I'll never need a power outlet again!

I got this in last week, but was having some problems so I didn’t post until I had everything worked out. The “this” I’m talking about is a BatteryGeek external battery for my HP TC4400. I had been looking at the extra-long life batteries that connected directly to the tablet, but decided that since it made the device so unwieldy and I couldn’t use it with other devices (i do tend to get a new laptop every 12 months or so) that I would give one of the offerings from BatteryGeek a try. I had heard some of the ads they placed on the JKOnthRun podcasts so I went to their website and looked for the appropriate battery for me. I was particularly concerned about the connector as it has taken me a while to get a tip that would connect to the TC4400 for the iGo Juice power adapter.

I couldn’t find a an exact match, so I emailed their sales support and got a response in a few hours. The sales guy that responded tried to steer me towards one of the more expensive portable power stations, but he also answered my core question, so I went with a less expensive 15-21-130. It arrived 3 days later and I opened the box. I charged it for about 4 hours (it may have taken less but I wasn’t staring at the charge light) and then tried to use it and…nothing. It wouldn’t power my tablet…the status lights would even work. This was definitely disappointing.

So back to the batterygeek website. This time I submitted an email to the customer support address. Again I received a response in a few hours, this time both via email and phone. The nice support rep explained that the symptoms I was explaining sometimes occur when the battery isn’t initiated properly when leaving the factory (in China somewhere, no doubt). All I needed to do was hold down the test button for 20-30 seconds and it would initiate and all should work. I came back to the office this morning, and tried the suggestion. Indeed it did work and now I am happily working on pure DC power. Between this and my EVDO card (which is working again…it helps if you pay your bills) I can go wireless for days.