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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

#61

Post by nwh »

Tloewald wrote: post #46
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.

I know you're being sarcastic, but there's probably lots of round aluminum extrusions around to choose from. It would make the thing cheaper to build without having to go and make their own dies, just make two injected plastic ends and you're good to roll.

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

#62

Post by arethuza »

yread wrote: post #53
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…

290Wh is not allowed no board aircraft as per ICAO rules Annex 18, the maximum without a specific agreement from the airline is 100Wh. With the agreement it's 160Wh. "Lithium batteries exceeding 160Wh are prohibited in both carry-on and checked baggage." see for example: http://www.airchina.com.cn/www/en/html/index/travel_informat... All the laptops are made with 97Wh for a reason...

According to their FAQ:

Can I bring a Reactor on a plane?

Yes. Per FAA rules every traveler can carry-on up to two Reactor sized batteries.

[NB I'm not saying I believe them - I wouldn't go anywhere near an airport with one of these things.]

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

#63

Post by nwh »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #55
TorKlingberg wrote: post #37

The interesting part here is that it uses the new USB "Power Delivery" standard, that can switch to 20V instead of the normal 5V. This allows up to 100W of power from one USB port. It could power laptops and other somewhat power hungry devices, once they have USB power input.

Or you buy the appropriate adapter cable.

My MacBook would need 18A @ 5v + 10% loss in the DCDC, that's one hell of a thick power connector.

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

#64

Post by nakedrobot2 »

onion2k wrote: post #16

The fact the website's team page is essentially devoid of information is worrying. I'm not a hardware guy so I have no idea about this sort of thing, but how hard is battery design? Is it wise to trust $thousands worth of Macbook/camera/etc to a battery designed by a group of anonymous people behind a Kickstarter campaign? If any of the people involved is an experienced and qualified electrical engineer, they really…

The team would apparently be "Alex" I guess? https://trontalk.com/member/3-alex

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alex-kiritz/83/528/b31 Alex Kiritz President at Trontium Inc Redondo Beach, CaliforniaElectrical/Electronic Manufacturing

https://twitter.com/AlexKiritz‎

https://plus.google.com/107960025708414384190/posts

But this is a Show HN, Maybe Alex can chime in to answer some of the questions we have...?

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

#65

Post by arethuza »

nwh wrote: post #61
Tloewald wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I know you're being sarcastic, but there's probably lots of round aluminum extrusions around to choose from. It would make the thing cheaper to build without having to go and make their own dies, just make two injected plastic ends and you're good to roll.

Actually, having a power pack in something like a SIGG bottle would be rather good - at least until you go backpacking and take your USB power bottle rather than the bottle of stove fuel...

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

#66

Post by Timshel »

unwind wrote: post #22
danielweber wrote: post #9

How are you the first "USB Power Delivery battery"? What's a Mophie?

Note that Power Delivery here is not just using Marketing Caps, it's an actual thing. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery . It's very new, based on USB 3.0, so it is probably a valid claim. I wonder if this will sprout a power supply accessory, i.e. a device that speaks to a USB PD source and lets you locally set the output voltage to whatever you need. That way you could use the PD source to char…

It does : https://trontium.com/answers/

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

#67

Post by yread »

arethuza wrote: post #62
yread wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

290Wh is not allowed no board aircraft as per ICAO rules Annex 18, the maximum without a specific agreement from the airline is 100Wh. With the agreement it's 160Wh. "Lithium batteries exceeding 160Wh are prohibited in both carry-on and checked baggage." see for example: http://www.airchina.com.cn/www/en/html/index/travel_informat... All the laptops are made with 97Wh for a reason...

According to their FAQ: Can I bring a Reactor on a plane? Yes. Per FAA rules every traveler can carry-on up to two Reactor sized batteries. [NB I'm not saying I believe them - I wouldn't go anywhere near an airport with one of these things.]

It seems you're right. It is allowed by FAA but disallowed by ICAO. I'm not sure I would take any chances with a 300$ device though

Passengers can also bring two (2) larger lithium-ion batteries (more than 8 less than 25 grams of equivalent lithium content per battery or about 100-300 watt hours per battery) in their carry-on.

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ash...

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

#68

Post by Derpdiherp »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #56

My wife's cell phone and camera are constantly running out of juice. One of these would be great. But let's be real. This battery pack is larger than her whole purse. The picture they have of a backpacker with a liter bottle on one side of his pack and a Trontium on the other looks nice and self-sufficient but he's got all that extra weight to lug. Is he going to be living in the wilderness for 10 days whilst writing…

I can kind of see it, touring on my motorbike I'd use one of these for charging whilst camping. Unfortunately I just can't justify that price tag.

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

#69

Post by bryanlarsen »

nwh wrote: post #63
bryanlarsen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you buy the appropriate adapter cable.

My MacBook would need 18A @ 5v + 10% loss in the DCDC, that's one hell of a thick power connector.

Which is one reason why the trontium can supply up to 20V.

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

#70

Post by luka-birsa »

sgift wrote: post #40
luka-birsa wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find it amusing when links provided by "nay sayers" present contrary evidence or no evidence at all. From the link: The nuclear power plant THTR-300 ( thorium high-temperature reactor) was a helium-cooled high-temperature reactor of the type pebble bed reactor in North Rhine-Westphalia Hamm with an electrical output of 300 megawatts . Despite its designation as a thorium reactor , it was essentially a normal…

> While there was his nuclear fuel to 90 per cent of thorium, but this was holds less than 30 percent of its energy. Hint: Maybe there was a reason for that? Like ... that was/is the best way to build a Thorium reactor? But yeah, the engineers were probably all monkeys. That must be the reason.

Sure, there was a reason to do a project which: "Because of its high cost and because of his unsatisfactory, short operation he is widely regarded as the greatest technical debacle in post-war Germany." (from the link).

Not saying the engineers are all monkeys, but this specific project was a complete failure and yes, there are countless better ways to develop a Thorium reactor (see LFTR et all).

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