Looking to setup this hotspot I vehicle and I want it to automatically startup and shutdown with the car.
Best answer by jxs457
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Will the hotspot work without a battery? Does it start automatically when power is applied?
Hi irishboym4,
I tried this with my hotspot at home. No, it did not work. When the battery was removed, I could not get the hotspot to turn on despite receiving power via micro USB. When powered off, the red battery charging light comes on. But when you turn it on, all of the lights go off. So it appears the charging circuit is not capable of powering the unit.
Honestly, I was surprised. I had expected it to work as well. In the same way a laptop will work without its battery. But I haven't tried something similar with a phone, for example, with a removable battery (as all my phones are iPhones).
-Jonathan
Thank you! I know most phones behave like that too. Without a battery of some sort they will not function. I may have to either take the device apart and use an electronic switch to turn on the hotspot or make a fake battery.
Do you know about how long it takes to boot if the battery is dead flat?
Hey IrishBoym4,
I purchased this hotspot for use in my car as well. It does require the battery to boot up, but as long as it is plugged into an outlet in your car that gets power when the car is started, it boots up immediately. Of course, you will want to make sure the outlet in your car turns off power when the car is turned off so that you don't run down your car battery. The hotspot will then continue to work until the battery in the hotspot runs down.
Hi everyone!
I also just purchased a Alcatel AW40 WiFi Hotspot and wanted to use it in my car, I also didn't want it to charge and recharge every time. This would kill the battery very fast.
I found this conversation and my first thought was NO, this can't be true.. I continued Googeling and found another Netgear modem that could run on power but without battery, but there was a BUT, and this was the provided charger to the AP was not powerful enough to boot the AP, it needed some extra milliamps from the battery also. The solution was however very simple upgrade the changer from the provided with 2 Amps to one with 2,4 Amps. Suddenly it booted. This was immediately tested on my Alcatel AW40. BINGO it started up! So everyone that wants it to automatically boot when your car starts, just make sure your charger provides 2,4 Amps and it works!
I tried this with my hotspot at home. No, it did not work. When the battery was removed, I could not get the hotspot to turn on despite receiving power via micro USB. When powered off, the red battery charging light comes on. But when you turn it on, all of the lights go off. So it appears the charging circuit is not capable of powering the unit.
Honestly, I was surprised. I had expected it to work as well. In the same way a laptop will work without its battery. But I haven't tried something similar with a phone, for example, with a removable battery (as all my phones are iPhones).
Those looking for similar answers years later, I can confirm this is still true with the Alcatel Linkzone 2. Super disappointing. Like he said, I was hoping it would work the same way a laptop works without a battery when you have it plugged in. Sadly that is not the case. If you want a hotspot that doesn’t require a battery, you’re stuck paying hundreds of bucks for a Netgear Orbi or similar home device.
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