Fuel rods-- what's the capacity (mAH)

[WEDWDW]

Curious...when you turn one in, do you put it in the machine to charge, or just drop it into a hole. Also, had anyone ever gone to the kiosk and it was out of charged units? I would think someone from fuel rod would have to be swapping them out all the time, yet I have never seen anyone.

Drop it in the "slot".

I have seen them bringing a whole "tray" of charged units to put in a Kiosk.

Never seen a Kiosk run out.

 

[Tomh]

Are you allowed to switch them out as much as you need throughout the day? There are 6 of us, but I'm hoping I really don't need to buy 6 of them.

You can swap as often as you want. We used ours to power phones for a family of 5 last summer, and it worked wonderfully. There were a number of days when we must have swapped it out 4 or 5 times during the course of the day.

As battery capacities continue to increase, it will be interesting if the devices that take advantage of the fuel rod's appeal will start to lose it's value (marketing, real, performance or otherwise). In other words, if my personal battery powered device can last longer, I see the usage of fuel rod's diminishing.

As far as rated capacity, it does not assure that the battery you swap out has the rated capacity; I would argue it probably has less, but not sure to what degree.

I think for the most part, people are putting too much stock in the chargers rated capacity. You can swap it out literally when ever you want to. Keeping that in mind, it's capacity is nearly limitless, in that you can grab one with a fresh charge on it many times a day, so even if each battery only has a 1000 mAh capacity (and I don't believe this to be accurate), after 5 swaps, you have consumed 6000 mAh.

NOTE about capacity. Last summer, I used a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in the parks. The battery in the Note 4 has a capacity of 3220 mAh. I could recharge my phone to 100% from about 34% or so. If I was below that, I had to swap out the fuel rod, and use part of a second one. Assuming that at 34%, my phone had something like 1500 mAh of capacity, which would mean that the Fuel Rod was supplying 1700 or so mAh of power. Batteries of the size that are used in the Fuel Rod are typically rated somewhere between 2500 mAh and 3350 mAh.

I'm not talking about Disney, i'm talking about when i'm not at WDW. The Fuel Rod loses its usefulness when there is no convenient way to swap it out. The closest Fuel Rod location to my home is a two hour drive away, in a neighboring state.

I agree for the most part. It is still a functional charger, and I have used it outside of Disney, but the real core of what you are buying is that ability to swap it out on the go at the parks. However, it does truly shine there.

Silly question. Do the Fuel Rods ‘run hot’ when charging your device? Recently bought an Anker oversized lipstick shaped charger and used it in the parks last week. Great capacity, but boy was it hot in my pocket. Borderline uncomfortable.

Don’t have a ton of experience with portable chargers, so not sure of the norm.

Thanks!

Yes, they run hot. Any portable charger will run hot when in use. They get hot enough that I wouldn't suggest dropping it into your bag, or pocket when you are using it to charge your phone.

Oh. Since they have little usefulness anywhere but Disney I've never looked. Anywhere else I carry a purse so I carry my larger, more useful, yet heavier charger. Fuel Rod is for use at Disney only, so I only care where those exchange units are.


No, it has never gotten hot. It's really not powerful enough to. Capacity is often where the heat comes from, in my experience at least. But even our two much larger devices don't run really hot. But I bet they are also better insulated as they are not lipstick sized either.

Yours has never gotten hot? Do you drop it into your bag while you are charging your phone with it? If you do, you shouldn't. Carry it around while it is charging your phone. I would be willing to bet that you will soon discover it does indeed get hot, enough so that I would describe it as quite hot, perhaps bordering on very hot, while it is in use. As a matter of fact, the way we know when the battery has discharged, and needs to be swapped, is by it's temperature. When it starts to cool down, we know it has lost it's charge and needs to be swapped out.

Just to dispel a myth here, capacity has nothing to do with the battery getting hot. It gets hot because of it's rate of discharge. If the battery were charging your phone at a very slow rate, say quarter of an amp, there would be little to no heat generated. However, the fuel rods charge at a 1 amp rate, and internal battery is putting out a bit more than that. At that rate, the battery will get hot, it is just how they work, the same way the battery in your phone gets hot when you run the screen for a while and it is discharging fast.

Curious...when you turn one in, do you put it in the machine to charge, or just drop it into a hole. Also, had anyone ever gone to the kiosk and it was out of charged units? I would think someone from fuel rod would have to be swapping them out all the time, yet I have never seen anyone.

