but it obviously isnt. (btw another guy in a german pleo forum has got the same issue with his charger)
If I knew, that it keeps charging while on green, this wouldnt be too much of a problem for me; but if I indeed have to "re-put" it every 10 minutes, then it will be.....pretty uncool. ;)

PleoWorldHostCami

01-04-2008, 12:11 PM

Yeah, i know, i watched it before. ^^ The video says "if you put a fully charged battery in the charger, it will take about 10 minutes till the chrager turns green."
So, this means in my case, the charger "thinks" everytime, my battery is full, but it obviously isnt. (btw another guy in a german pleo forum has got the same issue with his charger)
If I knew, that it keeps charging while on green, this wouldnt be too much of a problem for me; but if I indeed have to "re-put" it every 10 minutes, then it will be.....pretty uncool. ;)

Hi Caaahl,

I've asked for some clarification on this issue.

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 12:19 PM

Hi Caaahl,

I've asked for some clarification on this issue.

Thanks, you are working fast. ;)

PleoWorldHostCami

01-04-2008, 12:30 PM

Thanks, you are working fast. ;)

Awww thank you! Could you please contact Customer Support at: http://pleoworld.com/support/contact

They have a list of trouble shooting questions and more answers than I have.

Sorry you are having problems especially after having to wait for a "real" Pleo. Lets us know how it turns out. :)

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 12:38 PM

Awww thank you! Could you please contact Customer Support at: http://pleoworld.com/support/contact

They have a list of trouble shooting questions and more answers than I have.

Sorry you are having problems especially after having to wait for a "real" Pleo. Lets us know how it turns out. :)

OK, i did that. :)

rckclmbr

01-04-2008, 12:58 PM

OK, i did that. :)

I did that about my similar issue too and the customer support people told me to watch the video (which I have - several times). Hope you get a more substantial / helpful reply!

Good luck!

(and yes, after about the first hour or 1.5 hours, i have to pull out the battery, put it back in, and repeat several times until I finally give up on counting how many exact minutes it has been charging and just enjoy Pleo with whatever charge it has built up.)

ryane

01-04-2008, 02:34 PM

wait a minute. who's battery has actually had to charge for four hours?! the longest i've had to charge mine is 2.5, maybe 3. also, he usually operates well over an hour. i'm just wondering why people are still talking so much about issues with the battery. who has more then an hour and a half in one day to devote to pleo?

degers

01-04-2008, 02:44 PM

I'd have to agree with ryane on that one, I don't find the battery charge times that long, and I really can't afford just to sit infront of the pleo for 1.5 hours each day, I don't find the charging a problem.

Caaahl

01-04-2008, 02:58 PM

Well, the current issue discussed here isnt about how long a charged battery is pumping life into our little buggers. ;)

And btw: Yes, i have not charged longer than 2,5 hours so far and the first 2 times now Helge was "alive" for at least 1,5 hours each charge. :p

rdgrmarler

01-04-2008, 04:54 PM

I have one of those in my house all ready to go, its called a HUSBAND lol

Now , that's funny , I don't care who you are. From a husband

rdgrmarler

01-04-2008, 04:56 PM

My wife is just excited that I brought something home that doesn't poop on the floor.

ryane

01-04-2008, 07:29 PM

jas2190

01-04-2008, 08:07 PM

I'm perplexed :confused:. I have two Pleos (one's a first hatch)...charging has never been a factor to get OVER an hour's worth of play time. Charging has been less than 3 hours to do this...I'm not sure what's up here, but then others have had narcoleptics, and that has never been a problem for me...don't know :confused: Hope this works out! :o

sixpack

01-05-2008, 02:04 PM

It would greatly help maintain the illusion of Pleo being a full life form if I weren't constantly pulling a battery pack in and out.

While a swappable battery is desirable for when the battery inevitably loses it's ability to hold a charge....it sure would be nice if Pleo could take a nap / sleep on a platform / tether or dock without the battery coming in and out.

edufix

01-05-2008, 07:05 PM

Hi there, it is a shame pleo cannot charge himself. Recently I bought a Roomba which is a robot for vacuum cleaning, it has metal plates at the bottom, when the battery runs down it guides itself to the docking station and just moves above to the metal plate on the docking station to recharge.

Following this thought, I would think it should be possible to create a recharchable battery (same shape and size so you can just switch your current battery) for Pleo with metal plates at the belly side, also we need some sort of docking station to charge, let's call it's Pleo nest with metal plates as well to charge. After updating the software Pleo should notice when it's battery is running down and try to move to it's nest to recharge by putting his belly on the metal plates in the nest to connect and reload.

As I am not an electrician I would not know how safe it is, I did try of course the metal plates on my Roomba docking and these did not gave me a shock, neither the metal plates on the Roomba itself.

