Topic: The Better Battery Thread (Read 112515 times)

Anya · « **Reply #25 on:** September 16, 2018, 12:51:44 PM »

Ok, update. We disassembled the ugobe battery and are confident we can create a new strong battery. Close enough to the super battery discussed above and will be chargeable in the green cradle. Once we perfect the design it will be reproducible very easily for anybody who wants one. I'll sum up the costs once done.

However, our main hope is that we can produce a battery pack where the batteries are interchangeable. We would like to be able to take the battery cells out and replace them so that anyone could use a normal charger to recharge them, especially if their green charger is lost or not functional. This will be much harder due to the need for the thermistor to be touching at least two batteries. We will keep thinking.

Anya · « **Reply #26 on:** September 30, 2018, 11:59:40 AM »

Today we succeeded in creating a soldered together battery pack which runs a ugobe pleo!
The batteries cannot be removed so it will need to charge in the ugobe cradle.

The design isn't perfect yet, we haven't figured out how to print the clasp to hold it in pleo yet but that won't take long.

I'd love to make some for you guys, but there's a whole array of terrifying tax laws to consider if I'm going to be selling anything to anyone. But just for the record, who would be interested?
The parts are worth around £20 (less if you want cheaper batteries) plus postage and tax if necessary.

Any takers?

EmeraldSapphirez · « **Reply #27 on:** September 30, 2018, 02:12:24 PM »

MEEEEEEEEE! I’ll buy a few off you right off the bat now 😊

Anya · « **Reply #28 on:** October 01, 2018, 12:20:02 AM »

Hahaha, I love the enthusiasm!

Did a bit of research into uk tax law. It's insane. Even if you're not making a profit - which I wouldn't be, you still need to set yourself up as a business and declare EVERYTHING! Also does mean adding VAT, which would bring a ~£20 battery to ~£25 and with postage on top, we're looking at a final price of anywhere between £30 and £35.

Does that still sound reasonable enough? I'm really sorry, it'll also take me a while to get everything set up but I'm very willing to do so if it will help people.

EmeraldSapphirez · « **Reply #29 on:** October 01, 2018, 01:10:48 AM »

It does 😊 I suppose to start with you could “gift” batteries and people “donate” the value. I have a friend who did that while he was refining the idea for something. But yes unfortunately you would have to set yourself up as a business in order to properly sell them.

Anya · « **Reply #30 on:** October 01, 2018, 02:46:29 AM »

Ok, well while we're refining the design, I'll look into setting up a mini business (madness!) and see how much of the manufacturing I can move to my garage (so I won't need to borrow all dad's stuff)

I'll let you know when everything's ready. Out of interest, how many would you initially be wanting?

EmeraldSapphirez · « **Reply #31 on:** October 01, 2018, 04:04:44 AM »

I’ve got 4 Ugobes currently so at least 4 but depending on price/deals potentially more 😊

Anya · « **Reply #32 on:** October 01, 2018, 11:43:36 AM »

Wow, great stuff,, I'll let you know when we're ready to start production.

mweed · « **Reply #33 on:** October 03, 2018, 02:33:24 PM »

While you're figuring out all the business nonsense, also consider international sales, as I'm sure you'll find interested people all over!

G Wizz · « **Reply #34 on:** October 03, 2018, 05:04:10 PM »

Hi anya had to register to just now as soon as i found out u may be able to bring my ugobe pleo back to life, mines in great condition bought for my son few years back obviously he grew out of it, it was left to the side for a few years till the other day now my 3 year old daughter really wanted to see it working i charged the battery till went green but did absolutely nothing Im based in the uk so if theres any way id be able to purchase one of these off you u would make me and my daughter very happy tried all other avenues but unable to source one from anywhere thanks.👍👍👍

Anya · « **Reply #35 on:** October 04, 2018, 01:29:39 PM »

Guys this makes me so happy that I could help you out

Give me a couple of weeks, we've not yet perfected the design but I'll do a video as soon as we have a working model. Not long to wait now, they are coming...

