This post is an update of the second part of my Moto server series: https://lemmy.zip/post/72142441
Rumor has it that keeping an 8-year-old phone permanently plugged in with its equally ancient Li-ion battery might not be the greatest idea ever conceived.
Some even claimed that a phone needs a battery to work.
Very negative people.
Anyway, I removed it.
Pettyl did not care.
nginx: UP PHP-FPM: UP MariaDB: UP WordPress: UP cloudflared: UP sshd: UP
The battery is currently sitting next to the phone, contributing absolutely nothing to the project.
Pettyl is now running entirely from USB power, at around 37°C, while continuing to serve the website like this is completely normal.
There is, however, one tiny detail the haters may enjoy:
It can’t boot without the battery.
So the official Pettyl disaster recovery procedure is now:
- Insert battery
- Boot Pettyl
- Connect USB power
- Remove battery
- Pretend this is enterprise infrastructure
The battery is no longer a battery.
It is the starter motor.
I see no problems with this architecture.
Anyway, Part 3 is going great.
Since when does a phone need a battery to run? It needs power, doesn’t matter where the power comes from.
well ACKSHUALLY 🤓☝️
Unfortunately Pettyl is stupid enough to need the battery to boot, but smart enough to forget about it immediately afterwards.
I don’t make the rules, I just host WordPress on an 8-year-old Motorola.
Since their burst power consumption started using more current than a capacitor in the charging circuitry could provide
Yeah, what he said. I was just about to say the exact same thing…
Fun fact, this is also why Macbooks, at least some models, throttle the CPU if the battery is missing. My old Macbook went from 2.4 GHz to 800 MHz without the battery.
So the way I see it, the root cause is dogshit design that relies on the battery
It’s something about how the charging circuitry is constructed. I’ve asked a handful of electrical engineers about it but they’ve never given me a good answer. My guess is that it’s easier/cheaper to design and build a circuit that only powers the phone off the battery, and only uses DC to charge the battery.
Remember the days when hou could just pop the back off and take the battery out?
Still have my LG Optimus on Android 2.x somewhere. With 512MB RAM I dunno what to do with it outside of a clock display, but I have it (and a spare battery).
That’s where I am today with my Fairphone.
I honestly held on to my old Nokia, replacing batteries and cases until Fairphone came along and then I jumped from 90’s tech to modern day.
0–>100% in 10 seconds (with a 2nd battery)
Damn, I wish they still made phones with a removable battery
I just got a fairphone 6. Removable battery!
I’m still using my fairphone 5 :)
Didn’t EU pass a regulation regarding that? If I recall correctly all portable devices sold in the EU after February will will need to have a user replaceable battery.
Didn’t know that, fantastic!
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All batteries are removable once
Just like all mushrooms are edible once…
Anything made to be run from battery can work fine without one. Worst case scenario requires you to spoof some I²C communication to properly emulate a battery, but most devices and batteries are far dumber than that. DC is DC, and sometimes you just need to graft something on top for the other pins.
Source: My old laptops charging circuit failed, so I soldered the charger onto the battery pins instead. Then I replaced the actual battery with an Adafruit Itsybitsy 32u4 (because that what I happened to have available) that emulated the battery status of “Charging, nothing to see here, move along” and sent it via I²C
My old Galaxy S5 would work without the battery, including bootup. So it’s not entirely unexpected that other phones could also do so. I would say I can’t imagine who would take the time out out of their day to just talk out their ass and claim something like this wouldn’t work without trying it first. Except then I remember this is the internet, and people do that all the time.
Regardless, good on you for making this all work!
Hahaha, thank you for defending me! 😄
Just to clarify though, the “they said it couldn’t be done” part was mostly me being ironic and unnecessarily dramatic for the post lol. The comments on this whole project have actually been overwhelmingly positive and helpful.
People here are the reason I even tried some of this stuff in the first place.
But I genuinely appreciate you having my back. And the S5 being able to cold boot without a battery is really interesting — Pettyl unfortunately needs its battery as a starter motor. 😂
The HTC Aria at least could also cold boot from USB power. The first method developed for bootloader unlocking on it required an SD card with the unlocking software be inserted at a particular time during the boot process. And the SD card slot was under the battery!
Edit: now I have to double check myself; signing back into some old posts maybe I’m not remembering the process correctly. It was maybe 16 years ago, and I’m getting old! :-)
Now plug the phone into a UPS so if the power goes out you’re good for awhile.
This is obviously ridiculous.
So I’ll do it.
I’m honoured to have my idea contributed to this project!
Your contribution is noted and landed you a new position at Pettyl Industries!
I graciously accept the position of Chief Energy Officer! Thank you!
Update! Apparently removing the battery also removes half the CPU lol.
I’ll keep you posted!
What did you put in place of the battery? nothing or a cap? i tried this with a moto g6 but there is not enough power delivered through its own usb port so i have to use a 5volt source+capacitor connected to the bms i saved from the battery.
I did not need to fake battery presence, just needed the battery as a starter, once the phone is booted just removed the battery.
Although the real test is yet to come, I have to leave it like this for a day or two, to see if it powers off when CPU spikes…
Awww… I remember back when batteries were removable. Good times.
They still are: Fairphone
Well… I was obviously wrong. Sorry.
Don’t know if my knowledge was just outdated or plain wrong from the start, but good on you for still trying and respect for pulling that off.
You are absolutely fine!
People here, including you, have been very respectful and thoughtful, and I am all for feedback.
I don’t have the knowledge of the whole universe, do I? So please, by all means, I want to hear your critiques, it makes the project better and I learn along the way!
AFAIK it depends on the device. I believe it’s simpler to have a battery management system which keeps the battery charged when power is attached, and then a second separate system which powers the phone from the battery. That does lead to more wear on the battery though, so the better solution is to have a power management system which monitors the battery and keeps it within a set charge range, and additionally can supply the voltage needed to run the phone. Only when power is not connected does the battery power the phone.
From a quick google though, it seems that’s only part of the picture. High-end modern phones will often require a battery present, as they use it to smooth out the power coming from the adapter, even though most of the power for the phone when the charger is attached comes from a direct power path.
Awesome! Keep us updated!
Aye aye, captain🫡
I just have to say, I really enjoy your writing style. Fun project, great post!
Thank you for the kind words 🎩
I’m currently reading this on my nearly 8 year old phone. I guess when I finally get round to replacing it I’ll have a new server! Sweet
Remember bezels?
I have a simillar setup but i kept the battery it acts like a ups
in my experience phone batteries plugged 24/7 will increase in size
It not plugged in 24/7. It runs 1.5 days without charging so no issue.
About the not booting issue: What if you soldered a fitting power supply directly to the phones battery pins? Is this a horrible idea? I don’t know. Or 3d-print a power supply to dummy battery adapter…
