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-- NiMH batteries (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=1226)

How often do you have to charge NiMH batteries? Also, does anyone have any bad experiences with them in the Visor's?

I have been using NiHMs since late December in my Visor and usually have to change them about twice a week. However, I haven't been using my Visor extensively (hotsync in the AM, read a few articles and a few datebook entries per day) so naturally battery life depends on how much you use the unit. I havent found any problems with using them and compared to the alternatives, they seem to be the most economical

Joe

Thanks. I just didn't know if I wanted to be changing the batteries every couple of days.

While I'm not yet using the NiMH batteries, it is always a good idea to carry a fresh set of batteries. It is not like these are D cells . . .

You'd do better to search this board, but my faulty memory tells me that it depends on the brand of NiMH battery.

Radio Shack batteries are rated at around 500 mA so have to be recharged more often. Nexcell has some that are closer to 600mA.

I use nexcell 600 mA batteries and manage to get about 10-12 hours of ontime from them, which is about 10-14 days of usage for me. This includes overclocking my most used app but underclocking all the lesser used apps and a 8meg springboard.

I've had anywhere from 9 to 16 hours of usage over periods ranging from 6 to 21 days with my Energizer ACCU (650 mAh) rechargables. Do it. They're so much more economical in the long run.

My Nexcell now gets about 8hrs use (= a week) after about a year and a half regular use. I bought 4 sets for my PIII and my wife's P1000 with 2mb upgrade at that time. (Now I have VDX, and my wife got my PIII.) Since then, I haven't bought a single AAA! Trust me. It's not only economical, but also more emotionally secure, knowing that you don't have to worry about the backlighting usage and when to throw away the old sets.

Thanks for all the responses. I actually bought 6 Nexcell 650maH AAA batteries and Maha C204F charger.

Good for you.

I originally had 2 sets of 2 but then when I got my girlfriend a Palm for xmas I bought 4 more AAAs. Mine last anywhere from a week to two weeks with normal useage, but I've been reading quite a bit lately. All in all I REALLY don't care if I don't get that much use out of a set because I always have a backup set charging or ready to charge, and I really like the idea that I don't have to worry about buying any for a long time.

So do you guys have multiple sets of AAAs, or do you toss in some regulars while you recharge? Oh, and what tweaking do battery programs need? And what programs are you using? I tried several that didn't work, until I started using Handscape, which among other things has a battery app. Just got a pair of the Energizer ACCUs, charged them up, and put them in, and the program says 2.69v/85%. I saw some NiMH tweak app on PalmGear, but wasn't sure what that was for.

[This message has been edited by Bitgod (edited 04-08-2000).]

Bitgod,
I think most of us have a couple sets of rechargeables we rotate.

As far as battery apps, I use BatteryInfo to set the type to NiCad, which have a similar voltage range to NiMHs. You can accomplish the same thing by doing the .7 shortcut (open a memo in memopad, make the shortcut character [looks like lower case cursive L], a period, and a seven). This will change the battery type and will insert text in your memo showing what type you have just changed to.

But you don't necessarily need to even change the type if you watch the absolute battery level. As I indicated above, I also have Energizer ACCUs. My experience has been that they start at about 2.7v, drop pretty fast to about 2.5v, lose voltage very slowly to about 2.4v, start dropping faster to around 2.3v, then really lose voltage fast. The .7 shortcut and most battery apps set the first "low battery" warning to pop up at 2.26v for NiCad/NiMH batteries. I generally watch my absolute voltage (in Launcher III), which seems to be more useful than the percentage level once you become familiar with the discharge characteristics of the type of batteries you use.

[This message has been edited by ronbot (edited 04-08-2000).]