Cell phone, reliable recharges

[Karen]

I am considering going with Oceanic's phone service for the first time ever...giving up landline. I was so glad we still had the landline when the quakes hit last Oct, and of course I had kept an old trimline phone plugged in all of these years, as well as the cordless.

Last Oct. we used our cells too, and our newlywed daughter and her hubby have only their cells, and that day they talked a lot and had to worry about how to recharge with the power off more than nine hours.

So, I googled around the net today and found what sounds like the best answer. it's a remote, battery operated charger for our cells. The thing only costs ten bucks, uses several AAA batteries, and I'll post the link cuz the travel website that tested it and another brand found that this one was wonderful. They had a three and half hour phone call while using the charger, and it still charged the phone fully, plus handled the call, and had power for another charge, if I recall and didn't read too quickly.

Here's the link....I plan to buy each cell one of these and a ton of the AAA batteries, and maybe get rid of the very inept Hawiian Telcom service. wow....I feel like some nerd pioneer...I'm almost excited about doing this, LOL. But, enough about me! here's the link....


http://www.thetravelinsider.info/phones/cellphonerecharger.htm

[GeckoGeek]

You're good - until the cell site for your service runs out of power. Wither or not the backup for rare disasters are worth it to you is another deal.

[tutusue]

I lost cell service after last October's earthquake. Fortunately I had a regular phone plugged in.

[Karen]

Gecko, good point and I wonder how long it would take, or under what conditions the "cell site" would run out of power. Heck,all I was thinking was how there are so many antennas for Cingular, now ATT and if I have power and the other person has power...what else matters? I never gave that much thought. However, last Oct. daughter on sprint did fine and we had ours working.

I'm not decided for sure about dropping the very inept landline company....yet, but I'm sure buying those battery-operated cell chargers. I think for only ten bucks one should stay in the car, and for any hikes I'll have them take them now, when they go out in the kayak, or to camp, etc. Then I'll have them if and when I tell the landline people to get lost. :cool:

[GeckoGeek]

Gecko, good point and I wonder how long it would take, or under what conditions the "cell site" would run out of power.

Depends on if the generator fails to start. Or how old the batteries are. Or what the building they are mounted on allowed them to do. Any number of possibilities.

Bottom line, it's whatever they are engineered for. And then it's a question of if everything works right.

As for batteries in the car, I'd be careful if you regularly park your car in the sun. That's murder on batteries of any kind. I've lost a few devices to batteries that have leaked after leaving them in a hot car. (not right away - they leaked later.) Nothing wrong in having them, just don't count on them. I think I'd go with a cigarette charger. (Assuming that the car doesn't fail in such a way to render the lighter inoperative.)

[Karen]

Hmm....trunks are cooler, yes? maybe keep that thing in the emergency road kit?

[GeckoGeek]

Hmm....trunks are cooler, yes?

Maybe. But they can still get plenty hot. May want to think about some insulation. At minimum store the battery separately and isolated such that if it leaks you won't have lost it all.

[Da Rolling Eye]

So, I googled around the net today and found what sounds like the best answer. it's a remote, battery operated charger for our cells. The thing only costs ten bucks, uses several AAA batteries, and I'll post the link cuz the travel website that tested it and another brand found that this one was wonderful. They had a three and half hour phone call while using the charger, and it still charged the phone fully, plus handled the call, and had power for another charge, if I recall and didn't read too quickly.

Here's the link....I plan to buy each cell one of these and a ton of the AAA batteries, and maybe get rid of the very inept Hawiian Telcom service. wow....I feel like some nerd pioneer...I'm almost excited about doing this, LOL. But, enough about me! here's the link....


http://www.thetravelinsider.info/phones/cellphonerecharger.htm

These're fine and dandy if they have the right adaptor for your phone. We recently signed up with HT.com for wireless service and went looking for a AA power source. They got'em at Best Buy and usually stock them at Circuit City, but not for the type of phones we bought. :rolleyes:

[Karen]

Good point about the connector. Yep, comes with four universal ones and their website has pics and tells which phones each adapter is for.

Ahh...wrap the batteries, hmmm. well, it's true I don't drive around with a cooler in the car, or anything like that. Maybe I should carry a bigger purse. :p

[Glen Miyashiro]

For cell phone use during power outages, assuming that the cell towers are still working, I'd go with either a hand-cranked LED flashlight with a USB charging port ($20 a pair at Costco), or with a photovoltaic charger like the Solio (http://www.solio.com/v2/explore-solio/what-is-solio.html). Yeah, it costs a hundred bucks -- but it's so cool!

[craigwatanabe]

American Savings Bank was giving away a hand crank flashlight with a built in FM tuner and a cell phone charger (plus a myriad of cell adapters) if you open up a new checking account. One of my boys got one and was able to charge up his Samsung cell phone after a gazillion cranks:D

[i-hungry]

You're good - until the cell site for your service runs out of power. Wither or not the backup for rare disasters are worth it to you is another deal.

My cell phone didn't work for a portion of the day during that earthquake. I think downtown was affected more than some of the other sites.

[GeckoGeek]

I'd go with either a hand-cranked LED flashlight with a USB charging port ($20 a pair at Costco), or with a photovoltaic charger like the Solio (http://www.solio.com/v2/explore-solio/what-is-solio.html).

On the hand crank:

- How much cranking to get a charge?
- Does it use rechargeable batteries? What happens when those die?

- Not sure as I'd count on the sun being available when needed. Nice, but I'd need a backup.

[Glen Miyashiro]

On the hand crank:

- How much cranking to get a charge?Like Craig said: a gazillion cranks per charge.
- Does it use rechargeable batteries? What happens when those die?Yes. Then you can't use it any more.

- Not sure as I'd count on the sun being available when needed. Nice, but I'd need a backup.Hmmm. The next closest one isn't for about 4 light years. But don't worry, this one's good for another 5 billion years or so. :D

[craigwatanabe]

Like Craig said: a gazillion cranks per charge.
Yes. Then you can't use it any more.

Hmmm. The next closest one isn't for about 4 light years. But don't worry, this one's good for another 5 billion years or so. :D

Rim shot efx please!

[GeckoGeek]

Yes. Then you can't use it any more.

:mad: In that case it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. You buy one to have some independence from batteries and then find you are still dependent on some rarely used battery which may or may not be good when you try to use it.

The original BayGen radio was nice (if big). The energy was stored in a spring. No battery at all.

[Karen]

I do have two crank radios that have LED lights attached to them and yep, they do get used every time the power goes out here, at night. The radios were used constantly when the quakes hit, about nine hours' worth for both. Cool to learn that after a million cranks someone charged a cell phone, heck, it worked at the time.