Motorola Universal Portable Power Pack P893 Teardown...(just for fun!)

[FoxKat]

OK, so everyone else out there seems to be tearing something apart for fun and benefit of others, so I decided to tear the portable power pack I purchased apart too. Following are pictures of the guts. It's simple to open, since the only 2 screws holding it together are not hidden but are right on the back face for all to see. Once the screws are removed, it takes a little wrenching of the case halves to pry them apart since there are also clip locations. Once apart, I discovered something quite interesting...

The battery they use inside is none other than the exact replacement for the extended battery designed for the D1 & D2. In fact, the battery number is BP7X, and so the standard battery BP6X also fits inside! Woohoo!

Now for the really fun part... I'm going to see if it will support a BIG battery. Considering there are 6,600mAh batteries available for a reasonable price, I'm considering using the circuitboard and cable and building it into a larger case to allow for that big battery. Should work fine as far as I can tell.

See photos below.



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UPDATE... I ordered a 3rd party extended battery for the D2 off eBay here 3500mA Extended Battery+Cover For Motorola Droid 2 A955, for $8.01 including shipping, so when done, I'll have a backup battery that can recharge my Droid RAZR twice! The battery compartment is the same size as the D2 battery, so I will simply open up the cover of the charger to allow the thicker battery to extend through, cut 4 tiny slots in the cover of the charger, then slide the extended battery cover which comes with the battery onto the Motorola charger. If I want to go back to the original battery I happen to have a replacement back for a D1, and I can replace the extended battery and cover with the original battery and the D1 cover.

 

[huckky]

hi.. any news about your modded battery pack? how is everything with it and your phone?
btw what is that button for? to turn on or off?

 

[jaybogg]

Modding hardware, gotta love it!!:biggrin: Keep us posted on performance.

 

[pc747]

foxxkat what you learn. and i notice it takes awhile to charge my nexus.

 

[FoxKat]

Well, the battery that came with it IS a standard Motorola battery of the type that powers the Droid 1, 2 and perhaps others. Only problem is that the way the battery is inserted is upside-down as compared to the way it's oriented in the phones. This is not a problem for the standard battery but presents a problem for the extended battery. The issue is the contact pin placement. See the first picture and you'll notice a row of 4 contacts toward the top left. Next, look at the third picture and you'll see the battery with the contact points lining up with those on the charger, and you'll see that the left-most pin is negative (-), and the right-most pin is positive (+).

Since the thicker battery for the D1 & D2 must work for the phone itself and since the battery in the phone is inserted face-up (you're looking at the face-down side in the pictures of the portable charger), and since the contacts are approximately 2-3mm from the bottom of the battery, the extended battery which is thicker also has its contacts 2-3mm from the bottom. Obviously that's how it needs to be when the battery is placed into the phones since it's face-up. Where it presents a problem with the portable charger is that the battery is inserted upside down and that takes the contacts on the extended battery from being on the bottom and at the end to line up with the contacts on the charger, and places them on the now top-side of the battery end, so they don't meet up and can't power the device.

Had Motorola only oriented the battery the same way in this device as they did in the phones, any extended battery for the D1 & D2 would have its contacts line up with the ones on the charger and there would be no issues with it powering the board. Of course, the back cover would have to be modded to allow the thicker battery but the contacts are crucial and without cutting through the button side of the casing (the front with the lights), the extended battery's contacts won't line up with the charger's contacts. If the battery is inserted as it would be in the phone, the contacts are now not only backwards, but are also now on the right side instead of the left side, so there's no electrical connection at all.

If I cut through the front side of the charger's casing, I could cut a hole large enough to allow the thicker battery to fit at the proper depth to make the contacts meet, but it would make the charger itself look pretty ugly by having the fat battery sticking out of the top instead of the bottom. So, I gave up on this mod and simply use the extended battery for my D2 which is now my son's portable gaming device. So much for good ideas.

 

[jaybogg]

You never know if you never try. Sorry it didn't work but the fact your son can use it still sounds like $8 well spent.

 

[FelipeHikari]

FoxKat, it seems that you might be able to answer my question...
The original power packs from Motorola are not available at my country so I was looking for some alternatives and I've always wanted to try a solar chargers as well.
So I've found some solutions, but there is my doubt:
1) What is the tolerance (maximum and minimum) voltage and current that can charge my Droid Razr XT910 safely?
There is a topic where you explained these, but I'm not finding it again and I don't remember those informations you've said there.
The Power bank that I've got my eyes on has the following basic specs:
Output voltage: 4.8~9V (selectable steps: 4.8V, 5.8V, 8.4V, 9.0V)
Output current: 400~800mA
Built-in 4200mAh rechargeable battery (although some user claims it does not get all the 4200mAh but around 3000mAh, what is more than enough for my mobile)
It comes with its own charger and it says that it has protection circuits (seem on an user picture...he opened the case to see inside).
Apparently no user seems to be unhappy with it, but they don't specify which gadgets they are powering with these.
2) Can it damage my cellphone?

Last question:
3) Does the DROID RAZR XT910 handle a direct charge from a solar charger that can give an output of 6V (constant 5,25V due built-in circuit board...and user tested it with a multimeter) with maximum output current of 880mAh?
I've tried Motorola chat and several other forums, but your answers within these forums were the best of all and the only ones with real information!
Thank you your attention.