Friday, March 14, 2003
Semsons Power Chargers Review
Posted by Sanjay Srikonda in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM
Power. We all want more of it, we all need more of it. No matter what type of Pocket PC or cellphone we're using we want more. Semsons has three types of power chargers/extenders that I'm going to review here. They go from the Cadillac of extenders to a simple box that holds batteries with a cord, to something slightly in-between that fits in your shirt pocket. The three I'm going to review here vary in price and functionality as well as what you get for your money, but what in this world doesn't?
Semsons has been around for a few years. According to their Web site: "Semsons & Co. Inc. deals directly with OEM (original equipment manufacturers) to bring end users name brand quality products at a fraction of the cost." This is true. Their products are pretty inexpensive but don't lack anything in terms of functionality. If you're wondering about the quality of their products, you're not going to be buying no-frills versions of hardware you'd find elsewhere. They seem to have gotten good reviews and dealing with them regarding the sample products they sent me was more than painless, it was actually very easy. In this review, I'm going to look at the the following products (listed in order of most to least expensive):
The first one I'm going to look at is the Power Bank which sells for $39.99 from Semsons directly. What you get in the package is quite a lot for just under $40 (not including shipping):
Figure 1: Everything that you get in the Power Bank package
The contents of the package are:
Now, the most interesting thing I found in the package was that they even thought of a leather carrying case to hold it all. It even has a little flap in the front of the carrying case that will hold the interchangable output jacks. However, the carrying case isn't big enough to hold the AC Adapter as well as the unit itself. I thought that was very odd. You have to put the AC Adapter in another bag and carry the Power Bank in the provided carrying case. I would have preferred a bigger case or none at all. Having just one that will accomodate the Power Bank alone seemed lacking in usefulness to me.
You can also use the case using the AC adapter or connect the Power Bank to your device of choice using the USB cable.
Figure 2: A closer view of the AC adapter/USB connections on the Power Bank
Putting this unit through its paces was interesting. The product says it can support PDAs, but doesn't list which ones it supports.
I pondered how to make it work with my iPAQ 3850. The instructions for plugging in the jacks are a little bit of a "make sure you do it right, or else" kind of a thing. The manual pamphlet says that the negative pin should be facing out. But it doesn't say where the negative/positive pins are marked.
One of the good things about this product was that it allows you to set the voltage between 3.6-6 volts. This, plus the multiple types of connections into and out of the main Power Bank housing is what allows it to charge/extend so many different devices (so long as you have the adapters from what the Power Bank provides to your devices; as in the case of the iPAQ devices). A little looking and you're definitely sure to find it, but a little more in-depth instructions would have been nice. I couldn't use the unit with my Samsung SCH-A310 cellphone, there's no compatible jack for it, so it's not completely compatible with all cellphones. I think my cellphone is a fairly common offering from VerizonWireless here in NYC.
I finally got it working with the iPAQ after plugging the output jack into the charger adapter that came with the original iPAQ cradle (let's hope you didn't throw this away or lose yours - if you did, you can get one from HP by going to their site and searching for the following product: charger adapter for iPAQ 1900, 3800, 3900, 5400 (274707-B21)). The charging feature was great. I used it for over 6.5 hours before noticing that my iPAQ was running low on charge.
But... How does it perform?
So, these are my unscientific results for what my usage time was for the Power Bank:
Don't forget though, you can also use the provided AC adapter to connect to a wall socket to power your device.
That's an important consideration if you're going to be using your device for a while, say in a hotel room, and you have access to a wall outlet.
Universal Battery Extender with USB port
Figure 3: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port top view
First things first, with this product "Universal" means that it works with most PDAs. The Web site lists the following compatible PDA-devices:
So, don't go thinking, oh, great, for $20 less than the Power Bank, you're getting something that will work with other types of devices. It may work with other devices, but the voltage is pre-set whereas with the Power Bank, you can change it. So, this product works for the above-listed PDAs. They don't mention Palms, so I wouldn't try it with a Palm.
What I don't understand is, while you can use it via a USB port connection and the Power Bank came complete with a USB cord, the Universal Battery Extender did not.
Figure 4: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port Top View showing the USB connector
But... How does it perform?
