Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a prolonged
period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker, so the phone won't be
heavily used, rather it will make an occasional data connection, the screen
won't be in use so the phone battery should last a couple of days anyway.
What I'd really like is a battery pack that tops itself up using a solar
panel, but that keeps topping up the iPhone battery whenever possible.

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Thanks in advance for your help.

On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Bill

In article ,
Bill Wright writes:
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Mine isn't.

You may also have an accessory socket somewhere else (e.g. in the boot)
which is always on.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright writes:
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Mine isn't.

You may also have an accessory socket somewhere else (e.g. in the boot)
which is always on.

The nearest socket is between the driver and passenger seat at the rear, so
it's possible to run the cabling through. It is always live though, which
runs the risk of discharging the battery.

But many modern cars tend to use current when not in use in any case for
keeping stuff alive like the radio coding and some stuff in engine
management according to a car electrician, that is why its unwise to leave a
battery disconnectedfor very long these days, Even the door locks use power
when not doing anything.
Run an old fashioned medium wave radio over the average parked car.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Simon Finnigan" wrote in message
...
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright writes:
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Mine isn't.

You may also have an accessory socket somewhere else (e.g. in the boot)
which is always on.

The nearest socket is between the driver and passenger seat at the rear,
so
it's possible to run the cabling through. It is always live though, which
runs the risk of discharging the battery.

On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 15:14:53 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

It is always live though, which runs the risk of discharging the
battery.

Yes, I think that's kinda the point, though, for a phone which is being
used as a tracker/alarm...

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Mine isn't.

Bit risky re getting a flat battery! Surely it goes off when you take
they key out?

Bill

That sounds like a stupid piece of design then...
In our old motor caravan that was certainly not true.

In that case, I'd have thought some kind of kit might be available to bring
it in the car, suitably fused of course.
I mean even a solar charger won't work in a garage!

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Bill

On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:54:15 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

By "wire up", I was thinking more in terms of installing an additional
permalive one, hidden along with the phone.

Even ignoring the existing socket being ignition-fed (which they are on
most cars ime), there's little point in hiding the phone if there's a
cable taking a scrote straight from the middle of the dash to the hiding
point (and if you leave the phone visible, well...)

Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:54:15 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

By "wire up", I was thinking more in terms of installing an additional
permalive one, hidden along with the phone.

Even ignoring the existing socket being ignition-fed (which they are on
most cars ime), there's little point in hiding the phone if there's a
cable taking a scrote straight from the middle of the dash to the hiding
point (and if you leave the phone visible, well...)

The solar panel wouldn't be at all easily visible from the exterior of the
car, the cable would be going straight down the side of a panel and the
phone would be hidden.

On Wednesday, September 24, 2014 11:10:14 AM UTC+1, Simon Finnigan wrote:
Adrian wrote:

The solar panel wouldn't be at all easily visible from the exterior of the
car...

If it's going to be in direct sunlight I don't see how it can not be highly visible. I also guess it will need to be quite large if it is to be useful on dull days in the winter.

Robert

On Wednesday, 24 September 2014 11:10:14 UTC+1, Simon Finnigan wrote:
Adrian wrote:

On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:54:15 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:



Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than

requiring any additional messing about.



Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything

else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the

car battery up.



Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.



By "wire up", I was thinking more in terms of installing an additional

permalive one, hidden along with the phone.



Even ignoring the existing socket being ignition-fed (which they are on

most cars ime), there's little point in hiding the phone if there's a

cable taking a scrote straight from the middle of the dash to the hiding

point (and if you leave the phone visible, well...)



The solar panel wouldn't be at all easily visible from the exterior of the

car, the cable would be going straight down the side of a panel and the

phone would be hidden.

Pardon my stupid observation if you will, but if the solar panel isn't easily visible from the exterior of the car, are you certain that it will be able to see enough of the sun to maximise its charging potential?

In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top
the car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Some are even switchable.

--
*Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , at 15:08:25 on Wed, 24 Sep
2014, "Dave Plowman (News)" remarked:

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Some are even switchable.

Mine doesn't come on in the middle "accessories" position so I have to
turn it to the full "ignition" position, which always makes me a bit
nervous when dealing with a car without a driver.
--
Roland Perry

On 24/09/2014 15:08, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top
the car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Some are even switchable

In my, now gone, Ford S-Max, the lighter socket was permanently on - a
real hassle...