It just gets dropped into a slot. The charging is something that is done behind the scenes by cast members. I have never actually seen anyone loading one of the machines either, but I have always gotten a freshly charged Fuel Rod when I drop my dead one in, so they are getting the job done somehow

 

[AngiTN]

Yours has never gotten hot? Do you drop it into your bag while you are charging your phone with it? If you do, you shouldn't. Carry it around while it is charging your phone. I would be willing to bet that you will soon discover it does indeed get hot, enough so that I would describe it as quite hot, perhaps bordering on very hot, while it is in use. As a matter of fact, the way we know when the battery has discharged, and needs to be swapped, is by it's temperature. When it starts to cool down, we know it has lost it's charge and needs to be swapped out.

No, I don't even carry a bag, so no, I don't drop it in a bag. I carry it around
Doesn't get hot

 

[WEDWDW]

The charging is something that is done behind the scenes by cast members.

The Attendant we saw loading a charged "tray" into a Kiosk appeared to be a 3rd Party Vendor.

 

[thegales]

They do come around during the day to reload. I had an issue with one of the kiosks where it took my used Fuel Rod, but did not give me a new one. I called the toll free number on the machine. She asked me the location code, and then said she saw where there was a malfunction with that machine. She reset the machine, and after less than 5 minutes, out popped a new Fuel Rod. I was standing in front of the machine during my phone call, so no one else would use it while I was on the phone with them. After I hung up and moved away slightly, the man came to restock the machine. I laughed and said his timing was ironic. As it turned out, he did not know I was on the phone with them, but he did not want to 'disturb' a guest even if they happened to be blocking the machine.

There have been times where the 'new' Fuel Rod did not seem to charge my devices as well as others. My guess is that they all lose their power over time with all the charges. Once they get to a certain point, I am sure they no longer put them in service. But it did not really have an impact on us, as we exchanged it at the next Fuel Rod station we came to.

 

[subtchr]

I'm not talking about Disney, i'm talking about when i'm not at WDW. The Fuel Rod loses its usefulness when there is no convenient way to swap it out. The closest Fuel Rod location to my home is a two hour drive away, in a neighboring state.

Oh. Since they have little usefulness anywhere but Disney I've never looked. Anywhere else I carry a purse so I carry my larger, more useful, yet heavier charger. Fuel Rod is for use at Disney only, so I only care where those exchange units are.

Exactly the same for me. Never use a Fuel Rod anytime but at Disney World, but I am there enough for work and fun that it was a very smart purchase, for me.

 

[Tomh]

No, I don't even carry a bag, so no, I don't drop it in a bag. I carry it around
Doesn't get hot

Well, all I can say there is that has not been my experience ever with any kind of battery pack charger. Not sure what the difference is, but just want to put it out there to the op that your experience has been far different than mine.

My fuel rod is charging my Note 8 right now. The phone started with a 70% charge, and the fuel rod was at 71 degrees. It has been about 15 minutes, the phone is now at 93% charge, and the fuel rod is at 110 degrees.

 

[yulilin3]

Fyi and unrelated to Disney, they also have fuel rod stations at Sea World, a pleasant surprise as i was streaming there the other day and needed one, I wish Universal would get on the fuel rod train I wouldn't need any other external charger

 

[Tomh]

In addition, they can be found in some airports. There is one at JFK. Sadly, that is 70 miles from me lol, but it is indeed there.

 

[Brocktoon]

FYI ... Disney's website has an interactive kiosk map:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/portable-phone-chargers/

Not sure how up to date it is. I haven't seen this map on the MDE app, but it would be nice option to add.

I don't think MCO airport has any Fuel Rod kiosks, but many other airports do so if flying down to WDW you could save a few bucks buying before your board your plane

 

[hertamaniac]

Just to dispel a myth here, capacity has nothing to do with the battery getting hot. It gets hot because of it's rate of discharge.

Actually, capacity is associated with heat given a rate of discharge and Ah (or mAh) extracted. If you limit the capacity and drive a discharge to a VCO that is near cell reversal, you will get heat rejection. This is why we operate within a safe SOC window.

Also, batteries get hot from an overcharge state. This is the reason TC or thermistors can be used to control the charging algorithms in addition to pressure cut-offs, etc.

 

[MainMom]

I purchased a fuel rod for $20 at our home airport before our flight to wdw. It happened that the kiosk was right by the hallway leading to our room at AKL and my DD exchanged ours pretty much every time she walked by the kiosk. I think we only drained it twice and that was when DD just basically left it plugged in through a meal and walking around. Ours did get hot at times. It was so convenient and well worth the $20.