I used the same testing methodology as I used for the Power Bank. A 100% charged iPAQ, connected the Universal Battery Extender with four fully charged NiMh batteries (not provided) to the device and surfed and played Vulgus.
Again, the results were about the same as with the Power Bank. I was able to extend, at full-brightness, for about 4.5 hours longer than without the Universal Battery Extender.
However, unlike the Power Bank, you can't connect the Universal Battery Extender to an AC cord and use it that way. You've given up charging options for portability.
Figure 5: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port back view with the battery cover on
Figure 6: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port with the battery cover off
PDA Battery Extender
Figure 7: The PDA Battery Extender Front View
To be very clear, as the Semson's Web site is, this is specifically for Pocket PCs. In parentheses next to the name of this product is "(Pocket PC PDAs)". So that said, this is the cheapest of the three extenders you can get. It is a housing for either 4 NiMh batteries or 4 AA batteries. It has one type of connector coming out of it and has the same compatibility list as the Universal Battery Extender.
You won't get any documentation with this product. I would have even been happy with a Post-It Note that said "To insert batteries into the unit, a jewelers Phillips screwdriver is needed." I struggled, (d'oh) for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to open the thing. I gave it to my wife and she looked it up and down, and suggsted that I take off the screw on the back of the unit.
Figure 8: The PDA Battery Extender Back View (before I realized take off the screw to open it)
Beyond an on-off switch which the Web site describes is to "prevent power leakage when not in use" there's not a whole lot going on here with this thing. You plug it in to your device (again, if necessary, with an adapter that you must provide), and use it on battery power. You switch it off when not in use, although if the unit isn't charging anything, do the batteries still discharge?
They'll lose some charge, sure, but I don't see why you'd have an on-off switch unless you have it connected and don't want it to trickle a charge to the device to which it's connected. That said, you could also just unplug it from the device and accomplish the same thing.
I won't go into "how does it work" here, short of saying it works as long as you have batteries in it. It's small enough to fit into your shirt pocket and does only one thing very well: trickle a charge to your device. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. It's not even as sophisticated as its $13 more expensive cousin to have a clip to clip to anything. It's a plastic box that holds four batteries, and it provides a charge when you need it most, to your device.
Gotchas
There are a few gotchas. I'll list the ones I found for each product:
Power Bank
Well, in my opinion, the three really don't compare to one another. They're in classes of different users. If I was travelling a lot and needed something that gave me a sense of reliability and the diversity to use this with either batteries or an AC Adapter, I'd spend $39.99 to get the Power Bank. It does what it says it will do. It works with a variety of devices not just your PPC. If I wanted something that I'd use once-in-a-while, for a quick charge and knew the Universal Battery Extender with USB port was in my backpack, I'd be pretty confident I could continue to work on the ride home and have the thing charging while in my shirt or coat pocket. If I wanted a really cheap, quick charge and I didn't care about aesthetics, the PDA Battery Extender is definitely the one I'd use. I'd even go so far as to have a few of these at various locations. I'd keep one at the office, one in the car, on on the boat (if you have a boat) and one at home. At $6.99 that's really not a bad price and it's not cost-prohibitive to buy more than one. After all, you could buy five PDA Battery Extenders for the price of one Power Bank (excluding shipping).
Where to buy
All three products can be purchased directly from Semsons. The Power Bank by clicking the Special Items link on the left or clicking this link. You can access the page for the Unversal Battery Extender with USB and the PDA Battery Extender at the following link. Or click the PDA Accessories link on the left side of the Semsons site. Semsons does work with other resellers and wholesale customers as well if you're looking to sell their products on your site, so keep that in mind.
Specifications
Power Bank
Like I've said in the section above, these three products fit three different needs. One for all your power charging/battery extending needs down to a cheap extender that you could justify buying more than one.
They claim to prolong your PDA/device life by as much as two to three additional cycles. I was able to use my iPAQ for a total of 6.5 hours whereas my battery would have been dying at two hours. So I guess an extra 4.5 hours qualifies in this case as two extra charging cycles for which I didn't have to plug in the iPAQ to charge. I would have liked to see some modifications with the units but they were minor and more to do with the way the documentation and using them than the way they performed.