In article ,
JoeJoe wrote:
On 24/09/2014 15:08, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top
the car battery up.

Of course the fag lighter thing is dead when the car's parked.

Depends on the car. Some are even switchable

In my, now gone, Ford S-Max, the lighter socket was permanently on - a
real hassle...

Can't remember which make, but you moved the lighter fuse to a different
position to change it from switched to permanently live. Which seems a
clever idea to me.

--
*Being healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Adrian wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

The phone is to be left in the boot, and there is no power nearby. I can
run a supply through, but it's only live when the ignition is on and the
car is sometimes only used for short runs, so the phone battery would run
out over a couple of days.

On Wednesday, September 24, 2014 9:51:04 AM UTC+1, Simon Finnigan wrote:
Adrian toomany2cvs wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

The phone is to be left in the boot, and there is no power nearby. I can
run a supply through, but it's only live when the ignition is on and the
car is sometimes only used for short runs, so the phone battery would run
out over a couple of days.

Its your call whether a bigger phone battery plus some downtime when car out of use is good enough. Perhaps you only need know its last location when it actually moves (under its own power anyway).

A supercap could make quick use of a few light feeds, but beware of overcurrent damaging electronics or triggering a fast-flash something's wrong alert.


NT

wrote:
On Wednesday, September 24, 2014 9:51:04 AM UTC+1, Simon Finnigan wrote:
Adrian toomany2cvs wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 11:13:39 +0000, Simon Finnigan wrote:

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Wire up a ciggy socket, and keep it plugged in to a charger. Anything
else is likely to go wrong. If you want solar top-up, use it to top the
car battery up.

The phone is to be left in the boot, and there is no power nearby. I can
run a supply through, but it's only live when the ignition is on and the
car is sometimes only used for short runs, so the phone battery would run
out over a couple of days.

Its your call whether a bigger phone battery plus some downtime when car
out of use is good enough. Perhaps you only need know its last location
when it actually moves (under its own power anyway).

The location is only updated when I load the tracking app, so if I don't do
this until I'm going back to the car, the information won't be available.

A supercap could make quick use of a few light feeds, but beware of
overcurrent damaging electronics or triggering a fast-flash something's wrong alert.


NT

Simon Finnigan wrote


Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a prolonged
period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker, so the phone won't be
heavily used, rather it will make an occasional data connection, the screen
won't be in use so the phone battery should last a couple of days anyway.
What I'd really like is a battery pack that tops itself up using a solar
panel, but that keeps topping up the iPhone battery whenever possible.

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Thanks in advance for your help.


Solar charges are not small and to work need to be left on show.
They're bound to attract attention from car thieves.

In message

, at 11:13:39 on Tue, 23 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan
remarked:
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a prolonged
period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker

Why not use a device that's intended for use as a tracker? Perhaps their
battery lasts quite a while anyway, but ones I've seen have a micro-USB
charger connection, which you could run off a suitable adapter/lead from
the car's electrics.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 11:13:39 on Tue, 23 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan remarked:
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a prolonged
period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker

Why not use a device that's intended for use as a tracker? Perhaps their
battery lasts quite a while anyway, but ones I've seen have a micro-USB
charger connection, which you could run off a suitable adapter/lead from
the car's electrics.

I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I use
to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers I've seen
seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's non-trivial,
whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two a year.

Unless you know of a better tracker that's cheap, easy to use and has very
low ongoing costs, in which case I'd be very interested :-)

In message
,
at 10:16:00 on Wed, 24 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan
remarked:
I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I use
to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers I've seen
seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's non-trivial,
whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two a year.

Unless you know of a better tracker that's cheap, easy to use and has very
low ongoing costs, in which case I'd be very interested :-)

I'm interested in an iPhone SIM that only costs a pound or two a year.
--
Roland Perry

In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message
,
at 10:16:00 on Wed, 24 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan
remarked:
I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I use
to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers I've seen
seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's non-trivial,
whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two a year.

Unless you know of a better tracker that's cheap, easy to use and has very
low ongoing costs, in which case I'd be very interested :-)

I'm interested in an iPhone SIM that only costs a pound or two a year.

Nowt special about iPhone sims.

My daughter has a 4S, she is on GiffGaff (like most of us in the
family). Minimum cost on GG for a year would be about 16p or something
like that (a couple of texts, or couple of calls). You need to make a
call or whatever once every 6 months to keep the credit on the phone.

