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Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

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Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#41

Post by Timshel »

specialp wrote: post #27

For $299 I can sure buy a lot of lithium ion batteries. There are already many such products out there that are very cheap. 290w/h is 58000 mah at 5v. I can buy a 11,000 mah pack for 29.99 on Amazon and surprise it weighs 1/4 the weight. Even if I bought 5 of them to equal the energy capacity it would be 1/2 the cost. (But it is not a REACTOR) There really is nothing novel at all about this product, and it is overpri…

I can't imagine the hassle of having to charge five battery pack.

The bigger battery pack I found on amazon with decent reviews was 32000mAh for $119.99 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DN0KBXU).

The trontium still cost more than two of those but the difference is shrinking.

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#43

Post by nakedrobot2 »

akx wrote: post #4
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #2

This is cool, and I love the coming wave of sexy batteries :) My main gripe is this: ONLY USB output? Why? I currently have a "noname chinese crapgadget" battery that can power my usb devices, but also has 9V and 12V output. Much more versatile! Also, and this is more of a stretch, I know - being able to power a macbook would make this a FAR more universal kind of battery. EDIT: Oh! I'm sorry, it seems that you can c…

It's not exactly USB output, it's USB-PD (USB Power Delivery), which is a different beast altogether. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery

Okaaaaaaay, and how to you connect a wire from that USB port to your magsafe port on your macbook?

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#45

Post by ddeck »

My favorite item from the Q&A [1]:

What’s to prevent a Reactor from rolling off a table?

We will be offering an octagonal silicone sleeve that will prevent a Reactor from rolling off surfaces and also protect it from bumps.

So....your base product actually will roll off the table, but you can buy an optional extra to prevent it?

I know nothing about USB power delivery, but I presume that's the value proposition (since as others have noted, there are already a plethora of external USB batteries) although it seems nothing currently supports it.

[1] https://trontium.com/answers/

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#46

Post by Tloewald »

ddeck wrote: post #45

My favorite item from the Q&A [1]: What’s to prevent a Reactor from rolling off a table? We will be offering an octagonal silicone sleeve that will prevent a Reactor from rolling off surfaces and also protect it from bumps. So....your base product actually will roll off the table, but you can buy an optional extra to prevent it? I know nothing about USB power delivery, but I presume that's the value proposition (sinc…

Thank god it's cylindrical, because I'm sure it's cheaper to make it cylindrical, there's a nice big cylindrical space in every backpack, it's easier to source cylindrical stuff to stick in it, and as a bonus it rolls off tables.

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#47

Post by Tloewald »

comboy wrote: post #23
arethuza wrote: post #19

The should include a camera in the device as well - just to record reactions when people take it out of their bag at airport security checks. The only way I can see they could have made it look more threatening would be to write "Atomic Bomb" in large letters down the side and have a large LED display counting down to zero in 15 seconds or so. Edit: The perfect add-on for your reactor: http://www.instructables.com/id…

Oh don't worry officer, it's just a trontium reactor.

I'd suggest this for their logo ☢

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#48

Post by Tloewald »

huhtenberg wrote: post #42

> Made in California Perhaps it means something positive in California itself, but outside of it it more or less means "expensive, pompous, behind schedule" :)

That's a bit unfair. I think you mean "expensive, cylindrical, and behind schedule"

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#49

Post by userbinator »

Not sure what I get what all the hype on the site is about. It's a big rechargeable battery you can use to power all your USB things... ok this one supports USB-PD (how many devices support that?) but is that really that big of a deal? Right now it looks like a solution looking for a problem.

The idea of negotiating voltage (up to 20V) just doesn't seem all that great to me: consider a failure mode that lets the full 20V into USB devices designed for only 5, like the majority are.

Re: Show HN: Trontium Reactor, the first USB Power Delivery battery

#50

Post by [deleted] »

ddeck wrote: post #45

My favorite item from the Q&A [1]: What’s to prevent a Reactor from rolling off a table? We will be offering an octagonal silicone sleeve that will prevent a Reactor from rolling off surfaces and also protect it from bumps. So....your base product actually will roll off the table, but you can buy an optional extra to prevent it? I know nothing about USB power delivery, but I presume that's the value proposition (sinc…

[deleted]
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