Keeping my Nexus 7 Tablet charged while on the move.

October 3, 2012 7:33 PM

Need a recommendation for a travel battery for a Nexus 7.

Heading overseas and going to be spending 26 hours plus in the air so taking along my Nexus 7 to keep myself amused.

With rushed transit stops of 3 hours or less, I am not going to have time to recharge in between flights so I am looking for recommendations of what I am calling a Travel Battery until I know what they are actually called.

Basically I want some sort of battery pack I can plug into my Nexus 7 to recharge or keep it charged while amusing myself. I don't mind if the pack takes normal batteries (say AA's) that will need to be replaced or is itself rechargeable.

I don't even have idea what specs I need to be looking for in a battery pack thingy and all the items that might fit the bill seem to be for phones or iPads.

Any product suggestions appreciated, I'd like to keep the price around the $40-$50 price range.

posted by wwax to computers & internet (5 answers total)

My wife just bought an external battery / charger for her phone, made by a company called Anker. She got the 5600 mAh model, but they go higher. That one would certainly work on your Nexus, but it would only provide about one and a third full charges for it - the Nexus 7 has a 4325 mAh battery.

Anker makes the Astro III, which has a 10000 mAh capacity, meaning you'll get just over two full charges off of it. It doesn't specifically list the Nexus 7 as being compatible, but it can charge Samsung tablets, and all you need is a USB to micro-USB cable, like the one I bet you got with your Nexus.

There are other brands making the same sort of product - you're looking for an external battery. Just make sure whatever you get can provide at least 1 Amp at the charging port, not just 500 mA.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 7:53 PM on October 3, 2012

This seems relevant: Portable chargers/battery packs for Nexus 7
posted by ringu0 at 7:59 PM on October 3, 2012

If you've got some time you could build yourself a mintyboost. You could also customise it to take more batteries so it would last longer, or just keep a larger pool of rechargable batteries around so you can swap them out.
posted by koolkat at 1:24 AM on October 4, 2012

I have the same Anker that Dipsomaniac's wife has, and it charges the Nexus 7, but slowly. Not really an issue if you plan to just keep it attached when the battery starts running low, though. (And it charges my phone and other gadgets much faster.)

My partner saw how useful my Anker was, wanted one, did some research, and ended up getting this NewTrent battery pack, which is newer and higher-capacity. He's happy with it, and it seems to charge his Nexus 7 a bit faster than my Anker battery pack. It's also a bit larger in size.

Important note: the charging cables with interchangeable heads that came with both our models didn't work--on any devices we tried them on. Luckily they're just the sort of USB cable you already have (the kind that detaches from your Nexus 7 charger's wall plug), so you can just use that.
posted by rhiannonstone at 5:33 PM on October 4, 2012

Monoprice makes rechargeable chargers, such as these 5000mAh and 9000mAh models. Both claim to feature 2.1A output, enough for a thirsty new iPad and more than ample for a Nexus 7.

I have purchased a much smaller battery from them and it works fine.
posted by chairface at 8:24 AM on October 5, 2012