The Sony PEG-UX50 was an impressive package when it was released in 2003. It had a 480×320 screen, keyboard, convertible screen, built-in camera, WiFi and Bluetooth. As with most portable devices, the short time the battery stayed charged left much to be desired. Sony sold an EB40 battery pack that piggy-backed the device, but reader [JAmerican] wanted to extend its charge even further. It took a little dancing around with the charging circuit, but he was eventually able to combine 4 batteries to construct a 3880mAh battery that keeps the UX50 running, even after 9 hours of use. Here’s a site with a decent photo gallery of the UX50 (at the bottom).
I thought Li-ion battery requires constant current charging up to a certain voltage level then changes into constant voltage charging. Not sure how he does this.
JAmerican has been tinkering with this setup for a while now. Glad to see it posted on hackaday, as it really is pretty cool.
JAmerican is to be commended for keeping his Clie running strong! Well done sir!
9 hours of battery life! Wow, I wish my A64 notebook had that! Awesome project.
yum….9 hours of battery life and linux…..sounds like a winning combo to me!
I used Li-polymer batteries with protection circuits. I connect them all parallel. The protection circuits allow the batteries to equalize themselves. Then I keep the EB connected to the UX so that they are always in parallel. The EB is basically apart of my unit now but I don’t complain. :) Thanks for posting this hackaday crew :)
JAmerican
I am one of the few that jumped on the bandwagon and purchased a ux50. It’s been stashed away for some time now but I’ll gladly pull it out to try this out. Thanks!
When your dealing with one or two batteries by the same manufacturer, and production date. There isnt going to be much problem with paralelling a couple of them…
Laptop battery charging circuits are a bitch though, so who knows.
while its hard to tell from the pic…the thing doesn’t look too portable. I wouldn’t wanna carry around that thing in my pocket =P Maybe in a backpack, but if ur going to have the backpack, why not go for the full on laptop?
jamerican, we would love to hear about all your projects in #hackaday, at efnet
@#4 andrew:
Doesn’t run linux, unfortunately.
Cool nonetheless though
They still go for $250 ON EBAY, OUCH.
For that I’d get a GP2X.
Its more portable than a laptop. Its very portable. I do agree that it doesn’t really feel fully comfortable in my pocket but it still fits. BTW, the GP2X looks cool but it can’t access the web or manage emails. The power source would require you to purchase rechargable batteries. It looks really cool but not sure I could do as much. It also looks very large in the picture in the listing below this one on the main page.
Yea. This runs Palm OS.
JAmerican
Don’t get me wring, this thing looks awesome, and I’d really like to have one, but just the fact that 3 years later it’s still going for $250 on the bay makes me doubt that I’ll ever really get one.
Yea, your right. It is still kinda high but it originally was 700 so, it still taking some time to decline. But for all the features, I think 300 or less is a great price. I spent 400 on mine but got a 1Gig stick and Metal case. I would get the GP2X and really was thinking about it but I’m a all-in-one tyoe of person. I need one device that does it all. If you think about it, the only device that has come out ad surpassed UX in specs is HTC Universal but its huge and expensive.
JAmerican
Forgive this question if it is idiotic, but would it be possible to use, instead of 4 batteries in parallel, a PSP battery pack? They are much, much smaller and put out 3800mAh and are only $24.95.
No question is idiotic. The PSP battery pack (which I did consider somewhat) is much thicker than the EB40’s case. I believe its the same height as the EB40 so I would never be able to fit it in the EB40 without modification to the battery itself (which I highly recommend not doing).
Where did you get the 5 point screwdriver to open the ux50? I’ve been lookin geverywhere but can’t find one.
i am dont see picture. :(
i don’t see pic..