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-- Battery Level Calibration and Monitoring (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=795)

Hi. The Visor is definitely lacking in robust battery monitoring features.

Can anyone recommend some Hackmaster hacks to monitor for NiMH, NiCd, and Li+ as well as Alkaline batteries? Also, it'd be great to be able to calibrate if possible.

Thanks.

-Calp

I'm using "Battery Meter Hack" (at least that's what shows up in HackMaster).

Palm OS migh tbe weak inthis particular area, but that's where 3rd party support comes in.

I'm using Voltage Display Hack, NiMHSet, and Runtime. VDH puts a small voltage indicator next to the battery symbol on the top line of the "Home" screen. NiMHSet adjusts the threshold voltages for NiMH batteries. Runtime keeps track of how long it's been since you changed batteries, how much time you've gotten from the last 10 sets of batteries, and will graph the daily voltage from the current set of batteries.

The first 2 are available at Palmgear. I lost the link for runtime, but it was posted on another battery message thread recently. Search for my posts and you'll find the thread. Sorry, but the author didn't put his web site name in the program info or in the readme file. Palmgear does NOT have it.

I am a novice to PDAs. What is the significance of knowing the voltage of a set of batteries? I know that the battery itself has a voltage rating but, once it is in the VDx, will the voltage change (perhaps with the use of certain applications.)?

I don't know much about the chemistry/physics behind batteries, but this is the gist of what I understand:

Batteries all contain a certain amount of charge measured in coulombs (or more commonly, in ampere hours). As the charge dwindles down with usage, so does the voltage. This relationship of voltage as a function of charge is different from battery type to battery type. In general, the trend is for the voltage to drop quickly from the initial charge and then slowly decrease until the end when it drops sharply to zero.

So by knowing the voltage vs. charge characteristics of a battery, one can monitor a battery's state of charge by measuring its voltage.

What good is knowing the voltage? For one thing, we can see how accurate the Visor's voltmeter is as compared to an actual laboratory voltmeter reading. That way we can apply a hack to calibrate the Visor's readings. With these accurate readings, we can also determine where 100% charge, 50% charge, etc. should be. That way we can decide for ourselves when the battery needs replacing.

I hope that helps.

-Calp

Where's Runtime? I've searched around on Palmgear and can't find it.

Calpchen,

Thanks for the info. It all makes more sense now.

There is a HackMaster hack called "Battery Monitor 1.7" that has a gob of features. My dad, now the owner of my Palm III, is running it with no problems. If I remember correctly, it tracks up to 10 battery changes, detecting them automatically if desired, and gives a complete profile of how much the device is used. It tracks on-time, backlight on-time, sleep time, time since last battery change, IR port use time, serial use time, and some other things. It seems to be a very complete package, and has caused him no problems. I do believe there is an $8 or $10 registration fee after 30 days of use.

Now the catch. I had installed it on my standard 2M Visor, and enabling it in HackMaster caused a soft reset. Scared me, but everything else was fine with no data loss. I tried it a few more times, and still no joy. I'm not sure if it's conflicting with anything else (although I run no other Hackmaster hacks), or if it just won't run on the Visor.

If anyone else gets it running, I would be quite interested, as it appears to be a top-notch app.

Tequila. Scroll up and read what Axeman said.

-Calp

What is the difference between the 'undocumented' palm command:

(shortcut).7

and these 'battery meter hacks'? When I do the abovementioned stroke, it takes me from "Alkaline" to "NiCD" then "Unknown" (which I assume is something like Lithium Ion or something along those lines...

While I have seen this feature in PalmOS for some time, my PalmIII only had 2 different modes, Alkaline and NiCD.

Thanks,
seanf();

I've never heard of that command, but then again, I'm new to the scene.

My guess is that it allows the battery gauge to monitor the charge of either Alkaline or NiCd batteries. If you read my blurb on the physics/chemistry of batteries, you will learn that different battery types will have different V vs. C curves.

-Calp

NiMHSet changes the threshold voltages. I'm not sure if .7 does that. Plus, if you reset, NiMHSet automatically makes the change.

------------------
Brian

Body by Cheetos, Brains by Mattel

I have downloaded "Battery Meter Hack" but how do I enable it? I got it to monitor my NiMH batteries. I've seen something about (shortcut).7, but how do you do that?

Thanks! I'm off to check the manual, what a concept!!

Walt

Has anyone actually gotten the Battery Monitor Hack to work with the visor? I've tried a whole bunch of things, but with no luck. Everytime I enable the hack, the visor turns off, and when I turn it on, it's resetting. If I choose "reinstall hacks" when that box comes back up, it turns off again.

Any ideas?

Can anyone tell me how to install Nimhset?

AAA Lithium Ion batteries?? Do they exist? If so, where can I get them?


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------------------------
-Cyrus
[email protected]

kinged: just load it like any other Palm OS program. It doesn't take effect until you do a soft reset.

Tequila:
you can find runtime at: http://palm.eisenbach.com/
or http://home.germany.net/101-216666/englisch.html

Ok, got batter meter hack and Hack Master, but when I enabled the hack, the battery meter in my launcherIII went nuts and would show a battery that swung 10% + and - constantly. I set it for NiMH and all.

??? Thanks for the assist.

I'm having problems with NiMH batteries and the battery meter, too. I've installed Battery Meter Hack and NiMHSet but the voltage decreases and increases by %10, then suddenly it drops from about %60 power to %30 in short ammount of time! It's annoying because I keep getting warning messages that the batteries are low, yet I haven't used them that often.

Cheers,
-Tears in Rain


[This message has been edited by Tears in Rain (edited 12-20-1999).]