My recommendation, buy one Power Bank and keep it at home or wherever you find yourself using your devices most. Maybe if you're a road warrior, keep it in your briefcase. Then buy five or six PDA Battery Extenders for only $6.99 each and put them where you might need them most. Keep a fresh stock of rechargable or AA batteries and you'll be glad when you run down on charge and find yourself needing a quick boost.
Semsons has been around for a few years. According to their Web site: "Semsons & Co. Inc. deals directly with OEM (original equipment manufacturers) to bring end users name brand quality products at a fraction of the cost." This is true. Their products are pretty inexpensive but don't lack anything in terms of functionality. If you're wondering about the quality of their products, you're not going to be buying no-frills versions of hardware you'd find elsewhere. They seem to have gotten good reviews and dealing with them regarding the sample products they sent me was more than painless, it was actually very easy. In this review, I'm going to look at the the following products (listed in order of most to least expensive):
- Power Bank: $39.99
- Universal Battery Extender with USB port: $19.99
- PDA Battery Extender (Pocket PC PDAs): $6.99
The first one I'm going to look at is the Power Bank which sells for $39.99 from Semsons directly. What you get in the package is quite a lot for just under $40 (not including shipping):
Figure 1: Everything that you get in the Power Bank package
The contents of the package are:
- 1 Power Bank (14cm X 7.7cm X 2.1cm)
- 1 Leather Case
- 1 AC Adapter
- 1 USB Cable
- 1 DC output cable
- 4 Interchangable output jacks
- 4 NiMh Rechargable batteries
- Supports DC input from 9V~24V @ 1.2A or above
- Fast charges 4AA NiMh or NiCd batteries (fully charged in four hours) (I can attest to this one, I tried it, it does charge fully-drained batteries in four hours)
- User selectable output at 6, 5, 4.5, and 3.6V (for Battery Extender)
- DC Output for PDA, digital camera, CD and MP3 player etc. (for Battery Extender)
- USB output for mobile phone, CD-rom, pocket hardrive and scanner etc. (for Battery Extender)
Now, the most interesting thing I found in the package was that they even thought of a leather carrying case to hold it all. It even has a little flap in the front of the carrying case that will hold the interchangable output jacks. However, the carrying case isn't big enough to hold the AC Adapter as well as the unit itself. I thought that was very odd. You have to put the AC Adapter in another bag and carry the Power Bank in the provided carrying case. I would have preferred a bigger case or none at all. Having just one that will accomodate the Power Bank alone seemed lacking in usefulness to me.
You can also use the case using the AC adapter or connect the Power Bank to your device of choice using the USB cable.
Figure 2: A closer view of the AC adapter/USB connections on the Power Bank
Putting this unit through its paces was interesting. The product says it can support PDAs, but doesn't list which ones it supports.
I pondered how to make it work with my iPAQ 3850. The instructions for plugging in the jacks are a little bit of a "make sure you do it right, or else" kind of a thing. The manual pamphlet says that the negative pin should be facing out. But it doesn't say where the negative/positive pins are marked.
One of the good things about this product was that it allows you to set the voltage between 3.6-6 volts. This, plus the multiple types of connections into and out of the main Power Bank housing is what allows it to charge/extend so many different devices (so long as you have the adapters from what the Power Bank provides to your devices; as in the case of the iPAQ devices). A little looking and you're definitely sure to find it, but a little more in-depth instructions would have been nice. I couldn't use the unit with my Samsung SCH-A310 cellphone, there's no compatible jack for it, so it's not completely compatible with all cellphones. I think my cellphone is a fairly common offering from VerizonWireless here in NYC.
I finally got it working with the iPAQ after plugging the output jack into the charger adapter that came with the original iPAQ cradle (let's hope you didn't throw this away or lose yours - if you did, you can get one from HP by going to their site and searching for the following product: charger adapter for iPAQ 1900, 3800, 3900, 5400 (274707-B21)). The charging feature was great. I used it for over 6.5 hours before noticing that my iPAQ was running low on charge.
But... How does it perform?
