Review: Third Party 3600 mAh eBay PSP Battery

[Aguiluz]

The battery in review is on the right, on top of Spyro 3.

Seeking a new battery to replace my worn out one and to replace my 5-cell monstrosity, I trodded on one of these cheapie batteries on eBay. Seeing it is 3600mAh and I was 65% sure the battery's actual capacity was less than that, I bit the bullet anyway because it was relatively cheap.

Then it arrived, oh the joy. It felt so light, squeezing the battery made it squish as if it's made of sponges. Seriously, I can feel the components on the protection board and the wires on the Lithium Ion cell by squeezing it.

Charging was unusually quick to the point of doubtage. Charges less than an hour rather than overnight for my regular PSP battery? Hm...

Playtime was alright at first. I got 2-3 hours of use then the problems start sinking in.

First, it cut out without warning. I thought it was only a new battery blues and it would correct itself over time.

However, 6 cycles later, it's still the same. This proved infuriating.

So I launched some detective work, and oh, the glory: According to PSPtool, the battery's capacity is only 1200mAh when read from the EEPROM.

EEPROM is also permanent and non-rewritable, so all hope of softmoding into a Pandora are out of the window.

Due to this false advertisement and poor performance, I give this product a D-.

PROS:

Cheap.
Easily accessible.
Easily charged.
Lightweight.
Fits PSP.


CONS:

Poor Performance.
Cuts out without warning.
Actually 1200mAh, not 3600mAh.
Build quality issues.



RATING: 58%

D-


Where to buy:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0442816573
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3375

 

[BoFoSho]

Nice review.
I have one of those batteries as a spare.
I have about 5 official batteries so I never really tested it.
Thanks for the info.

 

[eurddrue]

I ordered one of these and after it failed, I took it apart. Inside is a tiny cell and a chunk of metal so it doesn't have that "cheap plastic-y feel."

And, iirc, the cell actually said 1200mAh

 

[AfroLH]

I bought one that actually was 3600mAh.
I even used PSPtool and got 3600mAh.

So, there are real ones out there, but finding one is like finding a normal person on Chatroulette.

 

[Aguiluz]

I bought one that actually was 3600mAh.
I even used PSPtool and got 3600mAh.

So, there are real ones out there, but finding one is like finding a normal person on Chatroulette.

If only I can find one of the real ones...

Anyway, got suggestions for a proper battery that actually fits my PSP? And cheap? And long lasting?

 

[BoFoSho]

I might have one , let me look around my room.

 

[Aguiluz]

I might have one , let me look around my room.

Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.

Anyway, I noticed this on PSPTool:

3865 degrees centigrade!? That's one hot hot battery!

 

[eurddrue]

Roughly 6989 degrees Farenheit I noticed that the temperature and voltage are quite similar..

 

[themadhacker]

the reason the batteries "crap out" is because of bad connections with the prongs that slide into the psp. I kept having this problem, so I had to keep bending them to make it work. In any case, I will be using two of these and an official 3600 psp battery in my bigblackpnes. I think I will to away with the protection circuits on the two generic psp batteries and wire them and the official one to one official psp battery pcb. Should save up on space a bit.

 

[themadhacker]

oh, and can you take picture of the insides of yours? mine have different color writing on the case, so we may have different batteries.

 

[Aguiluz]

Can you post back on what your battery innards look like?

 

[Aguiluz]

Go ahead.




Also, if anyone is wondering what those A, B and C "jump points" on the protection circuit do, then wonder no more: They do absolutely nothing. I jumped those "jump points" with all possible combinations and nothing happened.