Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 57

I'm reading over on visorvillage that some Platinum users are experiencing faster-than-expected battery drain. One person says batteries are dead in two weeks. I guess this depends on usage, but I'm wondering: do Platinums get the same battery performance as the Deluxe? I used to use a Palm IIIx and have grown accustomed to three weeks per set of batteries. Will the Platinum deliver? Interested to hear experiences of Platinum users in this case.



/Steelkilt

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Misplaced Canuck in Charleston SC
Posts: 257

The platinum has a faster CPU, so it's going to suck down batteries faster than a Deluxe. One of my friends with a Plat gets 2-3 weeks out of his alkalines, but he's not a power user like me. I on the other hand went out and bought NiMH rechargables the day after I got my Platinum. I get anywhere from 9-12 hours runtime out of them and usually end up changing batteries every 3-4 days. A little more hassle, but I figure it'll pay off in the long run.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 12

My experience

I had to replace my batteries around the same time. I know why though. I used the Gameboy Emulator like crazy and it drained like crazy. And this is WITHOUT the afterburner hack.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

I went from the IIIx (yeah, the 4MB one) to the Platinum. I use the Platinum far more that I did the IIIx, so I can't be as objective, but I don't think the drain is that much faster. I used to change the batteries every 6 weeks on the IIIx; I use the Platinum at least twice as much as the IIIx, and I change the battery every 3 weeks.

Battery isn't a big issue. I use NiMH batteries and I have a leather case that holds spare batteries. Every 3 weeks: I take out the weak batteries, insert fully charged batteries, charge the weak batteries, and the next day put the recharged batteries back in the leather case.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 8

I went from a VDx to a Plat and used both about the same. I did notice that the Plat drains batteries a bit faster, but it didn't seem too significant. I have also used NiMh rechargeables with pretty favorable results. I am also seriously considering going with a Full Charge so I can simply plug it in at night and not worry too much about batteries (but still keeping that set of emergency alkalines in my briefcase!

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Wow, glad to see this topic. I just picked up my Platinum a few weeks ago, and I'm starting to see that my battery is dying faster than what Handspring said it would.

Hmmm....wonder what would happen if we ***** up a storm to Handspring.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 206

Well, I have only experienced a month of battery use once since I've had my VDX. Usually it's an average of about 2 weeks with anywhere between 5- 16 hours of use (I average about 10). So, I think 2 weeks with a Platinum sounds pretty good.

Anybody heard of Runtime? It's a great battery tracking utility. I highly recommend it. Here's a link to the download at Palmgear. I've been doing experiments to see which brand of batteries last the longest. So far, it looks like Duracell has the longest runtime

- Burns

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Check out my page on Visors:
Burn's Visor page

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 8

I recommend using an overclocking utility to underclock my Platinum. Ok, so it defeats the purpose of having a 33Mhz processor, but it really can save the batteries.
I usually have my Platinum running at 16Mhz. The difference in speed is totally unnoticable for most apps, but doubles the battery life.
I use ClockupDA - its free and you can change the clock speed in the middle of running any application.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 9

Do you have a URL for ClockUpDA?????

Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 20

anyone using a CF adapter?

Out of curiousity. I've notice people mentioning unusual battery drain. Does anyone use a compactflash card adapter? I have the Innopocket CF adapter and if I leave the card in too long, I'll have to replace my batteries within a day. Does anyone know CF card specs, the card drain power even if I am not accessing it?

Just to note, I see a lot of people using Afterburner and ClockupDA, but there is a great application from www.megasoft2000.com called FastCPU. The earlier versions seemed to be geared strictly for the VPL (although this could be an erroneous recollection), but the new version (v2.3) autodetects for any PalmOS machine. Great program, you can overclock the cpu from 22 to 46, whatever you want on a program by program basis. And it also has the fast CPU state, which when I use a launcher that detects cpu speed, I have seen the number as high as 90. Anyways, that doesn't apply to applications.

Well, I ditched it because the CF adapter was causing me massive battery drain headaches. So I thought whatever I can do to minimize my battery drain. Anyone else notice this kind of thing?

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

I use NiMH rechargeable batteries. Funny thing happened last time the batteries died:

I couldn't power on at all. I removed the batteries and put them back in, and nothing. I thought the batteries were totally drained. I replaced with freshly charged batteries. The Visor turned on just fine and I didn't lose any memory. Weird.