Powering a USB device from a battery

getmore4less

Back to why did you not buy a rechargeable?

Carrot007

forgotmyname said:

No. Lithium batteries do not like trickle charging.  Yes it will trickle charge but you will reduce its

lifespan considerably.

Utter nonsense (sort of, see later!). That was only true of older battery tech.

The rules for lithium batterys to extend the life as much as possible are.

Keep the charge above 40% and under 80% as much as possible.

Charge as often as possible to achieve this.

Of copurse maybe you read the small pamphlet that often still comes with some modern phone that they have not updated since the 90s. (It really does current batery technology a disservice).

This is also why laptop batteries die quickly, people keep them plugged in all the time. Likly useless in under 6 months in those circumstances.

Hopefuly a solar trickle would not be good enough tocause this sort of issue in this country. But it really depends on the situation.

I see my new laptop has a uefi ("bios") setting for will be plugged in all the time. Hopefully this will do enough to ensure it will work better on battery in the rare circumstances I need to. Time will tell. Intelligent charging options really need to be put into everything.

[Deleted User]

getmore4less said:

Back to why did you not buy a rechargeable?

Because at the time - I was not aware of the plans

coffeehound

Is there a limit for how long a USB lead can be?  At only 5 volts I suppose there is.  How far is it to the nearest mains socket, @Deleted_User?

Mickey666

There is a limit to the length of a USB cable in terms of the USB comms functionality working, but if it's only being used as a 5Vdc power source then that wouldn't matter.  There will be some volts drop along the cable of course but that will depend on the quality (thickness) of the USB cable and the power being drawn.  Might be worth trying though, it'll either work or it won't but it won't do any harm.

coffeehound

Could just pick off the 5V at source and then run it through thicker flat-twin to the fountain I suppose, though that would involve soldering and whatnot.  Would be nice if a long USB cable worked ..

[Deleted User]

coffeehound said:

Is there a limit for how long a USB lead can be?  At only 5 volts I suppose there is.  How far is it to the nearest mains socket, @Deleted_User

It's about 10feet

coffeehound

You could obtain a 3 or 4m (whichever you think is required) USB cable for just a few £, so probably worth trying.  The fountain might be a bit less vigorous but would hopefully still work.  As asked above, can you link to the product?

Mickey666

Deleted_User said:

coffeehound said:

Is there a limit for how long a USB lead can be?  At only 5 volts I suppose there is.  How far is it to the nearest mains socket, @Deleted_User

It's about 10feet

The length limitation for USB relates to the data characteristics, not the 5V power.  In this case there is no communication going on as there would be between, say, a USB hard drive and a laptop so the distance limitation int the USB specification is not relevant in this instance.

[Deleted User]

coffeehound said:

You could obtain a 3 or 4m (whichever you think is required) USB cable for just a few £, so probably worth trying.  The fountain might be a bit less vigorous but would hopefully still work.  As asked above, can you link to the product?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRC5G79/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4SJ3M3B3VMFD3S4DZ23T

 It arrived  yesterday and works - however I had to provide a UK standard USB adapter as the supplied one was a 2 pin ............ naughty !