Mk Iii Pineapple And 9 Volt Batteries (build Howto)

[pngwen]

First off, I've been enjoying my mark III pineapple. I had drooled over my buddy's mark II for quite a while, and I was very happy to get my hands on the MK III.

Now, on to the good stuff. I put together a USB power cable so I wouldn't be reliant on the battery pack (which takes some wiggling to make work), and then I started thinking about the voltages that this device operates at. The AA battery pack gives 6V, USB is (of course) 5V, and the AC adapter is 12V. Given that there seems to be a wide range of voltages that the pineapple can run at, I thought I'd try out using a 9V battery (aka, transistor battery).

I'm happy to report that this works quite well. I haven't run a battery down all the way yet, but I was able to run my pineapple for about 1.5 hours on a 9V. 9V is well within the range of 5-12V, so it really isn't surprising that it works. All you need to do this is a couple of easily obtainable parts (radio shack even sells them). So here's the build:

PartList:

1.) N-Size Coaxial Power Adapter (radio shack sells these in 2 packs)

2.) 9V battery clip with leads

Simply solder the red wire to the inner pin of the power adapter, the black to the outer pin, and then Bingo! You can use a 9V battery to power the pineapple.

These batteries are lighter and smaller than the AA battery pack, so they are more convenient. I'm not sure of the battery life, I'll do some testing with it tomorrow to find out, and I'll update you. Given that the capacity of the 9V is the same as the AA's, it should be comparable to the AA battery pack. Another advantage is that the radio shack adapters are better than the one on the battery pack that I received with the pineapple. It fits the router better!

Now, as a bonus, the power adapters are in a 2 pack. So, you can use the other one to make a USB adapter. That way you have even more power options. (I can see myself using the USB power more than the 9V when I work with my laptop. The 9V is so I can leave the pineapple running hidden in a drop ceiling or somesuch place). I know this has been posted elsewhere, but I'll add this to my post for convenience:

USB Power Supply

1. N-Size Coaxial Power Adapter

2. USB cable.

The build is the same. Solder the red wire to the inner pin, black to the outer. (Assuming standard cable lead colors. If not, the pinouts of a USB A connector (looking end on) are:

| +5V D- D+ Gnd |

So the "Red" wire is the one on the far left, and the "black" wire is the one on the far right. D- and D+ are the Data lines, btw. These are fun to mess with if you have a few microcontrollers lying around, but I digress.

So there you have, a couple of power builds for the Mark III, with specific power adapter size info. I hope this is useful to you, and I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere. I couldn't find it though. Let me know if you have any questions/comments about it.

Enjoy!

[hfam]

WIN!!

I was just about to go hunting around for the instructions to build the usb power cable!!

Thanks for all the great info, very helpful!!

[httpCRASH]

Why not just use something like theese, im using Them, and they fit and work perfect

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250871597135

Edited December 3, 2011 by httpCRASH

[pngwen]

I did some testing with a fresh 9V battery and I was able to run my pineapple for about 3.25 hours. That was with relatively little activity though. I'm sure the time goes down if there are a lot of connections.

As for the ready built one someone linked to, it looks exactly like what my finished battery adapter looks like. The only advantage I can see to building one is that you may already have the parts on hand, and if not they are available at a brick and mortar store. The hand built ones are a little cheaper too, but only by pennies, not enough for that to matter.

[itsm0ld]

I was very interested in your post so I started testing batteries and tried a 9v and it didnt work well at all....what type of 9v did you use?

Here is a link to my post: Battery run times

[DLSS]

sorry for bumping an old thread but how well do these run?

would this higher voltage also work for the fon?

some of you talk about leaving it somewhere, how would you supply it of a internet connection?

and last but not least to where would you log the data?

[Sebkinne]

sorry for bumping an old thread but how well do these run?

would this higher voltage also work for the fon?

some of you talk about leaving it somewhere, how would you supply it of a internet connection?

and last but not least to where would you log the data?

Voltage wise, I believe so, but I am not certain.

In regards to leaving it somewhere, the pineapple can still phish or collect data without an internet connection. The only issue is that any clients may get suspicious that they have no connection.

The data can be logged directly in the pineapple. It depends on what exactly you want to log, but just storing a few logs shouldn't be a problem.

Best,

Sebkinne