What do you think is a similar solution possible for Pleo? Would be great since the 1-hour battery is an annoyance for many and will never make Pleo autonomous.

With kind regards,

Edufix

nikropht

01-05-2008, 08:53 PM

It should be possible to guide Pleo to a specific location when his battery is low, as Pleo has an infra-red transmitter and receiver just like the roomba. Making the actual connection to charge is a hardware design, it may be possible for UGOBE to engineer a battery that can still be inserted into Pleo but has charging contacts on its bottom. It would be a fundamental hardware change, but I think the best way would be for Pleo to find his charging station and then open his mouth and bite down on a "port" and drink some electric juice.

P.S. I have a Roomba also... Has your Pleo gone Roomba Surfing yet? :P

-Mike

Caaahl

01-06-2008, 07:12 AM

Good news regarding my issue with the charger turning green after 10 minutes!

I just tested it. I put the empty battery in the charger, it tunred green after 10 minutes an i let it just as it was for 3 hours. And it works just fine, Helge is running around, full of life. ;)

So, at least in my case, with my charger, the battery keeps beeing charged with the green light on! I just have to watch, when the 3 hours are over.

edufix

01-08-2008, 04:58 PM

P.S. I have a Roomba also... Has your Pleo gone Roomba Surfing yet? :P

-Mike[/QUOTE]

Hi, I found my roomba rather agressive towards Pleo, don't expect any Roomba surfing (yet) ;)

InNM

01-08-2008, 06:28 PM

I have never had a re-charge take 4 hours, mine already takes about 2 to 2.5 hours. Yes, Pleo is dead before I recharge. These are 2200ma batteries and looking at a testing site, the highest you will get (not the rating) is 2700ma. (Powerex, Maha, Sanyo). Ugobe could upgrade to these if it does not cause heating issues when running Pleo.
I assume Li_ion is not used because of cost. Higher power would take either a more robust charger or longer charge time as well.

denodan

02-01-2008, 01:12 PM

When the battery warms up. he sleeps. I think when the battery cools again he gets active again. I will try this as mine goes to sleep. If I hold him upside down he screams and is fully awake to start roaming again.

The more active he becomes the more the battery heats up causing him to sleep, I think anyway.

seanmcdona121

02-02-2008, 02:10 AM

How long do you think it'll be before we get a new battery?

pleoguy101

02-02-2008, 06:09 AM

How long do you think it'll be before we get a new battery?

I dont know, but lets hope there pretty cheep, with 5 batteries you could run pleo for the whole day!!!!!:D

fancyfont

02-02-2008, 09:35 AM

With too close a battery change could it harm our Pleo's? What an awful thought to have Peeky melted all over the place.

Xasher

02-02-2008, 01:11 PM

Pleo has a heat sensor to monitor the battery compartment temperature. Most Nimh batteries heat up when you charge them so the sensor will shut down pleo if you try to charge the battery and use it in Pleo before it cools. The other problem is Nicad batteries can develop a memory if charged before they are completely discharged, it was more prominant in older style Nimh batteries. This could be avoided by completely discharging the battery before you try to recharge them. I have a NIMH battery charger that will discharge the battery before it starts charging the battery back up. I hope to soldier on a connector that will allow me to use this battery charger to charge Pleos battery pack.
There are other alternatives to the NImh battery packs that are used in PLEO now. The newest battery type I am considering for this are LIPO batteries. They are being used widely for RC applications, they are light weight and cheap and when they charge they do not warm up like NIMH batteries do. The problem with the batteries is they are volotile. If you charge the batteries to quickly or the batteries cells become damaged the batteries could explode and burn very violantly :eek:. If that scares you, do not use these batteries, but there is very little chance these batteries can be damaged while in Pleo so the hazard would only exist while charging the batteries. There are good battery chargers for Lipo batteries on the market that monitor the batteries state and will not charge the battery if there seems to be any problem with the battery, lowering the risk of a problem with these batteries to a minimum.:D

Glyph2040

02-07-2008, 05:47 PM

INTERESTING..... Hmm.... Volatile Cells.. Haha, whenever I read or hear about cells becoming damaged and exploding my memory always goes back to that scene in Terminator 3 when Arnold's explaining to Nick Stahl that he's "powered by two Hydrogen Fuel Cells and that one of them got damaged in his fight w/the 'TX'," Thusly he cuts off his flesh from his chest, chucks it out the window, ejects the damaged cell from his chest compartment, handles it for a moment -tinkering w/it for a sec and then flippidly throws it out the side of the truck he's driving whereby after arching and flipping through the air, it hits the dust of Cali desert, quivers rapidly while turning burning-red-hot and then proceeds to "VIOLENTLY EXPLODE" looking like a miniature Nuclear explosion -i.e. Light Blast, Shock Wave and then Mushroom Cloud. haha.... always comes to mind.... geez... exploding batteries... scary whether small or large! Don't wanna be near those babies.

