Never Worry About Charging Your USB Device Again!
Today’s smartphones are so technologically advanced that it’s rare to see anyone with a professional-grade camera anymore taking pictures or video. The smartphone fits in your pocket, has tons of memory and the 8+ megapixel images are simply stunning. There’s even apps available that allow you to edit the images (or video) before posting to your favorite Social Media outlet. So what’s the downside – maybe battery life? All the constant picture taking, video taking, opening apps – it all takes a toll on battery life; some phones handle it well, others don’t.
I recently attended Axialfest 2016 and one of the Axial employees was streaming video to Facebook Live all day long. He would stream up to 3 hours of video at one time on his iPhone, never once stopping to check the battery or charge the phone. I asked him about it, and he showed me this awesome little adapter from ProTek that allowed him to hook his iPhone up to any 2S-4S LiPo battery. AMain (ProTek is one of their brands) had a booth at Axialfest so I raced over to snatch one of these up, but unfortunately they didn’t have anymore available at the time (they were quite the hit). I’m not that easily swayed, so when I got home I made sure to order up a couple. Let’s take a closer look at the “TakeCharge” unit.
Specifics
Product: ProTek Prodigy TakeCharge USB Charging Adapter
Part Number: PTK-8509
Cost: $9.99
Type: Charger
Input Voltage: 6.8v – 16.8v (2S-4S)
Output Voltage: 5.00 +/- 0.25v
Low Voltage Cutoff: 6.3 +/- 0.7v
Device Enable Voltage: 6.9 +/- 0.7v
Operating Switching Frequency: 340 +/- 40kHz
Dimensions: 73x19x11mm
Weight: 10g
Input Connector: Deans-style plug
Output Connector: Standard USB
What’s In The Box
Since it’s an all-inclusive adapter, the only thing included is the pre-shrinkwrapped TakeCharger adapter. You’ll need a standard charging cable (you probably already have that) and a 2S – 4S LiPo battery (if you’re an RCer, chances are you have that as well).
Performance
There’s not much to say about it – plug your phone into the USB side and your 2S – 4S charged LiPo into the Deans-style side and your phone should immediately pop up as being under charge. The TakeCharge pulls the voltage down to an acceptible level for the phone, so there are no worries about it overcharging or pumping more voltage into your phone than needed. The TakeCharge has an included low voltage cutoff (6v) that helps protect 2S LiPo batteries, but won’t protect 3S or 4S packs – just take note of that.
To test the adapter, I charged my phone to 100% and the wife and I headed to the Orange County Fair. When we arrived, I plugged into the TakeCharge adapter and dropped the 2S LiPo in my pocket. We were there for about 4 hours and I did 2-3 Facebook Live video feeds for a total of about 3 1/2 hours – my iPhone never dropped off, never lost video connection and was at 98% when we left the event. The adapter was a little warm, but that’s expected while pocketed during the 3 1/2 hour usage.
The second test was again at the OC Fair; my wife was doing a 2-hour painting demo so all I had to do was set it up and walk away. This time, however, my iPhone only had a 58% charge – I wanted to see if this adapter could keep up with the constant video feed as well as the secondary task of charging the phone. After her 2-hour demo, the phone was only at 64%, so while it does keep it steadily charged, constant usage does prevent it from quick-charging the phone.
I started off with a DuraTrax Onyx 5000mAh 2S LiPo pack that was fully charged, using it for over a week for various videos; 2-3 3+ hour sessions and 20ish 15-20 minute sessions. Prior to completing this article, I re-charged it and was astonished to find that the pack only took 2290mAh, meaning it still had around 2710mAh left in it. That’s a LOT of usage time between charges – I’ll probably run out of storage on my phone before the battery finally dumps!
Let me also note that this will work with more than just phones. Basically ANY USB-powered devices are compatible; iPads (or other tablets), cameras, GPS devices – if it can be powered by a USB adapter, the TakeCharge is your guy. This makes it a very versatile piece when AC power is not accessible!
Conclusion
Now I know there are a ton of different portable charging devices out there, but you’re going to be hard-pressed to find something that uses a battery pack similar to what we RCers have lying around – and for only $10. As RCers, we all use our phones at the track for something; looking up setups, snapping pictures of our gorgeous rides or sneaking some video of someone’s prototype car or parts (or am I the only one that does that?). It’s only $10. Get one – I mean really, why should we have to worry about battery life when this adapter makes it so easy to keep our portable devices charged?
Installation: 1=Complicated – 10=Easy – 10
Appearance – Fit & Finish – 9
Durability – 8.5
Value – 9.5
Price – 10
Connect
AMain Hobbies, www.amainhobbies.com
ProTek RC, www.protek.com
Gallery
I bought 2 of these over a year ago, and love them. Being the R/C Guy I am , I always have an extra charged LiPo pack laying around on a race day, so I use this to keep my Smart Phone Charged, but also use it on my music device and my action cam to give a full day’s worth of use w/o worrying about a battery going dead.
Ya, didn’t really know about them until recently, but have found a couple uses for them other than charging my phone. Just used it the other day with my iPad, then a full day at the track with my GoPro. Don’t leave home without at least one now. Pretty cool little device!