So, these are my unscientific results for what my usage time was for the Power Bank:
- Start with a completely charged iPAQ 3850 (where the battery indicator reads 100%)
- Plug in the Power Bank (with fully charged NiMh rechargable batteries) and work until I get the Low Battery Warning message while working at full brightness
- From 100% to the warning message was 6.5 hours (it really is amazing how much you can surf and play games when you aren't paying attention)
Don't forget though, you can also use the provided AC adapter to connect to a wall socket to power your device.
That's an important consideration if you're going to be using your device for a while, say in a hotel room, and you have access to a wall outlet.
Universal Battery Extender with USB port
Figure 3: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port top view
First things first, with this product "Universal" means that it works with most PDAs. The Web site lists the following compatible PDA-devices:
- iPAQ 3100/3600/3700 and 3800/3900 (fits with connector that comes with iPAQ 3800/3900)
- Cassiopeia E200/EM500/E125
- Toshiba E310/E550/E570/E740
- Audiovox Maestro
- Sharp Zaurus
So, don't go thinking, oh, great, for $20 less than the Power Bank, you're getting something that will work with other types of devices. It may work with other devices, but the voltage is pre-set whereas with the Power Bank, you can change it. So, this product works for the above-listed PDAs. They don't mention Palms, so I wouldn't try it with a Palm.
What I don't understand is, while you can use it via a USB port connection and the Power Bank came complete with a USB cord, the Universal Battery Extender did not.
Figure 4: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port Top View showing the USB connector
But... How does it perform?
I used the same testing methodology as I used for the Power Bank. A 100% charged iPAQ, connected the Universal Battery Extender with four fully charged NiMh batteries (not provided) to the device and surfed and played Vulgus.
Again, the results were about the same as with the Power Bank. I was able to extend, at full-brightness, for about 4.5 hours longer than without the Universal Battery Extender.
However, unlike the Power Bank, you can't connect the Universal Battery Extender to an AC cord and use it that way. You've given up charging options for portability.
Figure 5: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port back view with the battery cover on
Figure 6: The Unversal Battery Extender with USB Port with the battery cover off
PDA Battery Extender
Figure 7: The PDA Battery Extender Front View
To be very clear, as the Semson's Web site is, this is specifically for Pocket PCs. In parentheses next to the name of this product is "(Pocket PC PDAs)". So that said, this is the cheapest of the three extenders you can get. It is a housing for either 4 NiMh batteries or 4 AA batteries. It has one type of connector coming out of it and has the same compatibility list as the Universal Battery Extender.
You won't get any documentation with this product. I would have even been happy with a Post-It Note that said "To insert batteries into the unit, a jewelers Phillips screwdriver is needed." I struggled, (d'oh) for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to open the thing. I gave it to my wife and she looked it up and down, and suggsted that I take off the screw on the back of the unit.
Figure 8: The PDA Battery Extender Back View (before I realized take off the screw to open it)
Beyond an on-off switch which the Web site describes is to "prevent power leakage when not in use" there's not a whole lot going on here with this thing. You plug it in to your device (again, if necessary, with an adapter that you must provide), and use it on battery power. You switch it off when not in use, although if the unit isn't charging anything, do the batteries still discharge?
They'll lose some charge, sure, but I don't see why you'd have an on-off switch unless you have it connected and don't want it to trickle a charge to the device to which it's connected. That said, you could also just unplug it from the device and accomplish the same thing.
I won't go into "how does it work" here, short of saying it works as long as you have batteries in it. It's small enough to fit into your shirt pocket and does only one thing very well: trickle a charge to your device. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. It's not even as sophisticated as its $13 more expensive cousin to have a clip to clip to anything. It's a plastic box that holds four batteries, and it provides a charge when you need it most, to your device.
Gotchas
There are a few gotchas. I'll list the ones I found for each product:
Power Bank
- Documentation needs to be more in-depth: How to connect the adapter plugs to the output cable needs to be clearer, for example
- Not really universal unless you have the connectors from your device (if it's a cellphone or PDA such as the iPAQ) to connect to the plugs that come with the Power Bank
- Not really universal unless you have the proper connectors (at least they point that out on their Web site)
- Comes with a USB port to charge, but no USB cable
- The clip should be easier to take off. You're required to use a Phillips screwdriver to take off the clip
- No documentation, even for $6.99 they could have provided SOME instructions on how to use this
- The lack of documentation leaves you pondering a very important question, how do I put the batteries in, conversely, how do I get the cover off?
