landscape stand/cradle?

raylo · 02-08-06, 06:14 PM

Is there such a thing? I'm not so concerned about a full blow cradle w/power jack. But I'm thinking that a stand that would hold the Axim in landscape position might be good for watching movies on an airplane tray.

stevenator65 · 02-08-06, 06:20 PM

I was thinking about that too. I think a little velcro and some imagination is what's needed, but if there is a solution I'd like to see it too.

kryten007 · 02-08-06, 06:39 PM

I have two suggestions. Both of them are more than a little ghetto, but should work.

1) Construct something out of Lego. I have seen a couple Lego iPod docks on the Blogosphere, this shouldn't be too different...
Check out this one on InventionDB

2) My old, dear friend BlueTak poster putty. Get a pack or two of the stuff, wad it up, and make a little "chair" for it!

Enragin_Angel · 02-08-06, 06:50 PM

You could buy a foldable book holder. I've seen some sold at Borders and Barnes & Noble. They look sort of like this:

Kazkin · 02-09-06, 02:10 AM

I have this openbook type case ..and it served that purpose well ( adding the beltclip makes it even better angle at landscape) :D

add the clipbelt and it's like 45 degrees viewing angle :p

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showp...8&postcount=17

raylo · 02-09-06, 07:30 AM

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Originally Posted by Kazkin

I have this openbook type case ..and it served that purpose well ( adding the beltclip makes it even better angle at landscape) :D

add the clipbelt and it's like 45 degrees viewing angle :p

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showp...8&postcount=17

raylo · 02-09-06, 08:11 PM

I found a nice product today at Best Buy. I went out in search of a Pelican Power Brick external battery. FYI, this is a backup battery for a Play Staion Portable and has the same voltage and connectors to fit the Axim. I didn't find it... but I found a similar product by Datel that came with a stand that fits the Axim and hoilds it in a perfect landscape position! Plus I got the battery. The stand actually holds the battery if you want and it comes with a short cable for this and a longer cable if you want the battery in your pocket or don't need it to be in the cradle. See picture below. The battery isn't installed but slips into a slot on the back. Pretty cool product for $19.99. :-)

d0pefish · 02-09-06, 08:41 PM

Here's something nifty you could try. You any good with scissors?

The cardboard iPod stand... maybe it'd hold an Axim, too!

Load one of these PDFs up in Adobe Reader on your PC and print it out.

http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/ipod_stand_shuffle.pdf
http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/ipod_stand2.pdf

Paste it onto some thick-ish card, cut out the template and fold it all out as shown in the instructions. Bingo, instant stand.

It's meant for iPods and I don't know how well the Axim will fit on it, especially landscape, but some trivial modification of the design should fix that, just to make it wider I guess. :)

Give it a try!

If not for your Axim, for your phone, or note pad, or... ? :)

original site: http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/arch...ipod_stand.htm

raylo · 02-09-06, 10:24 PM

OK, I didn't have a small enough picture... Here is one with the Axim in the stand with the Datel external battery and a homemade external battery pack (Radio Shack holder was about $1.75, plug was $2.50 or so, I already had plenty of AA NiMh batteries). So I have plenty of long lasting travel power.

Originally Posted by raylo

I found a nice product today at Best Buy. I went out in search of a Pelican Power Brick external battery. FYI, this is a backup battery for a Play Staion Portable and has the same voltage and connectors to fit the Axim. I didn't find it... but I found a similar product by Datel that came with a stand that fits the Axim and hoilds it in a perfect landscape position! Plus I got the battery. The stand actually holds the battery if you want and it comes with a short cable for this and a longer cable if you want the battery in your pocket or don't need it to be in the cradle. See picture below. The battery isn't installed but slips into a slot on the back. Pretty cool product for $19.99. :-)

zernam · 02-09-06, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by raylo

OK, I didn't have a small enough picture... Here is one with the Axim in the stand with the Datel external battery and a homemade external battery pack (Radio Shack holder was about $1.75, plug was $2.50 or so, I already had plenty of AA NiMh batteries). So I have plenty of long lasting travel power.

Can you note the voltage and power on that Datel pack? I searched around and seems like the one I can find for ~$20 is a 3.6v model. The 5v model was much more.

Tahoe Trekker · 02-10-06, 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by raylo

OK, I didn't have a small enough picture... Here is one with the Axim in the stand with the Datel external battery and a homemade external battery pack (Radio Shack holder was about $1.75, plug was $2.50 or so, I already had plenty of AA NiMh batteries). So I have plenty of long lasting travel power.

And to think I was going to suggest a coat hanger!

raylo · 02-10-06, 07:50 AM

The Datel is a LiOn battery. Therefore the voltage of a single cell will nominally be about 3.6v (the provided spec sheet says 3.7V). But that is just the nominal voltage. These things actually operate at 5v. The battery case ports are actually labeled as 5v in and 5v out. Google up a discussion of battery technonogies to see more on this.

A single cell LiOn will actually operate at around 5v. There is no way to change the nominal voltage or operating voltage. That is a charcteristic of the specific battery technology (Lion, NiMh, NiCd, etc). They each have their own numbers.

The only way to provide different voltages is to put batteries in seriesin which case voltages are additive. The only way to increase capacity is to make a physically bigger (more stuff) single cell, -or- connect more than one cell in parallel.

What I a saying is that this battery and any single cell LiOn battery (like the internal Axim battery) are the same and will work assuming you have the right connectors. The Datel works just fine.

Originally Posted by zernam

Can you note the voltage and power on that Datel pack? I searched around and seems like the one I can find for ~$20 is a 3.6v model. The 5v model was much more.

Tankman · 02-10-06, 07:54 AM

I too have given some thought to a swivel Ax holder.

The Seidio auto vent mount does swivel, adjustable.

I wonder if this could somehow be converted and, if it would hold the Ax securely?

Components used in the Seidio mount can be purchased piece meal.
Food for thought.

Tankman · 02-10-06, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by raylo

OK, I didn't have a small enough picture... Here is one with the Axim in the stand with the Datel external battery and a homemade external battery pack (Radio Shack holder was about $1.75, plug was $2.50 or so, I already had plenty of AA NiMh batteries). So I have plenty of long lasting travel power.

Nice job Raylo! And very inexpensive! Good show! :approve:

raylo · 02-10-06, 08:02 AM

Oh, the other thing about using an external battery is that power will only flow from the battery to the device (light on)when the internal battery voltage is lower than the external battery. With the Datel (and other Lion) that would depend on the comparitive charge state of each battery since they are both the same types.

But the 4 x NiMh in series (nominal 4.8v, operates at at around 5.8v) will power the Axim (and charge the internal battery at a rate proportional to the voltage differences) until they are discharged. In fact the 5.8v of a freshly charged set of NiMhs might be pushing the upper limits of acceptable input voltages for the Dell circuitry. So far I've had no problems. :-)