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DrSnake's avatar
DrSnake
Protege
13 years ago

Wireless Rift - Yes another one.

So i am currently busy turning my Rift in to a wireless master piece.
All the setup has been done and im currently testing battery life, however there must be a better way then to use batteries.
Currently i need 12 batteries, to run the rift wireless (4 for the Rift, and 8 for the wireless HDMI device).
Does anyone have some advice for me which i can try out to replace the batteries with something else?

Current progress:
Testing battery life on the Wireless HDMI device (Currently running on 8 batteries for 1 hour and 13 minutes (lets see how long they last)).

I highly doubt ill get more then 2/3 hours of battery life on the HDMI device so 8 batteries for 3 hours (estimate) seems a little to steep i think. That is like 5 dollars per session for the HDMI device only (Rift not calculated yet).

Definetly the first thing will be rechargeable batteries, but are there other solutions which i should try out?

Thanks for your time.

36 Replies

  • DrSnake's avatar
    DrSnake
    Protege
    13 years ago
    "geekmaster" wrote:
    Rechargeable LiPo batteries, commonly used for R/C models? Cheap and powerful. And reusable too.

    I purchased some of these at a "Black Friday" special sale price:
    http://www.hobbypartz.com/bluelipo.html

    I also bought this charger on sale, but you can get cheaper ones too:
    http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html

    I plan to use them with my Rift.


    Nice! That definetly is worth looking into, my 8 batteries just died running 1 hour and 33 minutes...

    I see those lipo batteries come in 3.7, 7.4, 11.1 etc. variations.

    I saw a post of yours (if my mind serves me right) saying the rift could handle 6v.. so will the 7.4v also work or will i need some kind of volt regulator before frying my equipment?
  • geekmaster's avatar
    geekmaster
    Protege
    13 years ago
    "DrSnake" wrote:
    I saw a post of yours (if my mind serves me right) saying the rift could handle 6v.. so will the 7.4v also work or will i need some kind of volt regulator before frying my equipment?

    The Rift controller voltage regulator can handle up to 18v (I think) *IF* you swap out a filter cap for one with a higher voltage rating (according to Dycus). Not sure what is in there now, but there is usually a a pretty high safety margin so the next LiPo voltage above 5v should be fine. I know others have reported that it worked for them.

    However, if you really want to be safe, their are plenty of LiPo USB battery packs on eBay for not too much money too, and they already have a 5v regulator built into them.

    This "12,000mAh USB External Battery Pack" is $10.33 (+$1.35 shipping) and comes with various power plugs:
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/360666037788

    Personally, I will just use my LiPo R/C batteries.
  • sven's avatar
    sven
    Protege
    13 years ago
    I use the Asus WAVI with a LiPo 3S 2650mAh battery pack (=11.1V). It draws 0.7A at 10V (should last around 4 hours - plenty!)
    and a 5V 5000mAh battery USB battery pack to power the Rift (which draws around 0.5A at 5V), it should last up to 5-10 hours.
    I also plan to connect my Razer Hydra to the same battery pack when it is returned from repairs.

    Just figuring out a good way to put it all in a small backpack now...
  • Krisper's avatar
    Krisper
    Explorer
    13 years ago
    "sven" wrote:
    I use the Asus WAVI with a LiPo 3S 2650mAh battery pack (=11.1V). It draws 0.7A at 10V (should last around 4 hours - plenty!)


    So does the Asus WAVI handle the video and the usb tracking for the Rift?
  • DrSnake's avatar
    DrSnake
    Protege
    13 years ago
    "Krisper" wrote:
    "sven" wrote:
    I use the Asus WAVI with a LiPo 3S 2650mAh battery pack (=11.1V). It draws 0.7A at 10V (should last around 4 hours - plenty!)


    So does the Asus WAVI handle the video and the usb tracking for the Rift?


    Yes, i also use the asus wavi, and so far it works great.

    Tho 1 major annoyance is the driver, no Mac OS.. no Win 8..
  • DrSnake's avatar
    DrSnake
    Protege
    13 years ago
    Ok, so everything is setup and working great.

    Next question to completing the setup:
    I put the hydra control base in the backpack to.. but now obviously the motion is inverted because the controllers are pointing away from the control base instead of pointing towards. Is it even possible to put this behind you and make the hydra work?

    So sort of like saying to the hydra, the user is the location of the control base instead of the laptop.
  • MarkV's avatar
    MarkV
    Explorer
    13 years ago
    I have one of these - Tekkeon MP3450i - the stack of 2 (they chain) lasts forever for USB devices, although a lot on the pricey side.

    1 5V USB + 1 5V-19V output. Looks like 58Wh per brick. Solar charging port for those of you rifting off the grid.

    Anyone thought about using Project Shield with a PC streaming the visuals? Latency shmatency... how can you be having fun if you're not barfing?

    Bah - looks like the wall wart is 1500mA at 5V, so this device is a no-go. Hmm, someone earlier mentions 5V at .5amps... Anyone know what it requires?
  • ale's avatar
    ale
    Honored Guest
    13 years ago
    How well does the setup work? Does it add noticeable latency? Does the head tracking work well enough over wireless usb? I'm considering doing this too, but I want to be sure it works before buying these expensive pieces of equipment. Could you perhaps do a short video of you using the setup?

    So, besides Asus Wavi and backpack etc. you need two batteries, right? One for the Wavi, one for the Rift? Which batteries would be the best? I want something that definitely won't fry my stuff and not needing any soldering or anything as I'm not that comfortable with my skills.