Dry cell type mobile batteries that appear one after another in the smartphone era for some reason

Now that smartphones have become mainstream, mobile batteries are the best way to deal with battery shorts on the way. Therefore, the mobile battery, which was initially just a maniac gadget, has become a highly practical product.

If you go to many mobile shops, the lineup is extremely rich, from small ones that fit in your pocket to large-capacity "disaster-compatible products" that are still left over even if you charge all the smartphones of the whole family. On the other hand, there were many in the era of feature phones, but in the era of smartphones, the one that almost disappeared was a mobile battery that uses a commercially available alkaline battery. There may be various reasons, but the biggest problem is probably the difference in battery capacity.

In feature phones, the battery capacity is still good at 1000mAh these days. On the other hand, smartphones are not so rare even if they exceed 3000mAh, which is three times that. In response to the rapid expansion of the smartphone's battery capacity, the capacity of the mobile battery to carry as a spare is also required to be at least 75% or more of the smartphone, preferably enough power to charge the smartphone twice, and the capacity of the mobile battery is The story is that the volume and weight have continued to increase according to the capacity, exceeding several thousand mAh.

Overseas, adapters (left) that can charge smartphones using a 9V lithium battery as a nutrient source are also sold.

However, as the user base of smartphones expands from children to the elderly, some people will have nothing to do with mobile batteries, and more people will think that the capacity of mobile batteries is not just big. Let's go. There have been many unique mobile batteries that use dry batteries overseas for some time. With the diversification of the mobile battery market, the author hopes that the focus will be on ultra-compact and ultra-lightweight mobile batteries and dry battery-powered mobile batteries, and that it will be fun if a new market grows.

Only the dry cell adapter that can charge the smartphone with alkaline AA batteries is the product.For some reason, a sticker is attached to the existing package on almost the entire surface to describe the product description.

Many stores sell mobile batteries that use two alkaline batteries, which we will introduce this time, under the product name "Nippers". I'm not sure if it's an original product or a copy product, but there are cases where similar products are sold under other names. I bought it in about two places, but it was indistinguishable in appearance. The structure is extremely simple. There are cube-shaped blocks made of plastic on both ends of the rubber belt, and they usually stick together by the force of a magnet, forming a cube with a side of about 17 mm.

When both blocks are separated into two, you can see that two large and small semi-circular metal magnets that attach the positive and negative poles of the alkaline battery are attached to the outside. On the inner side that is pulled apart, there is a microUSB plug on one side and a recess for storing the plug on the other side. Attach the negative side of the first battery to the large semi-circle on the outside, attach the positive side of the second alkaline battery to the other small semi-circular magnet, and sandwich the two batteries between the two blocks. If so, the setting is complete.

It is used by sandwiching two alkaline AA batteries with a magnet attached to the end of the rubber belt. When a dry battery type rechargeable battery such as a nickel-metal hydride battery is taken out of a package that cannot be used, two semi-circular large and small magnets are attached to both ends of the rubber belt, and one side is attracted and fixed by the magnet.The magnet is quite strong and easily sticks. You can attach it anywhere by using a "nipper" adapter like a key chain.

All you have to do is insert the "nipper" plug into the microUSB port of the smartphone you want to charge. The biggest advantage of alkaline batteries is that you can buy them anywhere, so it's easier than remembering to carry a lithium-ion battery that has been charged at home or at work in advance. Normally, you only need to carry around 10g of nippers, and you can buy alkaline batteries at a nearby convenience store when you need to charge them.

By the way, what is the charging efficiency when charging a smartphone with two alkaline batteries? Of the smartphones I own, only the "Blackberry Priv" has a microUSB port, so I tried using the Blackberry Priv to verify the actual charging by the nippers.

The two alkaline batteries ran out in about 40 minutes after the start of charging. Charging started with 70% of the remaining battery power, and after about 36 minutes, it was charged to 93%. With the charging power at this point, it was supposed to be fully charged in 4 minutes, but due to the rapid decay of alkaline batteries, the amount of charge decreased by 92% and 1% after 2 minutes, and the time required to fully charge was also. It has increased to 35 minutes. At that point, I removed the nippers and stopped charging.

Looking only at this case, the charge of Blackberry Priv with a battery capacity of 3410mAh with two alkaline batteries will be limited to around 22-23% this time. The nippers are thought to have increased the series 3.0V of two alkaline batteries to 5.0V with a booster circuit. I touched the alkaline batteries immediately after charging, but I was surprised that the temperature was high.

The times have changed drastically, and at home, the only smartphone that has a microUSB charging port was the Blackberry PRIV. Since it was reduced to 70%, it was possible to charge a little 20% in about 40 minutes as described in the charge start package.

Also, although it has not actually been fully charged, it seemed that I could charge my iPhone 7 Plus by attaching a conversion plug from the microUSB plug to the Lightning plug. Rather than always carrying a mobile battery that you don't know whether to use or not, it's great to have only an ultra-light nipper and charge your smartphone with AA batteries that are available everywhere in case of emergency.

I converted it to Lightning with a plug conversion adapter and tried to charge the iPhone 7 Plus, but the lightning mark of charging turned on immediately and charging started.

product name	retailer	Purchase price
Ultra-small mobile battery "nippers"	Akihabara	500 yen