Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Melbourne, FL
Posts: 42

Battery Mod???

Has anyone in here done a battery mod to their Deluxe so that the cradle acts as a charger??? I found a webpage that has done it, but when I pulled out the board from my Deluxe it looked different so I was hoping someone in here could give me better pics/details.

Thanks,
Andy

Here is the link i was looking at http://www.felesmagus.com/visor/index.html

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: St Petersburg Fla
Posts: 224

See Accesories forum-Rechargable Battery Pack

quote:

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Originally posted by jlkrumm
Ok, I realize I'm a bit late in the addition to this old post, but I just found a link to an easy mod.

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/...2596655,00.html

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Melbourne, FL
Posts: 42

Have you personally done this mod? If so, how is it working? Any reccomendations before I jump in and do it?

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 11

quote:

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Originally posted by MarinoFAN
Have you personally done this mod? If so, how is it working? Any reccomendations before I jump in and do it?

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I did. It is very easy. I didn't even have a soldering gun before I tried it. My only problem is that my recharge batteries are dead, and have been for some time. So I'm still using regular alks, until I get to the store to get some new rechargables.

It walks you through step by step. The pictures are very understandable. Not difficult at all.

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Melbourne, FL
Posts: 42

OH no!! I did the mod and it was working perfectly!! I pluged in my visorphone charger and started smelling smoke along the case melting. I probably should have asked about that before I went and it did it........at least my visor still works

Registered: Aug 2002
Location:
Posts: 8

Is any more info available about this mod and a VisorPhone? I love my VP but hate having to keep 2 sets of batteries charged. If I mod the cradle that came with my Visor Deluxe, can I use it to charge the Visor and the VP, like a Prism cradle does?

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 415

i just did the mod. only i swithec the 10ohm cradle resistore for a 3ohm one. to get the current at what i wanted.

as for the guy using regular batteries in his now rechargable cradle... DONT. that could easily cause damage to your visor.

as for the visorphone thing.. thats kinda odd. did you do the mod exactly as shown on the site?

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location:
Posts: 24

cakennedy, I haven't tested out Springboard module charging myself, but from what I can figure out, Stephanie Maks (the person who dreamed up the mod) tried her best to adhere to the Handspring specs: the VDOCK pin is supposed to have +5V (actually, anywhere from +4.75V to +6.2V) running through it, going directly to the VDOCK pins (pins 18 and 52) on the Springboard port. (Of course +5V delivered to the Visor itself would kill the poor machine; that's why you solder two diodes between the VDOCK pin and the battery terminal in the mod.)

So as far as I know, the charging mod delivers the proper amount of electricity to the Springboard module. You should be able to use the Visor Deluxe in your modified cradle, a Prism/Neo/Pro cradle, and a VisorPhone charging adapter without problems.

One word of warning: I haven't tested this out, but it seems like it should work fine. MarinoFAN, what started smoking -- your VisorPhone or the Visor itself?

Registered: Apr 2002
Location:
Posts: 24

Just thought I'd clarify: When I said "I haven't tried this out", I meant I haven't tried the mod with Springboard modules, as (1) I don't have any money for a Springboard module of any sort, and (2) I broke one of the pins off my Springboard port.

For those of you who like tinkering around, check out the excellent homemade CompactFlash adapter tutorial at http://www.kopsisengineering.com. For $10 you get the device drivers for the CompactFlash card as well as VFS drivers so you can use all those nifty programs that requre a memory card!

Once you get the drivers, checkout http://filecaddy.sourceforge.net for an excellent VFS- and CompactFlash-compatible file manager!