stopping charging whilst on docking station

[thursday]

ChaDis tells me that my Revo is overcharging my batteries and I need to take it off the docking station. But I still want to work with the Revo connected to the PC (I'm trying to sync the revo iwth outlook) - can I switch off the charging function so I can keep the connection between the PC and Revo but stop it charging the Revo while it's there?

[netBookBabe]

Sure! Just disconnect the power supply cable from the serial port connector (at the point where it is plugged into your PC) :)

Julie

[Bren]

How serious is this?
I tend to just leave my Revo in the cradle with the power on while I'm at work.
I've done this for a year, haven't noticed any problems.
Similarly, when I'm on the road, I'll plug it in for a charge, then go and do something else. Do you mean I'm supposed to come back and check it sporadically? That's hardly the convenience I want from a PDA!

[doogald]

Bren,

I never kept my Mako charging on the cradle. I always waited until the charge percentage was as low as I could wait and then plugged the power cable into the unit itself overnight to recharge it. It is my understanding from others that this is better for long-term battery life than using the cradle to keep charging it.

As for ChaDis, I would go into prefernces and change the time that it starts warning on overcharging to ten minutes. The Revo/Mako always does a fast charge for about 5 minutes no matter what the charge level is, and I think that ChaDis's default warning level is too severe. Perhaps others can comment on my post.

[thursday]

Julie - thanks for the reply - I didn't think of that!

Bren - pleased to hear you have had no probs with charging as you do. I've had loads of problems with batteries on my Revo - am now on my third battery in 2 years and this one is also now causing problems (premature shutdown etc). So I've been reading up on battery management and many people warn of the danger of overcharging the battery. I've now drained and re-charged the unit three times to try to recalibate the battery in hope of saving it, otherwise I think I will be changing to a different PDA.

I hadn't head that there was any difference between charging via the docking station v direct but I think it's said that if you use the docking station, you should switch the unit off?

Would also be interested in other's opinion re ChaDis settings.

Thanks

Caroline

[netBookBabe]

Since there has been much mention of ChaDis, I think we had better have some links, for the benefit of anyone reading this who doesn't know what is being referred to.

Definitely an essential app for all Revo users - go here for the download:

http://www.millican.info/Home/ChaDis.htm

And here is a link to some very useful advice from the author of the program, Kevin Millican.

http://www.millican.info/Home/RevoBats.htm

Anyone who hasn't come across this program yet will be pleased to learn that it's freeware.

Julie

[doogald]

Originally posted by thursday

I hadn't head that there was any difference between charging via the docking station v direct but I think it's said that if you use the docking station, you should switch the unit off?


The issue with the docking station, if I remember correctly, is when you have a short dock. Whenever the power is applied to the Revo it starts doing a high amperage fast charge; when the circuitry detects that the charge is over 85% or so, it automatically switches to a low amperage slow charge. Slow charging really doesn't damage batteries, but doing a fast charge on a Revo with charge capacity over 85% can overheat the batteries and cause the usefu life to go down. However, if you watch carefully you should notice that the Revo does a fast charge whenever power is first applied, no matter what the battery status is. It takes it a few minutes to detect that the baterries are already at an adequate charge.

The problem that I had with charging while docking is that I generally do quick docks, just long enough to synchronize, and then I disconnect. I was always disconnecting when the unit was still receiving a fast charge, and my understanding is that this is what may cause many of the battery problems.

That's why I disconnected the power cable from the dock cable and started doing multi-hour charges when the capacity was low.

[To all you non-US folks I apologize for the US spellings. I just can't bring myself to spell what you would call the proper way...]

[MikeMcC]

To all you non-US folks I apologize for the US spellings. I just can't bring myself to spell what you would call the proper way...What US spellings? I copied and pasted your message into Microsoft Word and the words it highlighted as not recognising with UK spellchecking were:

Revo, usefu and baterries - a couple of typos but no US spellings :)

[netBookBabe]

Originally posted by MikeMcC
Revo, usefu and baterries - a couple of typos but no US spellings :)
I was thinking that too!

Btw, it always amuses me that the Epoc spell checker doesn't recognise words such as "Psion", "Revo" and, err, "Epoc"! LOL

Julie

[doogald]

I was thinking that apologize/apologise and synchronize/synchronise were wrong.

Sorry about those typos though. Especially when I posted earlier today on a different forum that I always prided myself on proper spelling, grammar and punctuation rather than uze gr8 abbrevs lik these ppl uze in sms & im msgs...

[MikeMcC]

I was thinking that apologize/apologise and synchronize/synchronise were wrong.Actually, MS Word seems to accept both but my PC version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary shows both only with a "Z". Anyway, the only mis-spelt word that really drives me absolutely crazy is definitely. In internet postings it is more often wrongly spelt as (and I cringe as I type this) definately than it is correctly spelt. I cannot see why when the word is derived from finite - where on earth does the "A" come from?