Cell Phone Mod w/Battery Backup (Pictures and Links)

Omnia Vanitas

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
34
Location
Duluth, MN
So, this is my first mod with anything. This was inspired by my discovery of the app called Tect O Trak and a post on the forums here a while back using a motorcycle handlebar cell phone mount on a detector.

Tect O Trak is a GPS tracker that allows you to keep track of where you hunted and found your finds. You can even take pictures of your finds and it tags the GPS location, so cool!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trib.app.tectotrak&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tect-o-trak/id1175005465?mt=8

So, GPS uses a lot of juice. And It's also a pain in the butt to have my cell in my pocket while hunting and to pull it out just to take a picture or chronicle trash (I'm trying to get very specific when hunting areas, to look for trends). So... I made this:

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Here's what I used:

- Battery:
https://www.amazon.com/AIRGINE-Portable-Capacity-Charging-Powerbank/dp/B071CJS2DV

- Cell Phone Mount:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y1X3JD3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

- Coat Hook (walked in and found this):
https://www.walmart.com/ip/COATHOOK-HOOP-BRZ/36613087

- Zip Ties

- Electrical Tape

-Hot Glue (gorilla glue sticks)

On paper, this battery can charge my phone almost six times. It may be a little excessive. I'm going to see how many hours I can hunt before the battery dies, I may get a smaller one.

So, I basically covered all the ports that I didn't need with painter's tape, then used hot glue to cover the ports, seams and to glue the cable in place (forgot to take a hot glue picture).

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The phone mount comes with three foam pieces to use in the mount to account for different phone thicknesses. I only needed two for the mount, so I cut up the other one and put it on top of the battery so that when I tied it down, there wouldn't be metal-on-metal and the battery would stay in place better.

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I then used hot glue to attach the coat hook. The reason I'm using a coat hook is because the battery touches the ground when I rest the MD on the ground, so I needed something to keep it off the ground (yes, it's a little off center and YES, that really bothers me).

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Next I zip tied it down. Make sure you cinch them down tight using a needlenose!

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All that was left to do was trim the ties and wrap it in electrical tape. Wrapping it in tape makes it looks nicer but also keeps the battery from swiveling around.

What's really cool about this and the app is all I need to do now is swivel the mount and take a picture of my finds. No need to take the phone off at all! I did have to snip one of the retaining arms off to free up the camera, but the phone still sits snugly.

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View from above:
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View from below:
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In the end I can definitely feel the weight increase, but nowhere near excessive. Naturally most of the weight comes from the battery, though it's no heavy at all. My arm might be a little sore after the first few hunts, but that's the worst of it I would imagine.

I hope this inspires some ideas for your own mods! I would really encourage you guys to check out that app (free on Android, but not Apple... but still worth it!).

-Ted
 
That’s pretty cool nice job. I gotta say though maybe I’m crazy but when I MD I always put my cell phone in my back pocket and make sure no apps are running. When I’m trying to get the highest sensitivity possible I try and eliminate all emi. Like I said maybe I’m crazy though.
 
Thanks for the positive responses!

That’s pretty cool nice job. I gotta say though maybe I’m crazy but when I MD I always put my cell phone in my back pocket and make sure no apps are running. When I’m trying to get the highest sensitivity possible I try and eliminate all emi. Like I said maybe I’m crazy though.

Good point! We'll see what happens in the field. Though, tested it out my backdoor and it seems to be okay, no chatter.

I think too that if it were an issue, one could put the phone in airplane mode and only turn on GPS (which is passive on the device). Then the phone wouldn't be transmitting anything (but you wouldn't get any calls either, but that might not be the worst thing in the world).
 
Looks like a really neat mod. I've been thinking of installing Tect O Trak but haven't pulled the trigger on it. Please tell us how you like it.
 
Been itching to get out but too swampy. I will post an update on the rig and app and probably add more pics of it in action.
 
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