Extra pleo battery pack

posted Jun 10th 2009 7:02am by Caleb Kraft
filed under: robots hacks

pleo-power-pack-top (Custom)

Those of you who have played with a Pleo know exactly where this is going. The Pleo averages about 30 minues per 2-3 hour charge. Just swap batteries you say? Nope, the battery packs aren’t available. Fortunately, you can make your own pretty easily. The basic frame is a standard battery pack for 6 AA’s. There are only a few modifications necessary to line up the leads and make it fit once you’ve loaded it with batteries.

Comments [10]

tagged: battery pack, pleo, ugobe

Reader Comments

Might be nice to include a link to explain what a pleo is.

here

wikipedia

Posted at 7:53 am on Jun 10th, 2009 by eldorel

love it, did the same thing with an mp3 player and extended the life over 6 times

Posted at 8:15 am on Jun 10th, 2009 by _matt

this page mentions that the third battery contact is for an internal thermister used during charging, which is common in rechargable packs…

http://www.pleodreams.com/node/5

Might want to verify that, but perhaps that is only used in the charger and will have no affect on the pleo.

ugly soldering, but likely functional ;-)

Posted at 8:27 am on Jun 10th, 2009 by Agent420

@_matt

Just don’t take it on a plane :P

Posted at 2:10 pm on Jun 10th, 2009 by mattj

@eldorel – seriously? three ’stories’ before this one is about the Pleo, with a picture!

On the subject of increasing battery life, I wish I could increase the battery life of my ebike without spending a small fortune… large lithium packs aren’t cheap, & other affordable battery technology is magnitudes heavier (nicad,nimh,lead acid)

Posted at 3:37 pm on Jun 10th, 2009 by Haku

Some good news for you guys.

“Jetta Company Limited, based in China and Hong Kong, the company that manufactured the Pleo baby robot dinosaur for Ugobe, has bought the intellectual property rights and other assets at the Ugobe bankruptcy sale that occurred on May 21. Jetta is an established company with a 32-year history in manufacturing. They have issued a short press release announcing Pleo’s rebirth. Steve Ohler, the US liaison for Jetta, confirmed the news, saying that the company is firmly committed to re-launching Pleo and continuing the line including producing accessories such as the vital battery and charger components. Jetta, as the original manufacturer, is the best possible company to have acquired Ugobe’s intellectual property and to announce plans to re-launch Pleo. Ohler remarked that all of the equipment needed to produce Pleos and accessories is still intact and ready to go.”

Posted at 11:44 pm on Jun 10th, 2009 by Aaron

the website link is above on my name. oops.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/06/09/028252/Pleo-Robot-Dinosaur-Back-From-Extinction?art_pos=1

Posted at 11:45 pm on Jun 10th, 2009 by Aaron

@haku Actually, if your reading the main site it was 3 stories below. I did see it 10 minutes later, but didn’t have time to come back and laugh at myself.

As for the batteries, has anyone looked into making one of these wired? I don’t think you would end up going more than about 6 feet, so perhaps a tether for power would work well.

Posted at 1:23 am on Jun 11th, 2009 by eldorel

The resistance of the spring wire on those cheap plastic battery holders is really high. For heavy loads, it’s worthwhile to upgrade to an aluminum battery holder.
http://www.keyelco.com/products/prod39.asp

Posted at 5:38 am on Jun 18th, 2009 by Scarhawk

aluminum battery holders are *way* easier to solder wire onto. they have tabs for soldering, and no plastic to melt.

http://parts.digikey.co.uk/1/3/aa-battery-holder

Posted at 5:43 am on Jun 18th, 2009 by Scarhawk