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Fuel Rod Portable charging batteries available now at WDW kiosks
- Thread starter wogwog
- Start date
YozhikRoth
Active Member
Good in a pinch I suppose. I swear by Anker products, I recently bought a portable charger for $20 that will charge an iPhone 6x, and is barely bigger than a credit card.
Brad Bishop
Well-Known Member
Yep, that's what I use. I just put it in my bag and, in the parks, I store it in the locker in case I need it. I have an iPhone 6s now with the battery case which is great so I probably won't need it for a long time but it's handy for others.
rob0519
Well-Known Member
With making and changing fastpasses, taking and viewing pictures and video, it's possible that a lot of phones will not stay charged all day. I always take my own battery pack, but this is a brilliant idea considering how dependent a Disney trip is now on the cell phone.
DavidS1234
Active Member
I SO want to hear the HalfLife charging station sound effect when I walk up to these...
DManRightHere
Well-Known Member
Crud, were these kiosks in existence before I said this? I have another idea that theme parks and other public areas may make a lot of money (and me ). $$
Sept 30th 2015 I think.
Sept 30th 2015 I think.
Coaster Lover
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I'll (hopefully) be going in August 2017 with my wife, sister-in-law, and three kids. With long days at the park and moderate to heavy use of the MDE app to check ride wait times, make/adjust FastPasses, and make/adjust dinner reservations, it's tough to make a fully charged phone last the whole day. Add in the inevitable social media aspect and you can bet the phones will be running on empty. Multiply that by three adults and the inevitable fact that we'll likely split up at some point during the day and need the phones to stay in contact and being able to recharge the phones on the go will be helpful. The fact that you can continually trade it in at the park for a fully charged devie means never needing to worry about battery life while at the park. I like it!
Monorail_Red_77
Well-Known Member
This one looks like a gift shop to me. Based on the laminate flooring. Pecos would have clay/ceramic tiles. Just a guess though.
Monorail_Red_77
Well-Known Member
Hmm. So I buy this for $30.00 and I am an AP. So this might mean you could potentially never have to buy another charger at Disney again? Each time it runs empty you swap it out. Not sure I'd try that since I already have an investment in 5 battery packs already, but sounds nice if I didn't. One less thing to worry about going bad. When it's empty just swap it. Especially since I am at WDW on a monthly basis, sometimes more.
Gringrinngghost
Well-Known Member
Okay, I did a little research into these fuel rods. For the price both the company and Disney charges, it's not worth it. The battery is rated at 2,600 mAh. You would be able to charge approximately (From 0-100%) an iPhone 6s 1 and a half times, and an iPhone 6S Plus (from 0-100) not even once; it would bring you up to about a 94.54% charge. It would comfortably be able to charge a GoPro 2.24 times. For Android numbers, A fuel rod for a Samsung Galaxy S7 (from 0-100) not even 1 full charge, only up to 87%, for a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (from 0-100) not even 1 full charge, only up to 72%, So I highly doubt the claims of 'its device to add around 8 hours of charge to a phone, or 4 hours to a tablet.' because those numbers must have been tested in waht is considered a 'perfect world environment'. Where only cellular was on whereas Disney you are taking photos and switching between applications which is a much bigger battery drain.
The cables appear to only about 3 inches long, Which requires the user to have the battery device also in their hand while they're operating their phone which makes it more susceptible to dropping the phone. Plus when you have the adapters, if the battery pack falls it can rip out of the lighting port and damage either the adapter or the phone itself.
Another issue is battery degradation, Because even know you are replacing the battery. You don't know how many times the batteries already been charged. Manufacturers take a conservative approach and specify the life of Li-ion in most consumer products as being between 300 and 500 discharge/charge cycles. Although a battery should deliver 100 percent capacity during the first year of service, it is common to see lower than specified capacities, and shelf life may contribute to this loss. In addition, manufacturers tend to overrate their batteries, knowing that very few users will do spot-checks and complain if low.
