UX50 long-life battery

Posted Feb 14th 2006 11:00AM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: tablet pcs hacks

The Sony PEG-UX50 was an impressive package when it was released in 2003. It had a 480x320 screen, keyboard, convertible screen, built-in camera, WiFi and Bluetooth. As with most portable devices, the short time the battery stayed charged left much to be desired. Sony sold an EB40 battery pack that piggy-backed the device, but reader [JAmerican] wanted to extend its charge even further. It took a little dancing around with the charging circuit, but he was eventually able to combine 4 batteries to construct a 3880mAh battery that keeps the UX50 running, even after 9 hours of use. Here's a site with a decent photo gallery of the UX50 (at the bottom).

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Where did you get the 5 point screwdriver to open the ux50? I've been lookin geverywhere but can't find one.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by bhrun

2. No question is idiotic. The PSP battery pack (which I did consider somewhat) is much thicker than the EB40's case. I believe its the same height as the EB40 so I would never be able to fit it in the EB40 without modification to the battery itself (which I highly recommend not doing).

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by jamerican

3. Forgive this question if it is idiotic, but would it be possible to use, instead of 4 batteries in parallel, a PSP battery pack? They are much, much smaller and put out 3800mAh and are only $24.95.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by otakucode

4. Don't get me wring, this thing looks awesome, and I'd really like to have one, but just the fact that 3 years later it's still going for $250 on the bay makes me doubt that I'll ever really get one.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by shakemaster

5. Yea, your right. It is still kinda high but it originally was 700 so, it still taking some time to decline. But for all the features, I think 300 or less is a great price. I spent 400 on mine but got a 1Gig stick and Metal case. I would get the GP2X and really was thinking about it but I'm a all-in-one tyoe of person. I need one device that does it all. If you think about it, the only device that has come out ad surpassed UX in specs is HTC Universal but its huge and expensive. JAmerican

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by jamerican

6. Its more portable than a laptop. Its very portable. I do agree that it doesn't really feel fully comfortable in my pocket but it still fits. BTW, the GP2X looks cool but it can't access the web or manage emails. The power source would require you to purchase rechargable batteries. It looks really cool but not sure I could do as much. It also looks very large in the picture in the listing below this one on the main page. Yea. This runs Palm OS. JAmerican

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by jamerican

7. They still go for $250 ON EBAY, OUCH. For that I'd get a GP2X.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by shakemaster

8. jamerican, we would love to hear about all your projects in #hackaday, at efnet

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by fucter

9. @#4 andrew: Doesn't run linux, unfortunately. Cool nonetheless though

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by zilog8

10. while its hard to tell from the pic...the thing doesn't look too portable. I wouldn't wanna carry around that thing in my pocket =P Maybe in a backpack, but if ur going to have the backpack, why not go for the full on laptop?

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by greg

11. When your dealing with one or two batteries by the same manufacturer, and production date. There isnt going to be much problem with paralelling a couple of them... Laptop battery charging circuits are a bitch though, so who knows.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by japroach

12. I am one of the few that jumped on the bandwagon and purchased a ux50. It's been stashed away for some time now but I'll gladly pull it out to try this out. Thanks!

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by John

13. I used Li-polymer batteries with protection circuits. I connect them all parallel. The protection circuits allow the batteries to equalize themselves. Then I keep the EB connected to the UX so that they are always in parallel. The EB is basically apart of my unit now but I don't complain. :) Thanks for posting this hackaday crew :) JAmerican

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by jamerican

14. yum....9 hours of battery life and linux.....sounds like a winning combo to me!

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by andrew

15. 9 hours of battery life! Wow, I wish my A64 notebook had that! Awesome project.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by grayskies

16. JAmerican has been tinkering with this setup for a while now. Glad to see it posted on hackaday, as it really is pretty cool. JAmerican is to be commended for keeping his Clie running strong! Well done sir!

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by strider_mt2k

17. I thought Li-ion battery requires constant current charging up to a certain voltage level then changes into constant voltage charging. Not sure how he does this.

Posted at 3:09PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by hb

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.