IIIc cradle AC adapter

[little-man]

I bought a Palm IIIc that came with a cradle, but no charger. I have a standard 5V AC adapter, but I am worried about overcharging. I read somewhere that there is a special chip in the chargers to prevent this, but I don't know whether it is in the adapter or the cradle. I don't want to screw up my palm, but I don't want to have to buy a separate charger either. some help here?

[TheSpies]

the battery in the IIIc has its own protection and charging circuit. all you need for the cradle is a 5V power supply rated at 1 Amp. i do not recommend using any thing else.

[little-man]

thanks, that helps a lot.:D

[little-man]

now when I put it in the cradle, the LED flashes, and then turns off. The apps screen says that it's charging, and the battery level goes up, but the LED doesn't come back on. Is this a problem with the battery, the LED, the palm, or just a loose wire?:confused:

[TheSpies]

with the palm in the cradle and pluged in push the reset hole and see if that helps. it should reset the battery circuit. if it still doesnt work right after that and you have verified that the power supply is 5v at 1 amp then either the battery is hosed or something on the motherboard is. even though the led is flashing is the battery meter going up when it is off the cradle?

[TheSpies]

ok now that i reread your post :) i realized you said it is charging and the battery meter is going up. does it charge all the way (do you use a launcher that shows the battery voltage?) and if so does it appear to hold its charge somewhat normaly?(i.e. doesnt lose charge very rapidly).

[little-man]

Actually, now when I use the cradle to charge it the LED comes on but it doesn't charge. the charging symbol flashes on and off both in silverscreen and in the Palm apps launcher. The AC adapter says that it's output is 5 VAC 300MA. is this right? also, it isn't polarized. does it matter which way the plugs are in? the palm seems to charge fine when I use a friend's charger, but not in my cradle, so I don't think that the problem is in the palm. I tried the battery reset, but it didn't seem to do anything. I am VERY confused.

[TheSpies]

no, the amperage is to low on that supply. it must be 5 volts and 1 amp. dont use anything else. 300 milliamps is way to low and would cause the problems your getting. because the amperage is low i doubt it hurt the palm but could if you continue to use it.

[little-man]

oh, ok. that explains it. thanks SO much.

[little-man]

The palm seems to be charging fine now, but the LED still just flashes when I put it in the charger, and then turns off. Not critical, but annoying. Can anything be done about this?

[Alan Wil]

I new to this Palm stuff.


But it sounds like it may be the battery itself that is bad/ or is going bad. Maybe this is why it is acting strange.

I would make sure you have the correct voltage amperage input.. As a low amperage /voltage input can fry things as well as too much juice.

If it is rated for 1.0 amp and your only giving it .300ma your asking for trouble.

[little-man]

no, I stopped using the bad power source as soon as TheSpies told me to. Now I am using a USB port charger that I got from eBay.

[iiicRules]

I know this is probably completely irrelivent but when i took my palm to peices once and then put it back together it wouldn't charge properly. It would do syuff like flashing etc. To solve this problem all I had to do was tighten the screws i put back in. This solved the problem. I just hadn't tightened the screws enough when i put the palm back together. I don't think that has anything to do with your problem but if you have taken it apart its worth a try.

[little-man]

actually, it was put together from parts. however, the charging worked fine before I started using the wrong power supply.