Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 14

Visor Deluxe eating batteries

I've had my Visor Deluxe for a long time, and it's served me well. However, lately it's been having problems. For a while, I've had trouble with the power button... it no longer just 'works', I have to push it a certain way to get the unit turned on or off. That's tolerable, but now I've got another problem.

A few weeks ago, I accidentally dropped my Visor. Well, that wasn't bad, nothing appeared damaged and the unit worked normally. However, within a day or so, the batteries were completely dead. That's odd, because they were fresh AAAs. I thought maybe they were just old or had shorted when I dropped them.

That was a few weeks ago. I just now scraped together the money to get some new batteries and popped them in my Visor Saturday night. It worked fine, though the button is still finicky though. Just a few minutes ago, however, I plugged it into its cradle and hit the Hotsync button. It Hotsynced fine (though strangely it complained I had some Calendar dates before 1970, which I shouldn't), and when it was done I had a 'low battery' warning. A quick check in Launcher III states that I now only have 5% of my battery remaining... but I haven't used it since I put the batteries in it Saturday night!

Any ideas? So far the only things I can think of are either that the button is getting pressed while it's in its case somehow, draining the power from backlighting (it's not on when I open the case though), or Hotsyncing is somehow causing a severe drain of the battery... or the batteries are just getting sucked away because the power system got damaged with that last fall.

Has anyone encountered this? I'd rather not have to get the unit repaired, since I don't know how much it would cost in the long run. And since I don't have much cash, I can't really replace it (I'd want an Edge or color unit anyhow). Help?

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hesston, KS USA
Posts: 6

I've got the same problem. Had my deluxe for over a year now with no problems. Never have dropped it, and my power button works fine, but it will drain new batteries within 48 hours. I've got alarms, lights, sounds, etc. turned off, never use backlight. I remove the backup module when done and still batteries won't hold up. Any ideas from anyone would be greatly welcome.

Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 14

Yea, I just confirmed that even if I don't Hotsync, and leave it totally off, the batteries are dead in 2 to 3 days. I could definately use some help with this...

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 138

me too

quote:

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Originally posted by Kesh
Yea, I just confirmed that even if I don't Hotsync, and leave it totally off, the batteries are dead in 2 to 3 days. I could definately use some help with this...

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When I get a little money I buy books; if any is left, I buy food and clothes.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hesston, KS USA
Posts: 6

I've been reading posts on battery problems elsewhere in this forum. I'm beginning to think that Handspring has a hardware problem. I may have to replace it with another brand. It's no use to me like this.

Registered: Jun 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 108

Possible experiment

Instead of using the button to power down your visor, try using a software shutdown. For example, if you use Launcher III, use the "Power Off" feature on the menus. With the regular Palm Launcher, goe to "Security", and then "Lock and Shutoff".
I am thinking that the button could be causing all of your problems, as somehow it is not shutting the unit off 100%.

Another option is to do a hard reset of the visor and don't sync it again. Leave at its defaults and see if the battery goes back to normal. This way you will be 100% convinced if it is a program you have installed causing the problem, or if it is a hardware issue.

You won't have any better luck with another brand. I don't think any manufacturer has a much better or worse failure rate than Handspring. Sometimes electronics just flake out. Check the Sony, Palm, Handera, etc... groups. Somebody always has a complaint. They are not unique to Handspring.

Doug

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hesston, KS USA
Posts: 6

OK, I installed two new alkaline batteries and did not perform a hot sync. The visor has been off since that time, sitting on the desk so nothing is touching it. I installed the new batteries this afternoon at 2pm. It is now 6pm and the battery meter is already down 50%. I guarantee that they will be completely dead in the morning. There are no other software programs installed, no springboard modules in place. No activity at all, but the batteries are 1/2 way drained in only 4 hours.......

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

Do you have a module in?

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

Re: Visor Deluxe eating batteries

quote:

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Originally posted by Kesh
or the batteries are just getting sucked away because the power system got damaged with that last fall.

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hesston, KS USA
Posts: 6

No modules are in, and my visor was never dropped. (that was someone else's who started this thread and has battery drain problems as well). Just checked battery condition this morning and they are almost gone. Visor was turned off all night.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

quote:

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Originally posted by djones
No modules are in, and my visor was never dropped. (that was someone else's who started this thread and has battery drain problems as well). Just checked battery condition this morning and they are almost gone. Visor was turned off all night.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 14

Okay, I put some new batteries in the unit yesterday afternoon, and used it for a little while. Now, it still has a near-full charge. It appears that so long as I use Launcher III's gadget to turn it off, the charge stays just fine. I'm guessing there must be something damaged with the button that's causing it.

And no, it's not still under warranty. I've had it for over a year now, and had no problems until this happened.

Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 14

ARGH!

Okay, yesterday I popped in my Visor (which had been behaving just fine now that I was using Launcher III to turn it off) into my cradle and pressed the Hotsync button.

Nothing happened.

Kept trying, and still nothing happened. Pulled it out of the cradle and it would not turn on. None of the buttons did a darn thing.

Upset, I put it back in its case. Fast-forward to this morning where I decided to try again. One press of the button, and it comes on! I popped it into the cradle and immediately syncronized it. After finishing, I went into Launcher III to check the battery... and it's down to 2%, from 100% on Monday!

I left it on for a couple moments and it slowly climbed back up to 8%, but that's still not good at all. My question now is: what can I do about this? My warranty is out, and with Handspring's charges for tech support I'm wary of calling them... any suggestions?

Registered: Mar 2000
Location:
Posts: 97

Power button & battery drain'n VDX.

These problems sound EXACTLY like mine. When I got my replacement unit from HS for my defective power button VDX... it was fine the first week or so. But when I had a portion of time (say a weekend) where I didn't turn the unit on for a couple of days... it was DEAD upon my return.

New batteries did not fix the problem.

The power button is simply stops functioning. It's a hardware button!!! I think that the problem must be on the circuit board itself. I doubt it's the power button switch. Unless they got a bad batch from Indonesia or Laos or wherever.

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Pocket PCs, Palm... next victim, MS Windows!

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 251

For those of you out of warranty, I think GetHighTech.com also has replacement button cards, which replace all the button electronics for about $20.00.