Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Ferrara,Italy
Posts: 4

Battery Level

I have a problem with the battery.
If I'm charging the visor on the cradle, I reach the normal battery level, around 4.12 volts (as Launcher III shows me).

If I'm charging with the cable connected to the usb port, the battery arrives at 3.77 volts and that's all! It looks full (100%)but it's only at real 50% of del charge.

Do you suffer the same experience?

ciao

Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 10

I'm so glad to hear that you are having that problem! Now I know that sounds odd, but I've had a "devil of a time" with my battery life too, and it's nice to hear I'm not alone in this. Handspring has even replaced my Prism once and are now sending me a new cradle (at my insistence). Handspring could not believe the power problem might be cradle related because the green light blinks correctly and the battery icon shows the power is full... But I knew that the problem could not be the same one in TWO different Prisms either.

So, I'm going to ask you an ignorant question -- how did you check the battery voltage again? You did something with Launcher III? I'd like to have that evidence to bolster my "case" with Handspring. How can I check my voltage too?

I know this doesn't help you much, but it might help me and it might end up being a cradle problem after all. If I know how to check voltage I can see what happens with my new cradle plugged in to the USB... can let you know the results. :-)

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Cynthia

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Ferrara,Italy
Posts: 4

I'm using Lancher III vers. 3.05 (www.bench.hr).

On the bottom part of the main screen, you can have two different bar, one showing memory capacity (in byte and %) and battery (volts and %).

Resuming:

If I'm using the standard USB cradle, everything works fine.. if I'm using the usb cable (as I'm using when I'm traveling) I'm suffering this problem.

Last news:

The palm is starting flashing "charge battery" when it was at 3.62 volts. I used the palm other 2 hours (I wanted to discharge it completely) and I reached 2.54 volt, and the palm was still working.

Could we keep in touch on this matter?

Ciao

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

There have been several threads on weird battery behavior with the Prism. After a few months of no problems, I am now experiencing problems that seem similiar to what you two have described. One VC poster fixed her problem by performing a soft reset while the Prism was in the cradle. This has not worked for me however.

My main symptoms:
Battery shows 100% and light is solid green. Go into an app, exit the app immediately and battery level is down at least 6%. Battery goes down in big chunks--I am planning to let it run all the way down this weekend (after a good Backup, of course.). I am now watching the voltage level, thanks to the info from roberto.

Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 10

Hi again,

When my battery was going down it too went down in visible chunks, even with just the screen on, and no use of programs.

I'll keep you posted on the new cradle and see what happens. I've already loaded Launcher III -- nice little program by the way! I see the two lines for battery charge, etc.

I'm really interested to see the battery life issue played out in front of me when I get the new cradle and reload my additional applications (yes, I'm currenty running the Prism with the basic programs only -- after a backup and hard reset per Handspring technical instructions). I'll also test it when recharging with the USB conected in and with it not connected.

However, my USB cradle is just the primary one that comes with the unit, not the secondary one that you're describing. So I may not be of much help there.

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Cynthia

Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 10

Whoops Roberto,

Forgot to mention that I will also try to dischage the entire Prism battery and see how long it lasts even after the message for recharging comes on. Maybe I worry for nothing when I see that message -- it's just so insistent! Possibly there really is about 6 hours of constant use in one charge...

This second Prism does seem to be a little better than the first one, so if I ignore the recharge message I may find out that the battery life is fine. But then, I am running it with no additional programs right now. It will be intriguing later to check and see which programs use up the most voltage the fastest.

I'll admit that I am awfully tired of tracking my minutes on the darn thing (at Handspring's request). Hope this gets resolved one way or the other (through a new cradle, through me ignoring the recharge message, or whatever...)

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Cynthia

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Ferrara,Italy
Posts: 4

I opened my Prism.

I saw the battery; it's very strange; it's written 3.7 volts.

Why could I see 4.12 volts with my Launcher III when the battery is full?

Boh?!

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Macau
Posts: 52

I am not sure what would cause the odd drops in voltage, but just in case it is relevant, I have noticed that the voltage readings with Launcher III are not always accurate. For instance, when I have my prism fully charged (as indicated by Runtime and a solid green charger light), Launcher may initially indicate 92%. It then gradually moves up but not always to 100%. I assume the difference in readings has to do with refresh rates for launcher and possibly how the voltage is read.

You might want to try using Runtime and setting the monitoring interval to something quite small so you can identify which programs are draining it or at least have something to show to Handspring that doesn't require so much active monitoring on your part.

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Ferrara,Italy
Posts: 4

My Prism is still alive

I got back my Prism!. I made an hard reset, and left the Prism under charge for 5-6 hours without any module and any software, just as a brand new Prism.

Now it's fully recharged!

ciao

Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 10

Tried to post a reply before, but waited too long (got called away at work) and the system didn't seem to know where to send my reply -- so doubt it went through.

I ran down the Prism using the launcher program to check voltage. Thanks to everyone's warnings I did not run it all the way out. Learned two things: 1) the brightness of the screen (50% versus 25%) REALLY makes a difference in voltage use, and 2) the battery recharge warning comes on WAY BEFORE it has to (you still have an hour to two hours more use, at least).

My new cradle made no difference in voltage charge. So, I think my replacement Prism does not have a defective battery as my first one did. It's just that I was trying to run this second unit on too high a brightness. I'll just keep this one charging when I'm not using it and all should be OK.

However, with the Prism I would not be safe trying to take 2+ hours of notes in a meeting. You'd definitely get the recharge warning before the meeting ended! And if I were a student who needed to take class notes with a PDA, I would not purchase a Prism to do it -- not worth the battery life hassle. I'd get a non-color Visor instead.

I may try that suggestion that one person had to check voltage use per program... that would be intriguing to see. Thanks for the suggestions!

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Cynthia

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Macau
Posts: 52

I do keep my brightness down to 25% or less, but I have never had any difficulty with taking notes for two or more hours, although that is not necessarily two hours continuous note taking (more of a few minutes, a rest, a few minutes). But in other usage such as writing reports and sending email, 2-3 hours continuous use still leaves me with plenty of battery life (over 50%). I get at least six hours of use from a full charge. Maybe you will do better with even lower battery setting? Or you may want to get a battery plug just in case. I use a battery plug when I am travelling just to make sure I won't run the battery too low.