in case somebody is interested :)
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Recycle-Android-Phones-for-BOINC-or-Folding//

Maybe I am missing something here. For a phone will removable batteries you could both remove the batteries and then set the Boinc app to run "without charging" and anytime, rather than batteries over 90%?

Tom

Nice setup, but not terribly practical for most folks...especially when you get into soldering.

Probably be easier to pick up some cheap batteries or maybe damaged phones that the battery still works. It doesn't have to hold a charge for any extended period of time. We just simply want BOINC to see there is a battery. A good charging hub will keep your devices powered. Shorter cables are better as when you start getting to multiple 5 and 6 foot cables, hubs have trouble supply enough current over the cables.

Maybe I am missing something here. For a phone will removable batteries you could both remove the batteries and then set the Boinc app to run "without charging" and anytime, rather than batteries over 90%?

Tom

In my experience it depends on the phone model; my first smartphone was a ZTE Zinger that would allow that, but my (more recent) LG LTE Tribute won't. The difference- the LG won't turn on "as is" without a battery in it. (The batteries in both are good, just how the MB handles installed vs. absent.)

---

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/

You'd think if you can keep a battery at a 100% while running BOINC, an Android device would power up with just a charger. Oddly perhaps, that's not always the case. It seems devices often a battery is needed. Maybe it acts like a capacitor while on AC.

But to be fair, mobile devices generally aren't intended to run off AC, just to be recharged. I had a ZTE Awe once. You could pull out the battery while on AC, and then it would complain, and in short order finally just turn off.

Updated with step 6 & 7 for a more... efficient/cheaper/easier solution