Can the pinephone be powered without a battery?
#1
I'd like to be able to power a smartphone device without the battery installed. Is this possible with the pinephone? Assuming by default it won't work (no phone after the galaxy S2 ever supported this), can the presence of a battery be faked such that it will work without damaging the device?

In case you're curious why: Intended application is to have it continuously powered near the head end of my bed where I will mainly use this device as a white noise generator and an alarm clock. I have currently gone through great trouble to rig up an LG Volt to do exactly this, but it relies on a questionable LineageOS build on the software end to work, and even more questionable methods to install said OS onto the phone. All in all it's a pain, and an open platform phone would be far more preferable.
#2
(02-12-2020, 05:49 PM)stragulus Wrote: I'd like to be able to power a smartphone device without the battery installed. Is this possible with the pinephone?

Yes, see the wiki. Without any tweaks you are OK but have no modem, wifi or BT.
  • ROCKPro64 v2.1 2GB, 16Gb eMMC for rootfs, SX8200Pro 512GB NVMe for /home, HDMI video & sound, Bluetooth keyboard & mouse. Arch (6.2 kernel, Openbox desktop) for general purpose daily PC.
  • PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition, daily driver, rk2aw & U-boot on SPI, Arch/SXMO & Arch/phosh on eMMC
  • PinePhone BraveHeart now v1.2b 3/32Gb, Tow-boot with Arch/SXMO on eMMC
#3
Promising! So in order to get everything working, one has to provide 3.8V through the battery terminals with enough current?
#4
Why not just leave the battery in and have it continuously charging?
#5
(02-13-2020, 03:47 AM)Boern Wrote: Why not just leave the battery in and have it continuously charging?

I hope the charge control strategy's better than that or our battery capacity will degrade faster than necessary, but I agree with the principle. The battery gives you a built in UPS n case of a power cut or glitch.
#6
I had to try and see if it would work. As mentioned above, WiFi isn't working.

https://i.imgur.com/1R1ezMz.jpg
#7
(02-13-2020, 03:47 AM)Boern Wrote: Why not just leave the battery in and have it continuously charging?

Batteries degrade faster if you do that, but more importantly it's right next to my head at night and I'd rather not have a high-energy prone-to-failure device so close to me.

Quote:I had to try and see if it would work. As mentioned above, WiFi isn't working.
Thanks for testing, that is good to know.


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Pinephone + Keyboard for sale, little use ruemoo 4 420 10-28-2024, 08:37 PM
Last Post: AltonFox
  Modem Issues with the Pinephone Temmie19 2 250 10-16-2024, 07:54 AM
Last Post: Temmie19
  Battery Life- hardware abstraction layer-GPU VS optomizing app for GPU-openGL biketool 1 262 09-20-2024, 04:04 AM
Last Post: Kevin Kofler
  various tricks to open the pinephone shengchieh 3 1,335 09-16-2024, 03:42 AM
Last Post: biketool
  my pinephone melted norayr 6 2,033 04-04-2024, 07:22 PM
Last Post: Zebulon Walton
  Pinephone refusing to charge while suspended tiol 1 1,568 04-02-2024, 10:54 AM
Last Post: joH_N_Doe64
  pinephone can provide more than 500mA to a usb-c displayport device? unrznbl 2 916 03-21-2024, 08:52 AM
Last Post: unrznbl
  power circuit can't charge battery and can't supply enough power for modem or wifi vortex 2 1,166 02-17-2024, 04:15 PM
Last Post: vortex
  pinephone keyboard + dock question tuxcall 7 4,183 02-05-2024, 03:17 PM
Last Post: wigan
  Unsatisfactory GPS reception on PinePhone? LinAdmin2 53 65,851 12-17-2023, 11:42 AM
Last Post: robin.com.au

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)