Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 21

Replacing Lithum ion battery

Hi,

My Prism now only lasts about 20 to 30 minutes of use after a full charge. I think it is time to replace the lithum ion battery. Does anyone know if this is pretty standard, off-the-shelf, and where I can get a replacement battery cheap? How much does one usually cost?

Thanks,
Hoa

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

You can try doing a soft reset while the Prism is in the cradle. This is supposed to reset the charging circuit and may be all you need to do. If that doesn't help, you may want to contact Handspring to see what your battery replacement options are.

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Jul 2002
Location: Toronto, CANADA
Posts: 21

If you open up your prism, your warranty is void

If you're Out of Warranty, and still wanna open up, you should know that if you screw up and need repair it'll be $125 plus shipping and handling (which is up to 25 bucks)

If you succeed - good for you...

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 21

Oh, yeah. I have tried reset plenty of times. It's the battery. On the Handspring web site, the FAQ mentioned that the lithium ion battery has a life of about two years. So I take that battery replacement is fairly routine. My Prism is about two years old, so it's due. I'm just surprised that no one has posted cheap places to get the replacement battery.

I have opened up my Prism several times already. Once, I tried lining the back with foil, and grounded it, to see if I could improve the reception on my Geode GPS unit. No luck. So I saw what the battery pack was like already. It's a pretty standard package. I'll just have to call around for a good price. I don't want to send it back to Handspring and pay $125 just to replace the battery.

Thanks,
Hoa

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

There is a lot of discussion about this in the "AAA invasion" discussion. As far as I know, no one is yet offering a cheaper battery replacement opportunity. You might try your local dedicated battery store (Batteries Plus, Battery Patrol, etc.)

Yes, Handspring says the batteries last a couple years, but they really should last longer than that- 2 years is the average MINIMUM lifespan. If my batteries are going bad this early, I would wonder what I was doing that was shortening their life.

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at!

Registered: Apr 2002
Location:
Posts: 24

I saw this the other day:

http://www.gethightech.com/item.jht...mp;PRID=1276555

$50 for the Prism battery at GetHighTech.

They've also got most other pieces of the Prism, but it would be cheaper to buy a refurb than put one together from their parts. :-) Umm, make that TWO refurbs!

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

Shoot!

quote:

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Originally posted by Madkins007 If my batteries are going bad this early, I would wonder what I was doing that was shortening their life.

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I'm just a dreamer..

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 21

I talked to a Handspring tech support person, and he said that by leaving my Prism on the charger overnight, I shortened the battery life. He said to remove it from the charging cradle as soon as the green light is on continuously. I have never heard this before, or read about it in the manual. It seems pretty stupid if this is true and the Prism designers did not design in an automatic charging shutoff as soon as the green light is on steadily.

Another case of misinformed tech support?

Hoa

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: By the toilet.
Posts: 174

So did the tech support say that this is only a problem on the Prism or all the rechargeable Visors?

I once accidentally left my Visor Pro on the cradle powered on for quite some time and after that the Visor case is quite cool �unlike warm when recharging� - as if the cradle stopped putting out current into the batteries alltogether�

However, now I'm increasingly worried, last nite when I put my Visor in for charging �with about 50% battery life left� it immediately showed a constant greenlight as if it is done charging� I did a cradle reset after that and it worked again but this is becoming more and more frequent�



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quote:

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Originally posted by hgn
I talked to a Handspring tech support person, and he said that by leaving my Prism on the charger overnight, I shortened the battery life� He said to remove it from the charging cradle as soon as the green light is on continuously� I have never heard this before, or read about it in the manual�
Another case of misinformed tech support?

Hoa

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I'm just a dreamer..