Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 42

Is it technically possible for the Visor to accept current to recharge battery packs? And if the current HS cradle isn't designed to provide that power, is there likely to be a third party cradle available? (I guess that depends on the first question, though).

There's a lot of conflicting commentary on this, so I was curious to have the 'definitive' word.

M.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 159

Merry,

In a way you're asking two completely different questions, but to the point you're getting at, according to my reading of Handspring's technical docs, the present design of the Visor cannot accept a charge and be able to feed it to the battery compartment. For this to work (right), it has to be built from the start with the idea that it will use rechargeables.

Now I've seen one (possibly two) posts on VC where they thought they had read 'somewhere' that Jeff Hawkins 'claimed' Handspring would come out with an AC cradle that could recharge the Visor's batteries. I've read nearly everything I could find online about the Visor (and Hawkins) and did not see this. But if he said it, Handspring's own specs don't seem to corroborate it. Here's a particularly good reason why as I see it:

The present Visor models have no mechanism for providing feedback on the type of battery residing in the battery compartment. In fact, other than the device failing to work without them, the Visor doesn't even know if batteries are there or not. So the Visor will not be able to distinguish between a set of rechargeable batteries and standard alkalines. Ever read the warning stickers on a battery recharger station?

Still, this is not THE definitive answer; all it would take to circumvent the problem is a smart hobbiest willing to pull apart the Visor and adapt the battery compartment. Something like this could hardly be sold at retail outlets, though.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

A nice 'workaround' would be using AAA rechargeble batteries with it's own charger...

see this thread for more info: http://www.visorcentral.com/visor/d...TML/000473.html

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 42

This is true, but requires far more foresight in that you have to remember to recharge the spare set and carry them with you. Recharging in the cradle would mean it could be left overnight...and what's more, you might develop a habit, leaving in the cradle, instead of having to run around the house in the morning, asking "Where's my palm?! I can't go to work without it!"

What the heck, though. I can afford the odd battery now and then...

M.