I didn't know where to put this so I figured it could go here. Move it where you like. I am soon buying an ultraportable laptop and am planning to take all of my gadgets with me. The thing is, I want to be super awesome and carry around a light battery pack too, because the UP Laptop sure can't power these things. My idea was to connect a bunch of 2700mAh 1.2V AA batteries and form a big pack: a 2700mAh 9.6V pack that I could use to power things. If you can answer any of these, please do.
1. I'm under the impression that you can feed a device almost any DC Voltage and it'll take it. Is this true or partially true?
2. Can I feed an AC converter (such as a wall charger) DC Power? This would be useful if I had to plug in things into the battery pack without a USB connector.
3. What kind of DC Voltages can a standard USB-powered device handle? As in, what is the USB standard?
4. Are there any pieces of equipment I need to make this thing work? A voltage regulator? A circuit board of some kind? Or just plain old metal contacts?
5. What kind of power do you think this pack should pump out. I don't have a good feel for voltages, but I think that a 2700mAh 9.6v could power an XBox or MicroATX safely for awhile?