While battery degradation and cable length are issues, another one is that for $30 you can get something infinity better. I have trusted sites I use that honestly I can get a battery that holds 800% the capacity of the ones for $20.
From Monoprice.com
Monoprice Select Series Portable Cell Phone Charger for Universal/Smartphones, 16,000mAh Power Bank - 19.99 (20,000mAh sold out at the time of this post but is also 19.99)
Supplied Lighting Cable from your phone - 0.00
Supplied MicroB Cable from your phone - 0.00
Cabernet Series Apple® MFi Certified Flat Lightning™ to USB Charge & Sync Cable, 3ft Black - 8.29
Apple MFi Certified USB to Micro USB+Lightning™ Charge & Sync Cable, 3ft Black - 15.53
Premium USB to Micro USB Charge & Sync Cable 0.5ft - Black - 1.79
Shipping (to Kississimee Florida from Monoprice.com) - 9.32
Total - 29.31 to 46.63
From Amazon.com (with Prime options available):
Sentey Power Bank 20800mah - 19.99
Supplied Lighting Cable from your phone - 0.00
Supplied MicroB Cable from your phone - 0.00
Ugreen Premium Micro USB Cable High Speed USB 2.0 A Male to Micro B 1.5 feet - 4.59
[Apple MFI Certified] Iphone 6s Charger Lightning to USB Cable 3ft - 5.99
Shipping (Prime) - Free
Shipping (One day; if applicable) - $5.99
iXCC Element Series Apple MFi Certified 2 in 1 Dual Connector Lightning to MicroUSB 3Ft - 9.99
Total $21.39 to 37.58
*Apple Inc.'s MFi Program ("Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad") is a licensing program for developers of hardware and software peripherals that work with Apple's iPod, iPad and iPhone, the so-called iDevices. The name is a shortened version of the original long-form Made For iPod.
While there are numerous options to make it cheaper such as using your own cables with a battery pack, you can get more then 600% the capacity that you can get for $30 for much less. Or if you want to be a maverick you can get for 60 before fees and such from Amazon a 30,000 mAh battery pack that will charge your phone more then ten times! Whereas the Fuelrods at $60 can charge your phones 2-3 times, you can charge a phone 8 times (Galaxy S7 Edge) to 17.5 times (iPhone 6s). I got a few more concerns with the fuelrods. I'm going to wait and save for another post because I need to see one of the kits up close.
The cables appear to only about 3 inches long, Which requires the user to have the battery device also in their hand while they're operating their phone which makes it more susceptible to dropping the phone. Plus when you have the adapters, if the battery pack falls it can rip out of the lighting port and damage either the adapter or the phone itself.
Another issue is battery degradation, Because even know you are replacing the battery. You don't know how many times the batteries already been charged. Manufacturers take a conservative approach and specify the life of Li-ion in most consumer products as being between 300 and 500 discharge/charge cycles. Although a battery should deliver 100 percent capacity during the first year of service, it is common to see lower than specified capacities, and shelf life may contribute to this loss. In addition, manufacturers tend to overrate their batteries, knowing that very few users will do spot-checks and complain if low.
While battery degradation and cable length are issues, another one is that for $30 you can get something infinity better. I have trusted sites I use that honestly I can get a battery that holds 800% the capacity of the ones for $20.
