Help me understand how fuel rods work

[DLgal]

They may indeed do so, but at a cost to the long term health of your phones battery and they are usually bulkier and heavier than the fuel rod, plus once they run out of charge, you have no way to recharge them while in the parks.

Most people don't keep phones long enough to worry about the long term effects of quick charging the battery. Besides, many phones come with quick charge enabled adapters out of the box. My 3 year old Galaxy S7 did, and I have only used QC enabled portable chargers and after 3 years, my battery is no worse than expected.

 

[cmwade77]

Most people don't keep phones long enough to worry about the long term effects of quick charging the battery. Besides, many phones come with quick charge enabled adapters out of the box. My 3 year old Galaxy S7 did, and I have only used QC enabled portable chargers and after 3 years, my battery is no worse than expected.

With the prices on the most recent phones, I see that trend changing.

 

[2 Pinks]

I had no idea these things existed! We will certainly look into getting one when we go in September. Probably just need one for the three phones we will have with us (5 people). Super handy as the only portable chargers we have are huge and heavy.

 

[GenGen22]

My daughter has a fuel rod and we love it. She has a iPhone and I have an android phone. It makes it convenient for both of us to stay charged while at the parks. We have used it at WDW also. I highly recommend them as they are so convenient and compant to fit in any pocket, purse or back pack.

 

[cruisnfamily]

I've been researching this for our upcoming trip and the fuel rods website does not list the theme park locations at all. Although people are saying the app does, I have not downloaded the app, but I found this list on another website. Seems like plenty of locations and at $25 a great idea to prepurchase one of these!

 

[dina444444]

View attachment 398892
I've been researching this for our upcoming trip and the fuel rods website does not list the theme park locations at all. Although people are saying the app does, I have not downloaded the app, but I found this list on another website. Seems like plenty of locations and at $25 a great idea to prepurchase one of these!

Those locations are correct and they are listed in the Disneyland app. Fuel rod per their agreement with Disney is not allowed to list it on their site. They are $30 at the park unless you have a code. They are cheaper if you find them in an airport.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

I have an iPhone 8 plus and I did not need the portable charger we brought with us on our March trip. This was even using MaxPass a lot - but I always kept my phone on "low power mode" and it really lasted well. We usually take a few hour break in the afternoons and I'd give it a little boost during that time but even without doing that I think I'd of been fine. We still brought the charger with us but my kids also have phones so they could have always helped me out had mine died.

Excellent point! A lot of apps will check for emails/newsfeed/data every few seconds, even when closed, and this will drain the battery. Turning on the battery saver option will stop the background tasks and conserve power. For example, your email app will background communicate for new messages every minute when the app is closed. With the battery saver option, the email app will stay dormant until you open the app to check for messages. You can exclude apps from the battery saver function, like texting.

FWIW, I've never run out of battery during an entire day using MaxPass and taking pictures.

 

[gdrj]

Fuel rod. A long, slender, zirconium metal tube containing pellets of fissionable material, which provide fuel for nuclear reactors. Fuel rods are assembled into bundles called fuel assemblies, which are loaded individually into the reactor core.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I used several of them to change both my google pixel phone and my android smartwatch. One day I even went through three of them. Being from Canada and reling on the in park WiFi network for the app with the constant reconnecting and disconnecting as well as all the background apps I keep running they worked great. Depending on how drained my phone was depended on how long I had to use one for.

 

[WonkaKid]

I had no idea these things existed! We will certainly look into getting one when we go in September. Probably just need one for the three phones we will have with us (5 people). Super handy as the only portable chargers we have are huge and heavy.

I bought my own charger (around $18 versus $30 for a Fuel Rod) that’s about the same size and shape as the FRs. It‘s only good to recharge a drained phone once before it has to be recharged itself. But it might be handy to have that since I’m not sure once you leave SoCal if you’ll be able to find a place where you can swap the Fuel Rods. Yes, the FRs are handy because you can use two or three a day while at DL if you need to. But it may become useless once you leave. At least when you buy your own, you can use it once you’re home.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I bought my own charger (around $18 versus $30 for a Fuel Rod) that’s about the same size and shape as the FRs. It‘s only good to recharge a drained phone once before it has to be recharged itself. But it might be handy to have that since I’m not sure once you leave SoCal if you’ll be able to find a place where you can swap the Fuel Rods. Yes, the FRs are handy because you can use two or three a day while at DL if you need to. But it may become useless once you leave. At least when you buy your own, you can use it once you’re home.

