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- How To / Troubleshooting (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=2)
-- Using rechargeable batts for the visor (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=2449)

I've been having problems using Alkaline rechargeables for te Visor. It seems that my batt juice runs out after a few hours, even with a pair of newly-charged batts. Didn't have problems when I used them earlier on. My batts and Visor is about 8 wks old

Follow-up:

Does anyone have the same issue?? Any remedies as I don't know if its the Visor or the charger.

I'm using Alkaline rechargeables on my Visor too, it usually can last 15 ~ 20 hours.

I just bought NiMH batteries and a charger at the recommendation of a post I saw here earlier. I haven't got them installed yet. I'm remembering a post about adjusting a setting so that Visor recognizes a revised voltage output, or am I dreaming? I'm using BatteryInfo 1.2 and it lets me set types between Alk. and NiCad, and lets me adjust threshold settings. Anybody have experience using NiMH? Any words of advice?

I bought 4 NiMH batteries. I keep 2 in the charger and 2 in the VDX. They seem to last "a long time", but I'm not using a tracking package. I'd say I'm an average user, including some backlight, and I go more than a week before I replace them. They'd go longer, but I usually change them before I get a warning from BatteryMeterHack (set on NiMH/NiCd). Hope this helps.

bjornsen,

I have been using hi-cap NiMHs for a couple of months now. All of the recommendations I have seen say to use NiCad settings for NiMH batteries. Changing this setting won't affect the operation of your Visor or Palm, but it will affect the battery level percentages shown in battery monitoring applications and the voltage at which you get low battery warnings. NiCad and NiMH batteries have similar discharge characteristics, but are significantly different than those of Alkalines. I have left my "warning level" setting at 2.26v, as the voltage begins to drop much more quickly at around that point.

lo44w,

Have you tried a different pair of batteries?
Have you been playing with any shortcuts? There are a few shortcuts that will put the device into a debug mode which will drain batteries fast. A soft reset will fix that.

How do I change the batt setting on my visor? Are there any programs that I need to download? Please advise me??

Hi bregent..

Actually I have not been creative w/ my vdx. And I think the problems with the batt.. played with the pairing and my current pair looks ok. as posted in another reply.. what do I need to do to change the vdx setting to other battery types.

Thkx

The two ways of changing the battery types are with shortcuts or with hacks. But if you're using rechargeable alks then you're probably ok with the default settings.

PalmOS 3.1 does not have a Rechargeable alkaline setting, as does OS 3.3. I believe it has settings for Alkaline and NiCD. Nicd and Nimh are both 1.2 voltage systems. Alkaline (recharge or disposable) are 1.5V. All the settings do are to change when the low battery alarm activates. The rechargeable alkaline setting that OS3.3 has actually trips the alarm at a slightly higher voltage than the standard alkaline setting. This is because RA's will last longer if you don't discharge them too deeply. I've never used any of the battery meter hacks so I can't comment on them.

Bottom line is, I wouldn't worry about it. If you decide to switch to Nimh's, then just use the shortcut..7

Actually, I also see that BatteryInfo, which allows you to set the voltage threshold, is not a hack, so that's another option.