From Monoprice.com
Monoprice Select Series Portable Cell Phone Charger for Universal/Smartphones, 16,000mAh Power Bank - 19.99 (20,000mAh sold out at the time of this post but is also 19.99)
Supplied Lighting Cable from your phone - 0.00
Supplied MicroB Cable from your phone - 0.00
Cabernet Series Apple® MFi Certified Flat Lightning™ to USB Charge & Sync Cable, 3ft Black - 8.29
Apple MFi Certified USB to Micro USB+Lightning™ Charge & Sync Cable, 3ft Black - 15.53
Premium USB to Micro USB Charge & Sync Cable 0.5ft - Black - 1.79
Shipping (to Kississimee Florida from Monoprice.com) - 9.32
Total - 29.31 to 46.63
From Amazon.com (with Prime options available):
Sentey Power Bank 20800mah - 19.99
Supplied Lighting Cable from your phone - 0.00
Supplied MicroB Cable from your phone - 0.00
Ugreen Premium Micro USB Cable High Speed USB 2.0 A Male to Micro B 1.5 feet - 4.59
[Apple MFI Certified] Iphone 6s Charger Lightning to USB Cable 3ft - 5.99
Shipping (Prime) - Free
Shipping (One day; if applicable) - $5.99
iXCC Element Series Apple MFi Certified 2 in 1 Dual Connector Lightning to MicroUSB 3Ft - 9.99
Total $21.39 to 37.58
*Apple Inc.'s MFi Program ("Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad") is a licensing program for developers of hardware and software peripherals that work with Apple's iPod, iPad and iPhone, the so-called iDevices. The name is a shortened version of the original long-form Made For iPod.
While there are numerous options to make it cheaper such as using your own cables with a battery pack, you can get more then 600% the capacity that you can get for $30 for much less. Or if you want to be a maverick you can get for 60 before fees and such from Amazon a 30,000 mAh battery pack that will charge your phone more then ten times! Whereas the Fuelrods at $60 can charge your phones 2-3 times, you can charge a phone 8 times (Galaxy S7 Edge) to 17.5 times (iPhone 6s). I got a few more concerns with the fuelrods. I'm going to wait and save for another post because I need to see one of the kits up close.
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Missymoe4
Well-Known Member
Unless it gets stolen from your hotel room as you're charging it. 20 minutes after we notified the management at the Contemporary, we had a visit from a resort manager and were reimbursed $90.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Your analysis seems to be skipping over the ability to swap the batteries for no charge. FuelRods is more selling a service than a single product.
Gringrinngghost
Well-Known Member
Actually I covered that about battery degradation.
While it's good that you are basically getting a "new" one which is just a fully charged one, you are in a way using more resources, especially electrical. While before you just charged it, now you are replacing it and asking a machine with electronics to give you a new one. Thus its actually more wasteful. Also the higher the mAh means the more devices you can charge which also means a longer life. To add, to that you don't know they were previously used.
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pilka214
Active Member
Now i can play pokemon GO all day in the park without it draining my Battery. Well worth the small upcharge of the product for the ability to swap it out whenever i wish.
Do they have disney designs? or are they plane white?
Also,
Anyone know the MaH of these yet? hopefully over 2000, as that will charge an iPhone 6 for more than one full charge.
Do they have disney designs? or are they plane white?
Also,
Anyone know the MaH of these yet? hopefully over 2000, as that will charge an iPhone 6 for more than one full charge.
JasonDeyoung
Well-Known Member
I like this added to the parks, I'm still fairly new but am addicted to periscope and if any of you have ever used it, you know it kills batteries quickly. I have a jockery battery charger which I love! It's on the bigger side, with it I can get around 5-7 full charged with my iPhone 6 but again, it's rather big and carrying it all day gets to be annoying. So something on the smaller side such as this is great to me! I was looking into getting something smaller, and with free exchanges why not?
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Again you are missing the point. The Fuel Rod main concept is the ability to put your rod in the kiosk and get a new fully charged one, forever (until the company goes bust). So you don't need to find an outlet and charge anything just keep swapping.
HRHPrincessAriel
Well-Known Member
Yes. But my other local theme parks(or anything else I'd need a charge during day) don't have this fuel rod thing....so when I'm at their parks I need something to charge my phone. So my $20 one from Amazon that can charge my phone 3 times before I need to recharge is a better option for me.
righttrack
Well-Known Member
The swapout feature makes it very attractive. I'd normally complain that these are small and you can only probably get 1/3-1/2 a charge out of one of them, but just swap it and you're good. This is a great idea that will make each trip not be in search of the empty plug like it always seems to be.
righttrack
Well-Known Member
They used to do more, you realize, then their technology got old, and people argue for the nostalgia and it stays. In 1986 Epcot was state of the art, as good as it gets.
ABQ
Well-Known Member
Hilarious!