Data Hacking

Chapter 3 — Power Hacks
FIGURE 3-4: A fast battery charger that you can power from a wall socket or from a cigarette
lighter socket in a car
For best performance and safety, never mix battery types. That includes mixing old and new
batteries, different brands, and different types or capacities of rechargeable batteries. Mixing
batteries can result in poorer performance and reduced lifespan, and creates a real risk of batteries
exploding or rupturing.
A super battery-saving tip is to check the settings of your GPS. Look for an option or mode called
Battery Saver or Low Power Mode. Not all receivers have this setting, but if yours does, it means
that your GPS receiver consumes less power than normal, enabling it to last longer on a set of
batteries than it typically would. The disadvantage of this setting is a slight decrease in accuracy
because of the way in which the unit keeps a lock on the GPS satellites.
As for battery brands, there are plenty of good ones — Duracell, Energizer, Sanyo, Hama and
Ansmann are all of excellent quality and backed by good warranties. Avoid buying cheap “no
name” generic batteries, or batteries that are loose or out of blister packs — if these are DOA or
leak all over your device, you are unlikely to have any warranty to fall back on.
Another thing to remember is that some GPS receivers contain a small button cell, similar to a
watch backup battery (usually non-user replaceable), that is used to store some data in memory
in case the main batteries are depleted or removed. However, if you store your GPS for a long
period of time without batteries or with dead batteries, this can cause a drain of the backup
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