by Bopomofo » 25 Mar 2018 21:59
I have problems at work with shipping sample/prototype phones around to certain countries because of the perceived fire and explosion risk of lithium ion batteries.
Even in the UK for some shipping companies there is extra paperwork to accept responsibility for fires etc.
Most of this seems to be driven by the perceived risks after a certain phone manufacturer's little battery whoopsie.
In other news, I have seen a battery evaluation done by another mobile phone company 12 months before batteries started going pop stating that they did not wish to use them as a supplier because of inadequate protection between the battery layers in the case of stress or temperature causing bending which could result in a high risk of fire. Ahem.
Anyway, for the battery issue the options are probably:
1) Lie and just use a Li-ion or Li-Poly (same thing, tbh)
2) Use a few standard alkili D-type cells which should last for bloody ages
3) If you really need some serious capacity use a motorbike battery: small, 6V and a lead/acid gel so they are happy to be chucked around and inverted.
A few questions: what are you trying to protect against? Theft or mis-routing? Do you need/want to track at sea or just on arrival, wherever that may be?
More interestingly, what tracking technology are you using? If using a mobile phone then be aware it could hammer the batteries more than sitting in a good coverage area as being in the middle of a metal ship it will spend a few weeks occasionally shouting "Hello!" at full power. But mostly it will just be listening for a signal.
You'd need a SIM card that will work in the target area. And possibly some prior knowledge of a wifi network provider you can use to give your phone more of a chance on arrival. I bet there's an app you can find that will keep your phone in airplane mode until a certain time & date then enable the radios.
Finally, if using a mobile then for some models you can buy a 'battery eliminator'. Not sure if that applies here but thought it would be worth you searching.
I've had a search for mobile battery chargers that allow you to use D-types or similar but can't find anything. If you are genuinely stuck and REALLY need a solution then a cheap 4 x D-Type battery box with a 20p voltage regulator attached connected to the 2-pins of a micro-USB power cable would get you months of power for a sleeping phone. Duracell D-Type batteries weigh in around 17000 mAh and a 6V pack would stay above the USB 5v standard for about a 2 weeks based on my sums. If you could get a battery elimator and bypass the USB bits then you could possibly be looking at a few months!!
Going to need some fiddly work, though. Or a bit more determined Google work than I've just put in.
I'll ask in work for you, too. See if anybody has any ideas.
I had fun once. It was awful.