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Comment by pooper | Hacker News Reader

One problem is power draw. I figured out I can use an old phone with a removable battery without the battery but I still need a battery to power it up. However,if I do certain things that I presume need a burst of energy (wrong term?) that is enough to power cycle the phone. At least that's my guess because flash doesn't work.

Also do not use an old phone with a battery with screen turned on, capturing photos on repeat. The battery WILL swell up. It may take a few months but it will happen. Don't risk it.

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You could connect power to the battery connector, like I did recently to a Nook: https://github.com/jonatron/trook/

I simply have a laptop (65W) USB C connected to the phone. I wasn't able to turn it on a month or so ago but tried it again after your reply and yes it still works. I use open camera to take a picture every so often (30s is one option). The phone is old and has a cracked display but the back is user removable so it is really nice. I attach the USB C cable, connect the (now very swollen) battery in, power on the phone, and remove the battery once the phone boots. As long as I don't do anything insane like try to use the flash, it works.

I appreciate the laugh at

> I tried acetone, because I had a bottle next to the alcohol, which went well.

Haha

can you please expand on this part though?

> Unfortunately, the micro-USB connector charges the battery, it doesn't power the device. This can be fixed by connecting a random 5V power supply to the battery connector instead.

Do I need a soldering iron for this? Thanks in advance.

Edit: do you know how we could get open camera or any camera app on Android to take pictures with the screen turned off? It really doesn't need the screen on all the time.

My idea was to simply have the phone screen off, one always running app tapping into the RTSP stream on WiFi then offload it every few minutes. Could have a smart power supply hooked up to drain the battery to low digits every now & then. Smart batteries with programmable functions & voltages would have been a boon for so many legacy electronics

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