MicroNut
January 11th, 2008, 04:25
Please know that at this time this does not work.
I will update the thread when I find a safe way to recharge the batteries used
I know that the Neo Pad isn't popular with a lot of folks.
I have heard most of the complaints already.
I love it
I made a "kickstand" for mine that I have been using for close to 2 years now.
Works great when I am sitting at a table or laying in bed.
With the kickstand as a brace the PSP is almost weightless in my hands.
(but thats another mod)
My NeoPad Battery Mod:
I wanted to get some extra battery life out of my NeoPad.
The 4 AAA batteries that are built in do give it about 2 hours of extra life.
But I wanted a little more.
Please if you don't know what you are doing please don't try this at home.
I am not responsible for your actions.
If you burn the house down, catch the cat on fire, or worse yet ruin your PSP
I am not to blame.
On to the Mod:
I wanted to know if the PSP battery could charge directly from the PSP battery pack.
I couldn't find much out about this on the net so I set up an experiment.
My original Pandora battery.
It sits and rarely gets charged.
Even though the battery charged fine in just a few hours, I left it plugged in for another hour or so.
it stayed cold to the touch the entire time.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/00 Battery Charge Test_resize.JPG
Take the neo pad apart and remove the first set of AAA's
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/01 Neo Case With NiCad_resize.JPG
Get two matching batteries
In this case 2 Sony 22mAh Batteries
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/02 Sony 22mAh Batteries_resize.JPG
Free one of them and put the other back into the PSP
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/03 Sony 22mAh Battery Freed_resize.JPG
Note the pin header and delicate circuit board.
I really didn’t want to do any cutting or soldering that would damage any of this.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/04 Battery Pin Header_resize.JPG
After removing a very small piece of plastic bracing on the right side of the battery it fit snuggly into the handle.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/05 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery_resize.JPG
Line up the power and the ground wires.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/06 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery Pin Alignment_resize.JPG
The wires are too thin to catch the tiny pins in the battery header
I make a couple of horse show shaped pins using header pins from an old project.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/07 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery WireClips_resize.JPG
The wires now snap firmly into place
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/08 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery WireClips Seated_resize.JPG
Button everything back up and Remove the second set AAA's from the other handle.
Looks lonely in there... waiting for PVP's usbhostfs SDD hack... or maybe another battery with a switch...
At least its got the power and wiring to make it all happen fairly easily
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/09NiCadsRemoved_resize.JPG
Results:
The NeoPad is a little lighter.
And probably most importantly: my PSP didn’t catch on fire...
Here are the PSP Battery numbers:
About 8.5 hours 22mAh Battery plus NiCads
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/01 Sony 22mAh Plus NiCads.jpg
About 6.5 hours 22mAh Battery minus Nicads (Before Mod)
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/02 Sony 22mAh Only_Before Mod.jpg
About 10.5 hours 22mAh Battery plus another 22mAh Battery (After Mod)
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/04 Sony 22mAh Plus_Sony 22mAh.jpg
Final thoughts:
Not bad I guess.
I don’t know what kind of battery life a pair of higher mAh batteries would give.
I don’t know if the DC power pack could handle it or not.
It looks like with a pair of higher mAh batteries the charge life could be as high as 15 hours... maybe more.
I will update the thread when I find a safe way to recharge the batteries used
I know that the Neo Pad isn't popular with a lot of folks.
I have heard most of the complaints already.
I love it
I made a "kickstand" for mine that I have been using for close to 2 years now.
Works great when I am sitting at a table or laying in bed.
With the kickstand as a brace the PSP is almost weightless in my hands.
(but thats another mod)
My NeoPad Battery Mod:
I wanted to get some extra battery life out of my NeoPad.
The 4 AAA batteries that are built in do give it about 2 hours of extra life.
But I wanted a little more.
Please if you don't know what you are doing please don't try this at home.
I am not responsible for your actions.
If you burn the house down, catch the cat on fire, or worse yet ruin your PSP
I am not to blame.
On to the Mod:
I wanted to know if the PSP battery could charge directly from the PSP battery pack.
I couldn't find much out about this on the net so I set up an experiment.
My original Pandora battery.
It sits and rarely gets charged.
Even though the battery charged fine in just a few hours, I left it plugged in for another hour or so.
it stayed cold to the touch the entire time.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/00 Battery Charge Test_resize.JPG
Take the neo pad apart and remove the first set of AAA's
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/01 Neo Case With NiCad_resize.JPG
Get two matching batteries
In this case 2 Sony 22mAh Batteries
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/02 Sony 22mAh Batteries_resize.JPG
Free one of them and put the other back into the PSP
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/03 Sony 22mAh Battery Freed_resize.JPG
Note the pin header and delicate circuit board.
I really didn’t want to do any cutting or soldering that would damage any of this.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/04 Battery Pin Header_resize.JPG
After removing a very small piece of plastic bracing on the right side of the battery it fit snuggly into the handle.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/05 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery_resize.JPG
Line up the power and the ground wires.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/06 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery Pin Alignment_resize.JPG
The wires are too thin to catch the tiny pins in the battery header
I make a couple of horse show shaped pins using header pins from an old project.
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/07 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery WireClips_resize.JPG
The wires now snap firmly into place
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/08 Neo Case With Sony 22mAh Battery WireClips Seated_resize.JPG
Button everything back up and Remove the second set AAA's from the other handle.
Looks lonely in there... waiting for PVP's usbhostfs SDD hack... or maybe another battery with a switch...
At least its got the power and wiring to make it all happen fairly easily
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/09NiCadsRemoved_resize.JPG
Results:
The NeoPad is a little lighter.
And probably most importantly: my PSP didn’t catch on fire...
Here are the PSP Battery numbers:
About 8.5 hours 22mAh Battery plus NiCads
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/01 Sony 22mAh Plus NiCads.jpg
About 6.5 hours 22mAh Battery minus Nicads (Before Mod)
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/02 Sony 22mAh Only_Before Mod.jpg
About 10.5 hours 22mAh Battery plus another 22mAh Battery (After Mod)
http://www.fullburn.com/neopspmod/04 Sony 22mAh Plus_Sony 22mAh.jpg
Final thoughts:
Not bad I guess.
I don’t know what kind of battery life a pair of higher mAh batteries would give.
I don’t know if the DC power pack could handle it or not.
It looks like with a pair of higher mAh batteries the charge life could be as high as 15 hours... maybe more.