I've just returned from 2 weeks in Fiji where I was setting up a small
computer lab in a remote school. The hardware consists of eight
Acernote 370 machines (both PC and PCX types), connected to a 200Ah 12V
lead/acid battery, which is charged by a wind turbine and solar panels.
I'll have some photos available in a couple of days, if anyone is
interested.
The problem is that in between my packing these machines for shipment
(9 months ago) and actually seeing them again the CMOS batteries have
gone flat on 4 of them, and so I suspect the remaining 4 will fail
soon. This is a bit of a problem, because I set these machines up to
boot from the CD-ROM then load DOS drivers for a compact flash card in
the PCMCIA slot. They can currently get around this by using a boot
floppy disk, but since I was only able to find a single floppy disk
drive this obviously isn't a long-term solution...
Anyway, to get to the point: Does anyone know the type of CMOS battery
these machines use (I'm assuming it's a coin cell), and where I need to
disassemble the case to get at it? If you have an applicable service
manual that you're willing to e-mail me, I'd be very grateful.
(Needless to say, Adi Maopa Junior Secondary school in Vanua Balavu,
Fiji would be very grateful as well).
Thanks for your help.
BTH
>Hello everyone, I'm hoping for some useful advice:
>The problem is that in between my packing these machines for shipment
>(9 months ago) and actually seeing them again the CMOS batteries have
>gone flat on 4 of them, and so I suspect the remaining 4 will fail
>soon. This is a bit of a problem, because I set these machines up to
>boot from the CD-ROM then load DOS drivers for a compact flash card in
>the PCMCIA slot. They can currently get around this by using a boot
>floppy disk, but since I was only able to find a single floppy disk
>drive this obviously isn't a long-term solution...
>
>Anyway, to get to the point: Does anyone know the type of CMOS battery
>these machines use (I'm assuming it's a coin cell), and where I need to
>disassemble the case to get at it? If you have an applicable service
>manual that you're willing to e-mail me, I'd be very grateful.
>(Needless to say, Adi Maopa Junior Secondary school in Vanua Balavu,
>Fiji would be very grateful as well).
I have the .'pdf User Guide and Service Manual, but unfortunately my email would
choke (3.8MB file size).
The battery is listed as "Lithium 3V BR1225-T2V". A quick look throufgh the SG
didn't show a location.
Try Barry's suggestion. I could upload the manuals to my webspace if you can
fetch them from there. Your addie looks unspammed, will upload if you require
and send you the URL.
That would be marvellous, thank you. I thought it would be a coin
battery since the only other laptop I've dissected (an elderly Compaq
LTE Lite/20) used a CR2032 cell. I'll get the school teachers to give
the recharging a try.
My e-mail is bt_h...@bigpond.com
Here are the photos of what I was doing for the last couple of weeks,
in case you're interested:
http://one.fsphost.com/smallsolar/success/mar2006/index.htm
BTH
>budgie wrote:
>> Try Barry's suggestion. I could upload the manuals to my webspace if you can
>> fetch them from there. Your addie looks unspammed, will upload if you require
>> and send you the URL.
>
>That would be marvellous, thank you. I thought it would be a coin
>battery since the only other laptop I've dissected (an elderly Compaq
>LTE Lite/20) used a CR2032 cell. I'll get the school teachers to give
>the recharging a try.
Hope their soldering is up to par, because it is soldered in place.
Email on its way with URL.
Best of luck, and I loved that runway ;-)
Erm. Are you going to try and recharge the BR1225 battery? If so *DON'T*.
It is not a rechargeable battery, and will explode if you try. Someone
posted at the top of this thread that the majority of CMOS batteries are
rechargeable. That has not been true for many years now.
If you cannot find BR1225 batteries then the CR1225 can be used as an
alternative. Most laptops (as someone observed) use CR2032 batteries, but
the BR2032 would be a better choice (but try finding one).
Hint: For sending files too large to E-Mail, there is a service called
dropload at www.dropload.com. It allows easy transfer of any file(s) up
to 100 megabytes, and it's free (the sender does have to do a one-time
registration). There is a similar service with a 1 gigabyte capacity
limit, but I can't remember the name of it right now.
The only thing that was suggested was to leave the computer turned on
for 12 hours. In models that use rechargeable batteries for CMOS, that
will recharge them. In models that use non-rechargeable batteries, of
course, it won't do anything.
In this specific instance, the OP seems to have the worst possible
situation: a non-rechargeable soldered-in lithium battery.
Easy fellas, we're all friends here... now lets all gather together for
a big group hug! ;-)
I was just thinking about the 12-hour-recharge idea, and they've
already been switched on for that long during the 4 or 5 training
sessions that I ran for the teachers. As for the soldering danger,
I'll mention that they need to use heatsink clips while soldering the
battery in, no biggie.
The workshop is well equipped, I know because I equipped it! ;-)
BTH
>Hint: For sending files too large to E-Mail, there is a service called
>dropload at www.dropload.com. It allows easy transfer of any file(s) up
>to 100 megabytes, and it's free (the sender does have to do a one-time
>registration). There is a similar service with a 1 gigabyte capacity
>limit, but I can't remember the name of it right now.
My PWS has a 20M capacity and is normally empty, so I routinely use it for this
type of delivery, especially as often there are several people wanting the
particular file(s). The choking problem isn't at my sending end, but in the
past I have emailed >5M files to people with yeah_that's_no_problem mailboxes
only to get a rejection message back..
But I'll keep that one in mind.
Thanks, I realised that, being the Original Poster and all... ;-)
BTH
I have not seen a rechargeable CMOS battery in a Laptop manufactured in the
last 3 years. But to be fair, I have not dismantled every laptop
manufactured, just a sample.
The 370 series were P1-133 and P1-150. A lot older than three years, and well
inside the rechargeable timeframe.
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