Wondering about quite what Simon is using this for though.
--
Chris French

In message , at 13:22:42 on Wed, 24
Sep 2014, Chris French remarked:
I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I use
to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers I've seen
seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's non-trivial,
whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two a year.

Unless you know of a better tracker that's cheap, easy to use and has very
low ongoing costs, in which case I'd be very interested :-)

I'm interested in an iPhone SIM that only costs a pound or two a year.

Nowt special about iPhone sims.

My daughter has a 4S, she is on GiffGaff (like most of us in the
family). Minimum cost on GG for a year would be about 16p or something
like that (a couple of texts, or couple of calls). You need to make a
call or whatever once every 6 months to keep the credit on the phone.

So you could put one of those SIMs into a purpose-built tracking device,
and get the same low ongoing costs?

Won't a tracking device (of either kind) want to be sending data back to
base, though; which will cost more than 16p/year. Especially if you need
to fall back to cellsite-based location data in the absence of a GPS
signal.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 10:16:00 on
Wed, 24 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan remarked:
I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I use
to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers I've seen
seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's non-trivial,
whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two a year.

Unless you know of a better tracker that's cheap, easy to use and has very
low ongoing costs, in which case I'd be very interested :-)

I'm interested in an iPhone SIM that only costs a pound or two a year.

Three pay as you go, apparently the credit doesn't expire.

In article
,
Simon Finnigan wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message

, at 11:13:39 on Tue, 23 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan
remarked:
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a
prolonged period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker

Why not use a device that's intended for use as a tracker? Perhaps
their battery lasts quite a while anyway, but ones I've seen have a
micro-USB charger connection, which you could run off a suitable
adapter/lead from the car's electrics.

I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I
use to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers
I've seen seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's
non-trivial, whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two
a year.

how is the iPhone going to work without a SIM card?

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

charles wrote:
In article
,
Simon Finnigan wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message

, at 11:13:39 on Tue, 23 Sep 2014, Simon Finnigan
remarked:
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a
prolonged period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker

Why not use a device that's intended for use as a tracker? Perhaps
their battery lasts quite a while anyway, but ones I've seen have a
micro-USB charger connection, which you could run off a suitable
adapter/lead from the car's electrics.

I've got an iPhone that is free, and it will tie in with the same app I
use to figure out where I've left my iPad etc. all the cheap trackers
I've seen seem to need specific SIM cards with an ongoing cost that's
non-trivial, whereas the iphone solution will burn through a pound or two
a year.

how is the iPhone going to work without a SIM card?

I mentioned a cheap PAYG sim elsewhere that would cost a couple of pounds a
year for the use it will get.

"Simon Finnigan" wrote in message
...

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a prolonged
period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker, so the phone won't be
heavily used, rather it will make an occasional data connection, the screen
won't be in use so the phone battery should last a couple of days anyway.
What I'd really like is a battery pack that tops itself up using a solar
panel, but that keeps topping up the iPhone battery whenever possible.

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Thanks in advance for your help.

What about something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-GP...-/111201679112
http://preview.tinyurl.com/nd65v2a

On 24/09/2014 11:33, Richard wrote:
"Simon Finnigan" wrote in message
...


Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a way to keep an iPhone battery topped up over a
prolonged
period. Basically it's to go in a car as a tracker, so the phone won't be
heavily used, rather it will make an occasional data connection, the
screen
won't be in use so the phone battery should last a couple of days anyway.
What I'd really like is a battery pack that tops itself up using a solar
panel, but that keeps topping up the iPhone battery whenever possible.

Can anyone suggest anything suitable, ideally ready to buy rather than
requiring any additional messing about.

Thanks in advance for your help.

What about something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-GP...-/111201679112

http://preview.tinyurl.com/nd65v2a

back to square one.. what about keeping the battery charged?

In message , at
14:52:16 on Wed, 24 Sep 2014, JoeJoe remarked:
What about something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-GP...-/111201679112

http://preview.tinyurl.com/nd65v2a

back to square one.. what about keeping the battery charged?

There are similar items for use inside a car, which come with a fitting
kit that includes wiring it into the main battery supply.

Just guessing, but most cars with a light inside the boot are arranged
so it comes on regardless of the state of the ignition switch, so there
must be some power available locally.
--
Roland Perry