You can recharge them yourself or you can swap them at other locations that they have listed on their website. Also they can be swapped at Walt Disney world as well.

 

[WonkaKid]

You can recharge them yourself.

Gotcha. I didn’t know you could recharge them yourself.

 

[EmJ]

I bought my own charger (around $18 versus $30 for a Fuel Rod) that’s about the same size and shape as the FRs. It‘s only good to recharge a drained phone once before it has to be recharged itself. But it might be handy to have that since I’m not sure once you leave SoCal if you’ll be able to find a place where you can swap the Fuel Rods. Yes, the FRs are handy because you can use two or three a day while at DL if you need to. But it may become useless once you leave. At least when you buy your own, you can use it once you’re home.

What kind did you buy?

 

[dina444444]

You can recharge them yourself or you can swap them at other locations that they have listed on their website. Also they can be swapped at Walt Disney world as well.

They can. My fuel rod is solely for use at the parks, I have a larger external for when I’m not in the parks. The fuel rod is lighter than most externals and I prefer to have as little weight in my bag as possible.

 

[WonkaKid]

What kind did you buy?

I don't recall exactly but it's about the same size and shape of the Fuel Rods. Here's one that actually may a little smaller. Only $13, too!
Here's another that may be suitable. I'm not familiar with this one however I've bought from these folks many times. It's nice and thin and only $9.95 delivered!

As an aside, a friend and I often joke while at DL that in five years or so we'll all look back and laugh at how often we had to recharge our phones. I wouldn't be surprised if phone batteries in the near future will go a whole week before a recharge is needed. And... cue all of the engineers to lose their s*&t and tell me how that won't be possible. Much like many scientists insisted that going to the moon would also be impossible. As I've read, Dr. Campbell, at the U. of W. Ontario, proved “scientifically” in 1941 that the required initial launch weight of a chemical rocket able to take a man to the moon and back would be 300,000,000 times higher than what was actually required, as demonstrated less than 30 years later by the Apollo Program.

 

[cruisnfamily]

I'm wondering if anyone has used fuel rods in the park lately?

Specifically I recall reading an article that there will be a charge to exchange them for a new charged rod but I dont' remember the details of whether or not that applied to Disney Land kiosks or when the exchange charge might go into effect.

So I was wondering if it is still free to exchange the rods for new fully charged rods.

2nd question, is it a better idea to buy one ahead of time and bring it with you or to just buy it there at one of the kiosks.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide on this subject

 

[bakerworld]

DH received a fuel rod with the purchase of a pair of sunglasses at DS. I used the fuel rod with my Samsung and the phone went dead. I had to leave it on it's charger for a day before it came back. Do the rods need to be manufacturer or phone specific? Do you think I accidentally sucked the cell dry - maybe I plugged in the wrong end ... somehow?

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I'm wondering if anyone has used fuel rods in the park lately?

Specifically I recall reading an article that there will be a charge to exchange them for a new charged rod but I dont' remember the details of whether or not that applied to Disney Land kiosks or when the exchange charge might go into effect.

So I was wondering if it is still free to exchange the rods for new fully charged rods.

2nd question, is it a better idea to buy one ahead of time and bring it with you or to just buy it there at one of the kiosks.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide on this subject

Some people are speculating that the change in the signs is just so that people aren't confused if they exchange a fuel rod elsewhere ther is a charge for it. Fuel Rod won't relly discuss openly on twitter or facebook about anything to do with Disneyland or WDW all they say is it's up to individual destinations if they want to charge for them, to me that sounds like that Disney is paying for the exchange cost of them so that their guest don't need to.

 

[msteddom]

Fuel Rods are still free to exchange in the parks.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

DH received a fuel rod with the purchase of a pair of sunglasses at DS. I used the fuel rod with my Samsung and the phone went dead. I had to leave it on it's charger for a day before it came back. Do the rods need to be manufacturer or phone specific? Do you think I accidentally sucked the cell dry - maybe I plugged in the wrong end ... somehow?

Fuel Rods are a specific brand of portable charger it's like a small battery that you get from a kiosk and they come fully charged. It sounds like that the charger that you received with the sunglasses may not have been fully charged and that the phone I question may have gotten very low in charge and shut off, I'm not sure why it would have taken a day to recharge though as most smartphones now when plugged in can charge in a few hours when the battery is very low.