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M8 Travel Battery Charger


marknorton

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Another outstanding piece of explanatory 'de-engineering', Mark! Reminds me of the excellent work you did with your D2.

 

I doubt that Ansmann's EMI-shield-in-a-brown-paper-bag would get the thumbs up from the HSE though; there'd be sharp intakes of breath, distinct mutterings and eye-rolling everywhere! :rolleyes:

 

Pete.

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HOORAY! Sign me up. I won't let friends see my Leica charger... I know they would only laugh at its size. :)

 

Yeah, that is the difference. Leica is not able to build all of the stuff in Germany. Good, that they do it with lenses and the body. The rest is outsourced. And so you will get the "Asiatic-Styling".

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Mark

 

Are you truly interested in and able to supply this product to those of us who, at 70 years old, are not very willing to touch a soldering iron anymore.

 

Your ideas and industrial designs are truly revolutionary and I would love to be one who can get use from it. I am willing to pay you the fair price for this product and I am sure will be raving about it some years from now.

 

Please let me know. I would truly love to "own" this product.

 

Very sincerely

 

Your forum friend

 

Woody Spedden

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Hello everybody,

I just found this one:

P I X O

Has anybody seen it yet?

Stefan

 

If that could do all three of my Digicam batteries, that would be fantastic. I will email them to ask. The only thing that concerns me is that the charger has only two contacts whereas all the ones I have seen from the camera manufacturers have three or more. I would assume that the additional contacts are for charging or temperature control. If PIXO guarantee against their charger damaging batteries and it works, then this may not be a problem.

 

Wilson

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Now that PIXO looks more like it! :D

 

In the past I've opened up several Ansmann NiMH chargers to replace the multi standard mains adapter with a two pin socket. In all cases the internals have made me cringe, they also had taped up shielding where ends of components had nearly punctured the insulation. :eek: When used in the US their vertical mounting causes them to drop out of loose fitting hotel room sockets, hence the reason for converting to horizontal cable operation.

 

Bob.

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Looks interesting but quite big....

10.1x6.5x2.5cm (4x2.5x1 inch) at 80 grams (<3 oz). It accepts 110-240V AC + 12V DC. Not that bad. What are the vital stats on the M8 adapter?

 

I'm working on a second version which will accept the Apple MagSafe power connector and use the yellow/green LEDs in the connector.

Looking forward to the next installment.:D

 

- C

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Guest guy_mancuso
Looks interesting but quite big...

 

I'm working on a second version which will accept the Apple MagSafe power connector and use the yellow/green LEDs in the connector.

 

 

Mark I really want one of these. I even have a extra battery charger

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The only thing that concerns me is that the charger has only two contacts whereas all the ones I have seen from the camera manufacturers have three or more. I would assume that the additional contacts are for charging or temperature control. If PIXO guarantee against their charger damaging batteries and it works, then this may not be a problem.

Wilson

@mark

From your analysis of the LeicAnsmann charger: which connectors are really needed- and what for? What would be different with a 2-connector-charger- I mean, are there any disadvantages?

Stefan

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This is my correspondence with PIXO today - Not quite sure what the R8 camera is maybe a Lony or a Seica.

 

Subject: Pixo C1 charger

 

Can you please advise me if the C1 charger will charge the batteries for:

Leica M8 ˆ Leica 14464 battery

Sony DSC-R1 ˆ NP-FM50 battery

Canon Digital Ixus 850IS NB-5L battery

 

If it will charge all of these, what is the price, sent to the UK?

 

Best regards

Wilson Laidlaw

 

From: PIXO Sales <mailto:sales@pixomedia.com>

Hi,

yes, we can charge all these batteries. Regarding R8 we did not test it ourself, but we can handle the very special physical size.

Best regards

Frank Kersten

 

Price is Euro 39.90 + shipping is 15 to UK or 10 to France

 

PIXO GmbH

Paffhausen 5-7

D-53577 Neustadt / Wied

Germany

Phone +49-(0)2683-937705

Fax +49-(0)2683-937706

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This is my correspondence with PIXO today - Not quite sure what the R8 camera is maybe a Lony or a Seica.

 

Subject: Pixo C1 charger

 

Can you please advise me if the C1 charger will charge the batteries for:

Leica M8 ˆ Leica 14464 battery

Sony DSC-R1 ˆ NP-FM50 battery

Canon Digital Ixus 850IS NB-5L battery

 

If it will charge all of these, what is the price, sent to the UK?

 

Best regards

Wilson Laidlaw

 

From: PIXO Sales <mailto:sales@pixomedia.com>

Hi,

yes, we can charge all these batteries. Regarding R8 we did not test it ourself, but we can handle the very special physical size.

Best regards

Frank Kersten

 

Price is Euro 39.90 + shipping is 15 to UK or 10 to France

 

PIXO GmbH

Paffhausen 5-7

D-53577 Neustadt / Wied

Germany

Phone +49-(0)2683-937705

Fax +49-(0)2683-937706

 

Assuming it really can handle an M8 battery (not sure the "R8" response is really a "yes"), this would be terrific. What we ought to do is all chip in for one that someone can test with a spare battery. I would be willing to contribute to see if we could have something that can easily be stuck in a bag. I'd leave the Leica brick home. I'll bet there would be twenty or more who would contribute to someone's Paypal account just to know whether this works. That would be 2-3 Euro each. Small price to pay for the info.

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Hi Wilson,

 

There could be warranty issues there...

 

Did you get my PM ?

 

James

 

I would assume there could an issue on warranty of battery if used on non-Leica charger - if they could prove it. Normal practice in these cases is for new charger manufacturer to take over warranty. When I had my 911 modified, the modifying company, DMS, provided their own warranty for the engine and transmission as it contravened Porsche warranty.

 

Sent a reply to your PM to your private email address.

 

Wilson

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Rather than atempting to fabricate a MagSafe socket, might it not be easier to start with a

 

Kensington universal 120 Watt Notebook AC/DC Power Adapter and fabricate a MagSafe adapter cable using this as raw material:

 

Leica User Forum

 

By itself, the Kensington sounds particularly handy: With the appropriate adapter, it can also charge a Razr phone, iPod, Game Boy, computer, G4 Powerbook and any number of other items. Lots of reserve power too: It's rated at 120 watts, whereas Apple's MacBook adapter is only 85. Probably more than enough oomph to charge multiple M8 batteries simultaneously.

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  • 1 month later...
I am pretty good with a soldering iron, having designed and built computers from scratch (and I mean from PCB/chip/resister/capacitor level!).... so I look forward to more info.....

 

I've done full-custom IC's . But one of my worst memories is soldering together a whole 8086 evaluation card. Ever since I have avoided a soldering iron :)

 

Edmund

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Mark (or anybody else),

 

Do you have any idea of how much it would cost to get a small custom fab to run up a hundred or so chargers based on your cut-down design (or perhaps one that is even more compact?) Are we talking a few thousand or a few tens of thousands? Do you know if there are even people who'd do this, and do high-quality work? I ask because if it's possible, and depending on the cost, I might be willing to front the money for a batch...

 

JC

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