 

[subtchr]

As battery capacities continue to increase, it will be interesting if the devices that take advantage of the fuel rod's appeal will start to lose it's value (marketing, real, performance or otherwise). In other words, if my personal battery powered device can last longer, I see the usage of fuel rod's diminishing.

As far as rated capacity, it does not assure that the battery you swap out has the rated capacity; I would argue it probably has less, but not sure to what degree.

There already are many, many chargers that "outperform" a Fuel Rod, and some of them are cheaper. But again, the performance of a single Fuel Rod is not its appeal, and never was. It is the ability to swap, unlimited times, for no extra fee. No other brand of portable charger offers that. So why would its use ever diminish, as long as that capability continues to be offered??

FYI ... Disney's website has an interactive kiosk map:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/portable-phone-chargers/

Not sure how up to date it is. I haven't seen this map on the MDE app, but it would be nice option to add.

I don't think MCO airport has any Fuel Rod kiosks, but many other airports do so if flying down to WDW you could save a few bucks buying before your board your plane

Yes, you can pull up the map of Fuel Rod kiosks on the MDE app. It's under Guest Services. Filter for "Portable Phone Charging Kiosks", and then "Find on Map".

And MCO reportedly has a kiosk in Terminal B. I know it does not in A, because I fly Southwest into MCO.

 

[hertamaniac]

So why would its use ever diminish, as long as that capability continues to be offered??

The question is why would I even need a fuel rod, if the capacity of my internal battery lasts for the duration of the event(s)?

 

[subtchr]

The question is why would I even need a fuel rod, if the capacity of my internal battery lasts for the duration of the event(s)?

Good point -- I thought you were referring to the capacity of external batteries. I suppose technology could eventually reach that level.

 

[hertamaniac]

Good point -- I thought you were referring to the capacity of external batteries. I suppose technology could eventually reach that level.

There are battery technologies that we've worked with that are pushing the energy envelope. The other side of this equation is with newer devices will they always tax the battery limits? It's a vicious cycle of give a designer more energy and they will create a design with more capability/apps/etc.

 

[Tomh]

Actually, capacity is associated with heat given a rate of discharge and Ah (or mAh) extracted. If you limit the capacity and drive a discharge to a VCO that is near cell reversal, you will get heat rejection. This is why we operate within a safe SOC window.

Also, batteries get hot from an overcharge state. This is the reason TC or thermistors can be used to control the charging algorithms in addition to pressure cut-offs, etc.

The discussion was about a battery (which is what Fuel Rods are) getting hot upon discharging. The "myth" was that a lower capacity battery wouldn't generate heat because of it's lower capacity.

You are indeed correct that there is some correlation between capacity and heat, in that a battery of lower capacity will get hotter than a battery of higher capacity, if both are discharged at the same rate.

What I don't understand is this: Since this actually supports my assertion that the lower capacity of the battery doesn't mean that it won't get hot (because it will actually get hotter), what was the point of quoting me to correct me? While I did simplify things, and didn't go into technical details, the point that I was making si very much valid.

 

[Tomh]

The question is why would I even need a fuel rod, if the capacity of my internal battery lasts for the duration of the event(s)?

And the answer is, because the two most popular smart phones right now are iPhones, and Samsung, and neither are capable of making it through a full day in the parks with moderate use without needing a charge. With many guest using those phones to check wait times, double check ADR's, select FP+, take photos and video, text with other members of their travel party, and update social media, battery power does not last nearly as long in the parks as it does at home.

 

[WEDWDW]

With many guest using those phones to check wait times, double check ADR's, select FP+, take photos and video, text with other members of their travel party, and update social media,

AND constantly check the Radar in the Summer for Lightning Storms!lol

 

[Tomh]

AND constantly check the Radar in the Summer for Lightning Storms!lol

You know, the honest truth, I almost never check Radar on my phone for storms. I just keep an eye on the clouds. When I see them starting to build upwards, and especially if I feel the breeze starting to pick up at the same time, then I think about looking for cover. The only time I am prone to checking Radar is if there is a forecast for something particularly wicked, such as a tornado warning or something. Otherwise, I just kind of roll with the punches, and take it as it comes.

However, you are absolutely right, many people rely on their phones to check weather frequently. Not everyone uses their phones the same way, but many people in the parks burn through battery power pretty quickly.