Re: z50 battery oddity

["elijah r." <elijahr%gmail.com@localhost>]

I've heard that some of those old handheld PC (and laptop)  batteries
(I don't know any details about the z50 specifically) are just
rechargeable AA's in a plastic shell... I don't suggest you go
cracking it open to find out, but, it might be worth researching.
In that case you could just swap out for some new rechargeable AA's,
and maybe even get better battery life than the original.

-Elijah

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Khoa Tran <piper_the%hotmail.com@localhost> 
wrote:
>
>  For what it's worth, I've tried www.batteryrefill.com for my old Thinkpad 
> 570.
>
>  I am in Québec City, so if I throw the battery in a padded envelope, it'll 
> get to you in a day or two. I'll send you another e-mail from my IBMCA 
> address, and you can reply to that with a mailing address. You can buy me a 
> coffee the next time I'm in mtl to cover postage :P
>
>  I am curious though, because in my experience, old laptop batteries that 
> don't hold a charge still get up to their rated voltage with the mains 
> plugged in -- they just don't hold it for very long once you remove the power.
>
>
>  ~k
>
>
>  > From: mouse%Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA@localhost
>  > Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:32:02 -0400
>  > To: port-hpcmips%NetBSD.org@localhost
>  > Subject: Re: z50 battery oddity
>
>
> >
>  >>> [...z50...battery looks dead...]
>  >> What does the battery monitor software in Windows CE say? (I think
>  >> there's a graphical battery meter in RapidAccess, if I'm not
>  >> mistaken).
>  >
>  > You're not. I wasn't aware of that; I knew of only the "Power" item in
>  > the control panel and the battery calibration app under Start,
>  > Programs, WorkPad, Battery Calibration.
>  >
>  > The Rapid Access battery meter shows 0%. The Power control panel (also
>  > available by double-clicking the battery in Rapid Access) says External
>  > and Good. (I suspect External means it's running off mains power. The
>  > battery is dead enough I can't try running it off battery power.) The
>  > battery calibration app starts and is willing to start a calibration
>  > run, but I haven't let it finish. (I suspect it might not finish
>  > unattended; when I tried it, it kept popping up a modal alert box about
>  > the backup battery being "very low or missing" - which has been normal;
>  > I replaced the backup batteries and that popup went away for maybe all
>  > of a couple of weeks.) I've started another battery calibration run;
>  > I'll see what it does.
>  >
>  >> Failing that, I do have a couple of spare batteries lying around, in
>  >> addition to a spare AA battery holder. I could possibly lend you one
>  >> of these for testing purposes.
>  >
>  > Well, I've been considering ordering a new battery from a place I found
>  > that sells (or says they sell, at least) z50-compatible new batteries
>  > with longer run time than the originals. Perhaps I should just order
>  > one, though I rather hesitate to do that without being sure the fault
>  > is in the battery pack rather than the charging circuit in the z50.
>  > Maybe a loaner is a good idea - where are you geographically?
>  >
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-- 
Elijah Rutschman