Talon · « **Reply #36 on:** October 05, 2018, 08:10:38 PM »

I will be watching this thread too. As Mweed said, think about international sales. As many people here on this forum with multiple Ugobes who all desperately need replacement batteries, you aught to rake in some cash. Best of luck! I really wish Taoworm23- the person who started this thread- was still around for those of us in the states. It would probably bring down the costs a little.
Talon

Talon · « **Reply #37 on:** October 05, 2018, 08:33:59 PM »

Gotcha. It will be at least a month before I can look into Gibbs. I sold my soul and finances to Sweetwater Sound to the tune of six hundred eighty bucks and I am not sure when I will be coming up for air. I think I forgot to mention that I used Vynelex on Terry at least twice since he has been here. Do any of you think Gibbs would cause some sort of negative reaction if it were applied over his previous mists of Vynelex? MY other two Ugobes have been rubbed down with Vynelex ever since I've had them. Sorry if I misspelled the name of this product but I'm sure you older members can figure out what I'm talking about.
Talon

Anya · « **Reply #38 on:** October 06, 2018, 01:24:55 AM »

Don't worry talon, I was never considering uk only! You guys in the states need this just a simple much. The only issue is on shipping batteries themselves. There could be massive restrictions, that's why I'm focusing on getting the battery-replaceable pack up and running so it will be easier to ship.

Talon · « **Reply #39 on:** October 07, 2018, 06:59:44 PM »

That's true. There is all sorts of red tape involved about shipping batteries and stuff overseas.
At the Mods: I have no idea how that random post about Gibbs wound up in here. I suppose I wasn't paying attention or something.
Talon

Anya · « **Reply #40 on:** October 21, 2018, 10:36:55 AM »

Hi guys, thought I'd better update you as it's been a while. The battery development continues. Our prototypes are becoming better and better and we are getting closer to having a repeatable manufacturing process. But it's still not quite there yet. We had to abandon the battery-replaceable idea as the dimensions were so tight it wasn't feasible (sorry to you guys whose pleo chargers no longer work, there might be work arounds, but they'll be risky)
Within the next couple of weeks we hope to get a working replacement battery of the style that we can reliably reproduce. I'm sorry it has taken this long but I only have access to the workshop for a couple of hours per week.

So. The next stage is postage. Would anybody be willing to order a single battery and we will attempt to send through the post, if it works, we can start thinking about more. (Remember, won't be ready for a little while!)

Also one final question:
The pleo batteries are green with a brown end, we can reproduce these in the exact same way or could do the whole thing pleo-brown. What would you guys prefer?

EmeraldSapphirez · « **Reply #41 on:** October 22, 2018, 04:32:08 AM »

Yes I can buy one 😊

Not fussed at all what colour they are, whichever is the most economical to produce 😊

Anya · « **Reply #42 on:** October 24, 2018, 03:31:43 PM »

Proof of concept! New battery works well in pleo so I'm ready to put another together, emerald can you pm me and we'll arrange a trial purchase to see if it can get through the post.

We're almost there guys!!

Talon · « **Reply #43 on:** October 25, 2018, 10:40:09 AM »

Emerald, keep us posted on your experience here. I would be anxious to see how this goes.
Talon

EmeraldSapphirez · « **Reply #44 on:** October 26, 2018, 06:04:19 AM »

Messaged you Anya 😊 x

Anya · « **Reply #45 on:** November 01, 2018, 07:18:11 AM »

We've had a couple of set backs - but don't worry, we're not giving up! I'm still here and eventually, we will have good, strong, reliable batteries ready!

InmemoryofRomeo · « **Reply #46 on:** November 02, 2018, 05:22:31 AM »

Pleo’s do run just fine without their skin, although they look way creepier

However they don’t run without batteries

So I hope that a solution can be found there.

Anya · « **Reply #47 on:** November 02, 2018, 04:05:12 PM »

Don't worry, every set back is just learning more. We will not stop until we have good batteries. Even if I need to buy a very broken ugobe to test them!

I suppose this has just shown how much R&D is needed to create something like this, and it's nowhere near as easy as it looks in the online guides!

PinkPleo · « **Reply #48 on:** January 17, 2019, 12:49:43 AM »

Glad someone is still working on this! I think the Pleo are approaching extinction soon without a new battery source. I can’t even find the $100 repack batteries on eBay anymore.

Clovoro · « **Reply #49 on:** January 17, 2019, 05:22:47 AM »

That's something I worry about too, PinkPleo. I have little Ugobes and as a poor college student I can't even afford those xux You'd think there'd be some other way to charge or replace a battery in this day and age. My little ones have to share a Lipo battery and I have to decide to slowly acquire an original charger and adapter/cable thing in the chance that Olluan's battery could be fixed, or just never have them running at the same time xwx And if something happens to their battery now, I'll lose them both.

Bob the Pleo Forums

Author Topic: The Better Battery Thread (Read 112515 times)