Eking extra juice from iPod, laptop batteries, maybe

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Someday, the batteries that power your iPod or laptop will last for weeks. Until then, your options for keeping the juice flowing range from hacking them to whacking them.

Eventually, users of MP3 players, mobile phones or personal computers all face an ominous flashing light or dull "beep" -- the device's warning that it has sucked all but the last spark from its portable power source. Brace yourself, this "low battery" alert says, the end is near.

At the heart of the $55 billion global battery market is the chemical conundrum of power supply. Engineers have shrunk and souped up gadgets so that it's possible to watch whole movies on paperback book-sized devices, but portable power technology has not kept up.

"You want to be able to watch that movie on your iPhone that you have downloaded from iTunes. But unfortunately your battery only lasts 45 minutes," said Ross Dueber, a battery industry veteran and chief executive of ZPower.

"We want more content delivered to us on the go. The service providers are willing to provide that, the bandwidth is there, but the handheld device is somewhat limited unless you are willing to carry larger batteries."

Consumers looking to squeeze more from their pocket power source are often forced to dig up clues on how best to care for -- and manipulate -- their batteries.

For example, there's the heavy-handed school of problem solving. On metacafe (tinyurl.com/yq9pqw), a video shows blogger 'emorfis' removing AA batteries from a game controller and fixing them -- with force.

"Use a hard tool such as a hammer ... and pound the battery casing," the video's subtitles say. "Keep pounding while turning the batteries, to make it more effective."

Whether battering the batteries improves their strength is unclear, and even if it does, there's no proof the brutish solution is lasting.

TO SAVE BATTERY, TURN PHONE OFF

The Web is full of examples of consumers taking matters into their own hands.

A few suggestions that work:

-- turning off your mobile phone when you are out of range (so the phone does not continuously search for a signal)

-- disabling unused special options on your cell phone, like the bluetooth headset feature

-- hitting the 'pause' button on an iPod when not actively listening to it (other such tips at ehow.com)

The technically intrepid can surf over to videoblogger Kipkay's site (tinyurl.com/26ywwe) as he walks through "hacks" such as cracking open a rechargeable laptop battery and replacing the smaller batteries within.

Big technology companies are also searching for ways to make devices use power sources more efficiently. As it stands, the battery in your laptop at best holds a charge for a few hours, after which its lithium ion batteries thirst for recharging.

"We have kind of hit a wall on the lithium polymer, lithium ion chemistries," Joseph Taylor, chief operating officer of Panasonic Corp of North America, told Reuters earlier this year. "We have to find a way to advance it. The chemistry is what it is, so we have to find better ways to manage the power."

Like Goldilocks, manufacturers recommend going neither too hot nor too cold.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O), the maker of iPods, warns customers that a sunny day may be nice, but not if you leave your laptop in the car.

"With a little bit of care, you can maximize the battery life," an Apple Web site instructs. "Most importantly, use your Apple notebook in its comfort zone for temperature ... don't leave it locked in a hot trunk during the summer."

On the other hand, says Duracell: "Do not refrigerate Duracell Batteries. This will not make them last longer."

The search for better battery life will continue until a chemical breakthrough is made, says Dueber of Zpower, which later this year will introduce silver-zinc batteries for the mobile electronics industry, aiming to make rechargeable battery technology safer and with 40 percent more capacity.

Do not expect to hear any time soon about the likes of dilithium crystals, which fueled interstellar travel on the hit TV franchise "Star Trek."

"God only gave us so much energy in a lithium atom to give up. People have been frustrated about batteries for decades. Unless they want to carry a long cord, the key challenge is to work creatively with what Mother Nature has given us," said Dueber.

(Editing by Gary Hill)