External Battery Roundup: PowerTraveller, Tekkeon and MikeGyver

Straight out of the UK, we have PowerTraveler’s PowerGorilla and MiniGorilla external batteries. I’m not sure about the motivation behind this company’s fascination with primates, as most of its products are named after gorillas or monkeys, but PowerTraveler is trying to aim its products toward folks living an active lifestyle.

Both batteries employ a rugged design, similar to those from Bruton. There are some differences, though. We'd argue that the PowerGorilla was built with less impact resistance in mind.

PowerTraveller saddled rubber bumpers on the sides of both batteries, but only the MiniGorilla is encased in rubberized plastic. Meanwhile, the PowerGorilla is housed in an aluminum shell.

Besides Electryovaya’s PowerPads, the PowerGorilla and MiniGorilla are the only other batteries in this roundup to use an LCD. But disappointingly, this battery gauge is a bar meter. The LCD clearly wasn’t designed with the meter in mind. Instead, it provides a way for you to select the correct voltage. If your notebook is already connected, simply hit the On/Off button to cycle through the options. Once you get to a compatible voltage, the battery detects the current drain and blinks to indicate its locked selection.

I discovered this can be a faulty process. Some notebooks trickle drain off of a 16 V charge. If this happens, the battery mistakenly locks into a voltage that doesn’t charge or power your notebook. You need to unplug the external battery pack and cycle manually through to the correct voltage before you plug it in.

Both batteries charge at 16 V with the included chargers, but only the PowerGorilla comes with a set of right-angled input tips, which allows you to charge using your notebook’s stock adapter. With that said, both batteries feature the most complete set of accessories seen in this roundup. The US plug is compatible in Japan and Canada by default, but PowerTraveller also includes the UK and Australia/Europe adapters as well.

The last three batteries in our roundup come from Tekkeon. While the company offers many portable power solutions, these are the only products that can be used to power your notebook.

The myPower batteries aren’t really designed to take a lot of abuse. Their ABS plastic cases aren't thin, but they will crack if you drop them on a hard surface. More annoyingly, these are the only batteries in the roundup (besides those from Energizer) that use a high-gloss black piano finish. I’m not against this type of design, but it isn't very suitable for high-mobility devices.

The bottom half of the battery is matte to begin with, so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to use that motif for the whole design.

The purposes of these three batteries can be a bit confusing. All of them are suitable for use with notebooks. There isn’t a netbook- or notebook-specific model, but the MP3750 is the only one that comes with the tips necessary for use with full-sized notebooks like the Vostro 3300 and ThinkPad T510. For that reason, we exclude the MP3450 and MP3450i from our notebook battery test.

The MP3450 and MP3450i can also be used with notebooks, but their compatibility lists are shorter. Instead, those two models are better suited to portable DVD players and digital cameras.

The MP3450i, in particular, allows more granular control through the use of DIP switches. This is a feature you won’t see on the MP3450 or MP3750. Moreover, voltages listed in the table only apply to voltages supported through the output cable. All three batteries still output 5 V through the USB port.

All three batteries have eight LEDs, and the first indicates On/Off status. The MP3750 employs a different design than the other two, though. When you plug a tip into the connected output cable, the battery has no off status. Instead, it is either in a manual or auto voltage selection mode. The MP3750's second LED indicates whether you are in manual mode, while the first indicates auto. It is the only battery to feature an auto-selection mode.

Choosing this option causes the battery to use a sense resistor to ratchet up voltage until the notebook starts to draw power. Once that occurs, the battery locks in the voltage. In manual mode, you need to cycle to the correct voltage using the button above the LEDs before you hook the external battery to your notebook.

You use a Mac, then you know that everything got a little more complicated with the MagSafe connector. There are very few ways to get an external battery to work with your MacBook. One roundabout way is to output 12 V to a cigarette adapter and use Apple’s Airline MagSafe adapter. Only the PowerGorilla and XP18000 support that option, but the cigarette adapter is separate purchase in the case of the XP18000.

There is a big problem with this suggestion, though. The current Airline MagSafe connector doesn’t actually step up the voltage. It just delivers 12 V to the computer, which is enough to keep the notebook alive. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to charge the battery. In fact, it doesn’t even really fully power the larger 15.6" and 17.3" MacBook Pros. The larger systems switch from 16 V to 19 V during heavier workloads, so you'd only really slow down the rate of discharge.

Apple is the only major notebook vendor that supplies a branded non-charging auto option, which makes this somewhat of an anomaly. Some people have resorted to modifying the Airline MagSafe adapter, but it doesn't come with a charging circuit. No amount of modification is going to solve your charging problem.

There are options coming from HyperMac (HyperJuice looks interesting) and QuickerTek. Trouble started a few months back when Apple claimed that HyperMac was manufacturing cables with MagSafe connectors, violating the Cupertino-based company's patent.

Meanwhile, there was Mike Lee of MikeGyver, plugging along. Before MagSafe was even a blip on the radar, Mike made mods for PowerBooks. Apples employees even use his kits because he warranties his work. Mike actually cuts a MagSafe cable off of a retail Apple power adapter and modifies the input end to accept the 16 V plug used by the last generation of IBM ThinkPads. This simple adjustment allows you to charge your MBP, provided you have his modified cable and an adapter that can output to the old 16 V ThinkPad tip. This is completely legal because it's not a counterfeit Apple product. It is simply a mod, and selling a mod is legal under the principle of first use.

There is a downside to this, though. You must use either use a modified Apple power adapter from MikeGyver or switch over to a third-party power adapter.

You can attempt to do this yourself, as others have, but it's an involved process. The elastic sheath on the cable makes it hard to modify, since you need to always keep it taut and straightened out. If you are willing to supply your own adapter, or if you have a custom setup requirement, Mike usually just charges the labor fee for modifying the plug.

There are a number of quirks associated with this approach, but the point is that it works. In fact, we have tried it on new 13.3" MacBook Pro using all of the batteries in our roundup. It works without flaw.

If you are going to attempt to do this yourself, you need to be careful. One of the criticisms of the MagSafe design is that the contacts are too small for the the charging current. Furthermore, the magnet used in the connector attracts iron filings and other ferromagnetic materials. Just Google "MagSafe fire." After creating your own cable, your MagSafe plug may be dirty from its time in the lab. Play it safe and clean up the plug. You can do this with candle wax.

1. Drip candle wax onto a surface.
2. Knead it until it is just slightly warm and malleable.
3. Press it against the MagSafe connector. The wax will pick up any filings or ferromagnetic dust.
4. Wipe down the MagSafe connector with a soft cloth to get rid of the wax.

Do not put the MagSafe connector in contact with hot wax. Only do this after it has cooled. A magnet will lose part of its magnetic force when it comes into contact with heat (100 °C). You can also use masking tape, but warm wax is the surest way to get rid of even the smallest filings.