I just discovered this and it works fantastically on any old / unused android device you might have lying around, I was shocked at how easy it was, all the instructions are there, once you have it running all you need to do is set your router DNS settings to your pihole IP address and presto! Ads and trackers are gone!
Take the battery out if you can to avoid lithium fires.
Old batteries on constant charge… I worry about this kind of thing.
This is where fair phone and framework laptops shine. So easy to take the batteries out.
Not to take away from what you’re saying but old phones and laptops are very likely to have easily replaceable batteries as well.
I removed the battery but now I can’t get the fucker to turn on lol
Most mobile devices won’t work without batteries. The best way to work around this is to supply it with 4.2V (anything between 3V and 4.2V will do) over the battery connector.
I think I might have broken something, even when I clip the battery back in I get nothing 😟
This could be a long shot but if it’s a Samsung Galaxy Tab S, the battery connector solder joints kinda die after a while, which can either be fixed by reflowing them or by applying pressure (I have a tablet with that issue). You could try pressing on the battery connector and see if it works then.
I looked a little closer at the battery connectors and when pulling the battery out I must have yanked the little wires out of the clip just ever so slightly (I could see a little bit of them reflecting on one side) I carefully pushed them back in and avast! There is life again! Thank you kind stranger!
If you’re in the mood for tinkering, you might want to try this: https://www.instructables.com/Power-an-Android-Phone-Without-Battery/
I have an old Nexus running as a weather station. I just bought a WiFi controlled plug for the power supply so it switches on and off continuously
Can I ask what kind of setup you have there? In terms of software etc…
It’s just a screen that shows me the weather forecast tbh. It’s a paid app called whatweatherpro
Thanks for the tip. Got a tablet running HA and thus plugged in 24/7. Just ordered a smart plug to schedule the charging.
Home assistant runs on old tablets now? Or are you saying as a dashboard?
Sorry, yes as dashboard :)
I run pihole on a Raspberry Pi Zero with an Ethernet adapter. Runs great, runs off USB power of my router, no risk of battery explosion. Recommend that over a phone any day
I tried to set up something similar but it doesn’t block a damn thing and I can’t find whatever router setting I’m missing for the life of me…
You need to change the DNS settings in your router to the IP of the Pi-Hole if you want it to affect all devices on your network. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to change the DNS on each of your devices instead.
Yeah, when I change the dns on the router, I lose Internet completely. I am unwilling to change it on literally every device because that’s a huge pain in the ass.
Sounds like your Pi-Hole isn’t set up properly then… Your Pi-Hole itself needs internet connection.
yeah, I’m not sure what part of the instructions I missed, though I’m not terribly knowledgeable when it comes to network setup.
Amazing! I have an old ZeroW thats been sitting around. Any issues? Latency?
Nope can’t say I’ve ever noticed any issues with it. I’ve had it for a long time now. Kind of forgot they aren’t really new anymore lol. Maybe 7-8 years running? I update it every 6 months or whenever I remember and it still works great.
Good point, I’ll have to look into that
You might also be able to turn on Battery Idle Mode, although it’s not supported on every device.
Got it up and running now! Thanks mate
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Is there any modern day android phones that work without the battery. I feel like they’d probably run POST checks to make sure there’s a battery inside. Maybe fairphoness?
The FP3 requires a battery at least. Ironically the device will actually still turn on and be usable if you removed ALL the modules besides the display module 😅 and of course the mandatory battery