Well, in my opinion, the three really don't compare to one another. They're in classes of different users. If I was travelling a lot and needed something that gave me a sense of reliability and the diversity to use this with either batteries or an AC Adapter, I'd spend $39.99 to get the Power Bank. It does what it says it will do. It works with a variety of devices not just your PPC. If I wanted something that I'd use once-in-a-while, for a quick charge and knew the Universal Battery Extender with USB port was in my backpack, I'd be pretty confident I could continue to work on the ride home and have the thing charging while in my shirt or coat pocket. If I wanted a really cheap, quick charge and I didn't care about aesthetics, the PDA Battery Extender is definitely the one I'd use. I'd even go so far as to have a few of these at various locations. I'd keep one at the office, one in the car, on on the boat (if you have a boat) and one at home. At $6.99 that's really not a bad price and it's not cost-prohibitive to buy more than one. After all, you could buy five PDA Battery Extenders for the price of one Power Bank (excluding shipping).
Where to buy
All three products can be purchased directly from Semsons. The Power Bank by clicking the Special Items link on the left or clicking this link. You can access the page for the Unversal Battery Extender with USB and the PDA Battery Extender at the following link. Or click the PDA Accessories link on the left side of the Semsons site. Semsons does work with other resellers and wholesale customers as well if you're looking to sell their products on your site, so keep that in mind.
Specifications
Power Bank
- Dimensions: 14cm X 7.7cm X 2.1cm (length x width x thickness)
- User Selectable power voltages: from 3.6 to 6V
- DC input voltages from 9v-2.4V @ 1.2A or above
- Compatible with a variety of PDAs (you provide the adapter if necessary from their output jacks
- Microprocessor controlled for optimal charge
- USB Cable provided
- 4 NiMh Rechargable batteries provided
- Leather Case provided (only accomodates the PowerBank and the output jacks
- AC Adapter provided
- (14.5cm x 4.75cm x 1.7cm (without clip) 2.3cm (with clip))
- Retractable DC jack that fits iPAQ 3100/3600/3700 and 3800/3900 (fits with connector that comes with iPAQ 3800/3900), Cassiopeia
E200/EM500/E125, Toshiba E310/E550/E570/E740, Audiovox Maestro, Sharp Zaurus (remember, you have to have the adapter that came with
some of if they have proprietary charging ports) - Fits 4 X AA NiMh / NiCd rechargable batteries or Alkaline Batteries
- USB output allows for use with Palm PDAs, cellular phones and other electronics via USB charging cable
- ON/OFF switch to prevent power leakage when not in use
- LED Status light
- Removable belt clip (by removable they mean remove it with a Philips head screwdriver
- 6cm x 6cm x 1.5cm
- Universal fit for iPAQ 3100/3600/3700 and 3800/3900 (with connector that comes with iPAQ), Cassiopeia E200/EM500/E125, Toshiba E310/E550/E570/E740, Audiovox Maestro, Sharp Zaurus (remember, you have to have the adapter that came with some of if they have proprietary charging ports)
- Fits 4 X AA NiMh, NiCd rechargable batteries and Alkaline Batteries (for Cassiopeia)
- ON/OFF switch to prevent power leakage when not in use
Like I've said in the section above, these three products fit three different needs. One for all your power charging/battery extending needs down to a cheap extender that you could justify buying more than one.
They claim to prolong your PDA/device life by as much as two to three additional cycles. I was able to use my iPAQ for a total of 6.5 hours whereas my battery would have been dying at two hours. So I guess an extra 4.5 hours qualifies in this case as two extra charging cycles for which I didn't have to plug in the iPAQ to charge. I would have liked to see some modifications with the units but they were minor and more to do with the way the documentation and using them than the way they performed.
My recommendation, buy one Power Bank and keep it at home or wherever you find yourself using your devices most. Maybe if you're a road warrior, keep it in your briefcase. Then buy five or six PDA Battery Extenders for only $6.99 each and put them where you might need them most. Keep a fresh stock of rechargable or AA batteries and you'll be glad when you run down on charge and find yourself needing a quick boost.
