Solving Palm's poor battery performance problem
Michael
poor old Zire71.
The device it terrific, especially watching movies, but battery life is just
catastrophic. I read sometimes that people are saying that T3 battery
performance is bad, but I didn't know it is THAT bad!. I work 2 times less
then Zire71 with it's original battery (as far as I can remember it) and 5-6
times less than my Zire71 works now from it's "new" battery,
[URL=http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60336]Here[/URL].
This is completely unacceptable for me. I can't even watch 2 full movies
from full charge.
This problem alone spoils all other advantages of T3 over Z71. I looked at
the famous "Increase your battery life up to 40%" thread. This could be a
good solution, but not good enough for me. Even If I could fit, say, 1500mah
battery inside - it would be still not enough. I want my 20-25 hours back
!!! (with 100% brightness) that I had with my Z71. [34 hour max at low
brightness reading books] So I decided to take action ?
In fact T3 is very thin and small, so I decided not to install large battery
inside so it will look similar to my Zire71. Well, at least yet. But I'm
afraid my T3 will look soon not batter than 71. It is always the same way,
when I get smth new, i say to myself : "This device is new, so please don't
make it ugly". But finally , everything looks like my Z71 now (my cell
phone, laptop,..)
But I decided that my T3 should stay at least some week or two in it's
original state :-)
So the best solution I could find - is to make a charger inside the cradle,
and make cradle detachable. So that I can take a cradle with me and use it
when needed. I did this procedure twice in the past, one for PalmVX and
second for Z71, see
[URL=http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?s=&thread
id=63657&highlight=charger+cradle]Here[/URL]. But this time it is a lot
better solution. First, the battery is inside the cradle itself. Second , I
don't need any additional hi-voltage adaptor to charge it. I just use the 5v
adaptor that came with T3. Third, the cradle charge is absolutely automatic,
I can leave it being charge as long as I want. I will just show couple of
pics without to much technical details. If anybody needs them - tell me.
OK, so this is how T3's (or any other ) cradle looks inside:
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_1.jpg[/img]
It's pretty empty, It just has connectors and wires, nothing more. As a
auxiliary battery I took a 4 large Li-ion rechargeable cells (much larger
than AA) 3.7v 1350mah each. These cells are taken from dead laptop. So I
didn't have any other use of them. But you can also fit there standard AA
batteries also (you would need 6 of them )
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_3.jpg[/img]
You'll see that I didn't manage to fit all 4 cells inside completely, but it
doesn't disturb me too much. If I wanted I could place only 2 of them , 2
such cells would be enough (2*1350=2700mah total). But , you know,.. We
always want more...
So I removed any inner plastic elements inside the cradle to make space for
the batteries:
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_2.jpg[/img]
Than I put them inside:
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_4.jpg[/img]
This is how looks all the scheme already assembled: It includes, palm
universal connector, 4 cells, charging circuit (that charges these 4
batteries), 3-position switch, and Lm317 stabilizer scheme, which produces
precisely 5v from aux. battery for palm when not plugged to wall.
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_5.jpg[/img]
Here's cradle in final state: you can only see the small part of one battery
that didn't fit in completely.
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_6.jpg[/img]
Here's what cradle can do: It has 3 modes (that's why I needed 3-position
switch).
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_8.jpg[/img]
First, of course it acts as any other normal cradle, synchronizing palm and
charging it from wall adaptor.
Second, it can recharge it's auxiliary battery from same adaptor, when
plugged into outlet.
Third, It can recharge palm from aux. battery just as good as it was plugged
into wall.
Forgot to tell that in order to make this cradle portable - I needed
additional modification - ability to be detached from a USB cable that it is
connected to.
So , this cradle sits on the table , doing it's usual work, and when needed,
I just grab it , put it in the bag, and can recharge the palm on the road or
any other place not near the outlet.
In fact, it is very comfortable that palm is sitting in the cradle than just
lying on the table.
There is another small plus that this cradle has: it is little heavy, which
means you would not easily drop your palm form the table and crack it.
Remember old cradle from V/ VX or M5xx models? They all have a bulk metal
object inside to be heavy. Unfortunately T3's own cradle does not have this
ability. Probably Palm needed to save money on something...
Couple of words about charging: I made a test and already recharged my T3
twice from empty battery to 100% and it is still holding. So I'm expecting
for 3 full charges or even more. Time will show. Of course I can use this
cradle with any palm that is using universal connector. The charging
process (and time) is absolutely identical "from the point of palm" to the
regular charge from adaptor. So T3 fully charges in 2.4 hours.
[img]http://junglemike.pisem.net/new_t3_cradle_7.jpg[/img]
Charles Hawtrey
shouted:
>Hi everyone. I recently bought a Tungsten T3 from second hand to replace my
>poor old Zire71.
>
>The device it terrific, especially watching movies, but battery life is just
>catastrophic.
Given that you bought it second hand, might the battery be failing?
There are sources for replacement batteries.
[snip info on power supply -- nice to see there are other hardware
hackers out there...]
--
"Dude, we totally forgot our slogan..." ~ Medical Marijuana Association
Billboard
williamp.n.smith
>The device it terrific, especially watching movies, but battery life is just
>catastrophic.
Yeah, I got the Palm PowerToGo device as soon as it came out. Not
quite as creative as your charger, and far less fun, but smaller and
easier to use.
Enjoy!
Penster
'battery extender' off ebay really cheap, which uses 4 AA batteries and
extends the life.
I agree that battery life is a really problem. I use it for GPS mapping on a
mountain bike and I have to constantly switch it on and off to conserve the
battery.
Mick
"Michael" <much...@012.net.il> wrote in message
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