But Hey! WHO CAN'T WAIT FOR THE 40 HOUR LAPTOP BATTERIES ON THE HORIZON, NOW W/NANO TECH LI ION CELLS IN DEVELOPMENT!!! WOO HOO!!!! BRING 'EM ON!!!!

pleoWhisperer

02-12-2008, 03:08 PM

Looking for Li-ion for your pleo? Take a look at this from the Taiwanese pleo site:

http://www.ucube.com.tw/images/board/19.jpg

It's a 7.4v Lithium-Polymer battery pack and charger!

Xasher

02-18-2008, 07:37 PM

Glyph2040, that scene from terminator 2 is not that far off actually. Ever see the videos of the Lipoly battery explosions ? They go off pretty violantly and then burn, they may not scorch the desert and create a mushroom cloud but they will surely burn down your house.:eek:

maggie44n

07-21-2008, 11:17 AM

[QUOTE=edufix;11536]P.S. I have a Roomba also... Has your Pleo gone Roomba Surfing yet? :P

My Pleos went Roomba Surfing yesterday! I didn't realize that term had been used by you in January until now. Fun term :D Here's the video:

Pleo Roomba Surfing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bj-L35-Go)

And that's their surfing t-shirts they're wearing ;)

PleoWorldHostCami

07-21-2008, 11:50 AM

[quote=edufix;11536]P.S. I have a Roomba also... Has your Pleo gone Roomba Surfing yet? :P

My Pleos went Roomba Surfing yesterday! I didn't realize that term had been used by you in January until now. Fun term :D Here's the video:

Pleo Roomba Surfing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bj-L35-Go)

And that's their surfing t-shirts they're wearing ;)

ROFL how cute, thank you for sharing. :D

wgb

07-21-2008, 12:16 PM

ROFL how cute! Will have to try that!:D

Allosaurus

07-21-2008, 12:42 PM

I do believe that sometimes, if you double or triple charge, it goes for longer.

Falseprophet666

08-09-2008, 12:25 PM

I would like to see lithium batteries. If there was any real risk of the batteries exploding, they would be completely taken off the market, not sold standard with every laptop. And whats up with the Ucube battery? I highly doubt that our Pleos are really that different from the chinese Pleos that they cant use each others batteries.

1mpleo

08-09-2008, 02:35 PM

i Have This Great Idea.

Ugobe Should Make A Ir Basket Which Is The Charger So The Signal Will Attract Pleo To It When It Needs Charging Then He Can Walk Of Again And Explore!

Falseprophet666

08-09-2008, 10:27 PM

That would not work, as Pleo is unable to take his own battery out. What we need are batteries that last longer and chargers that fully discharge them in case we take them out at the wrong time.

1mpleo

08-10-2008, 01:43 AM

No But If They Like Make A New Pleo, Were The Battery Dosent Have To Be Taken Out,

tachyon

08-10-2008, 03:44 AM

IIRC, the original plan was for pleo's battery to be charged in place but Ugobe were forced to change this due to European Toy safety regulations

mweed

08-10-2008, 07:27 PM

Also, imagine a built-in battery. When it goes dead, you'd have to throw out your pleo . . . :(

Falseprophet666

08-11-2008, 11:37 AM

Exactly, and that would contradict Ugobes entire aim of "Emotional bonding." And aside from that, Ugobe has stated over and over again that there will be no new models of Pleo. The Pleo you've got is not going to be any different from the Pleos being produced in the future (unless they change the skin or paint).

Allosaurus

08-11-2008, 03:47 PM

Also, imagine a built-in battery. When it goes dead, you'd have to throw out your pleo . . . :(

That would be terrible! 0_o

BauerMECH

08-11-2008, 08:01 PM

The original battery design was also removable but... you had to:
- remove a screw,
- remove the plastic disk,
- stretch Pleo's belly skin back,
- undo two more screws to remove the cover,
- and only then could you pull the battery out for replacement.
The initial design was intended for battery packs to be charged internally. All you did was plug the power cord directly into pleo. Oh, and wait four + hours for the thing to charge and cool down before powing him on. Now, you can pull a low batt and toss a fresh one in and you're set... as long as Pleo isn't too hot. ;)

Allosaurus

08-13-2008, 04:49 AM

1android

08-21-2008, 04:57 AM

junkroxy

08-24-2008, 02:17 AM

I have just got my Pleo today and after 31/2 hours charging I was only able to run pleo for about 3/4 hr. It would be great if there was a more powerful battery. It spoils the fun when you have to keep recharging

usually i can play with my pleo for 15/20 min., 4/5 times a week, I recharge my battery only 1-2 times in a week;-)