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Rechargeable AA USB battery
Moxia Energy unveiled the world's first AA battery with a USB connector for recharging. We've had a play around with some USBCELLs this afternoon in the PCW office and think they're pretty cool.
For £12.99 you can get a pair of the batteries which have about 40% less capacity than conventional rechargeables (a third of their volume is taken up with the USB connector and associated circuitry).
There is also a significant environmental aspect to using rechargeables like these.
Initially they're on sale online for UK delivery only. Moixa (axiom backwards, in case you're wondering!) is in the process of ramping up production for the US and European markets.
USBCELLs are nickel metal hydride and take about five hours to charge fully (working in regular chargers too). Rated for 500 full charge cycles you're unlikely to wear them out.
A quick twenty minute charge is good for using a wireless mouse for a day but they do run very hot when charging and we haven't tried them out on low powered laptops.
Very nice, but I have been charging my standard AA and AAA rechargable batteries from USB ports for years in devices ranging from PDA's to Phones.
Posted by Gwyn | September 24, 2006 12:08 PM
You're right. I'm in the US at the moment and have taken a unit to charge my AAA batteries via USB. But I'm going to use these in a long term test anyway.
We liked them overall when we did our initial test, but one obvious problem is what if your device needs four batteries. That's a lot of USB ports the batteries are going take up.
Posted by Rob Jones, Test Bed | September 25, 2006 2:58 PM