Rechargable frustrations

[Andrew1972]

Currently I have two pieces of electronic chargable equipment that are simply disposable once battery goes.

One I love is a simple Bluetooth to AUX jack adapter for my MDX that no longer charges and sometimes dies despite usb charger plugged in. Thankfully only $15 but only last 3.5 years.

The other is far more frustrating a Wireless Bluetooth/USB speaker made by Jabra that is incredible at its job when working. I spent $90 on sale but really just use on USB. The rechargeable battery is gone and dies while in use despite the USB connection being used. When this occurs it drops connection on my Mac in middle of conference call. The difficulty is moderate to replace the $40 battery pack which is soldered to the inside of speaker. Ugh they made a USB only version I just thought the Bluetooth would nice. 3 years and ready for trash can!

Lesson learned rechargeable electronics under a certain price point are disposable.

 

[Quattro Pete]

A rechargeable battery has a finite number of charge-discharge cycles. There is no way around it, regardless of how much money you spend.

Also, keeping a li-ion cell at 100% constantly shortens its life.

 

[andyd]

Batteries Plus?

 

[Dave9]

Originally Posted by madRiver
Currently I have two pieces of electronic chargable equipment that are simply disposable once battery goes.

One I love is a simple Bluetooth to AUX jack adapter for my MDX that no longer charges and sometimes dies despite usb charger plugged in. Thankfully only $15 but only last 3.5 years.

The other is far more frustrating a Wireless Bluetooth/USB speaker made by Jabra that is incredible at its job when working. I spent $90 on sale but really just use on USB. The rechargeable battery is gone and dies while in use despite the USB connection being used. When this occurs it drops connection on my Mac in middle of conference call. The difficulty is moderate to replace the $40 battery pack which is soldered to the inside of speaker. Ugh they made a USB only version I just thought the Bluetooth would nice. 3 years and ready for trash can!

Lesson learned rechargeable electronics under a certain price point are disposable.


It is highly likely you can just get a generic (just meaning not branded by the equipment manufacturer) standard battery and replace that. It should not cost anywhere near $40. The existing battery may even have the specs stamped on it including the dimensions, even if it's a flat pack.

On the other hand if you have it tethered to a cable anyway, it would be rather trivial to switch it to using a 3.7V (or other if it uses batteries in parallel) AC-DC adapter if the USB can't supply enough current so it can't be modded to run from USB.

 

[Andrew1972]

Update wohoo!

Originally Posted by Dave9


On the other hand if you have it tethered to a cable anyway.....if the USB can't supply enough current so it can't be modded to run from USB.


I think the current usb-c Dongle (2 USB ports/HDMI/Ethernet/Mac 61W power supply) was not supplying enough voltage to USB/ rechargeable speaker.

I plugged Jabra speaker into a powered with AC adapter USB hub I had into my dongle and it works on long conference calls. Thanks!