Battery life

[Jonlea]

Battery life about 24 hours. My IIIx seems to consume huge amounts of battery juice even when switched off. Have tried soft and hard resets, and only default programs now installed. Another poster, Patty55 seems to have the same problem. Can anybody help?

[vollie]

a couple of possible reasons:
if you use the backlight the palm consumes up to 150% EXTRA battery life
all the IIIx-palms (as far as i know) use the same battery (that is a point to btw, do not use rechargeables -except those special expensive 1.5V 1A+ ones- they have far less juice), however some (4MB and higher) are equipped with true dynamic RAM instead of Pseudo dynamic, the more memory the more power (15%-20%) and true dynamic needs more power when in off mode(up to 50%).
if you still use an old palmOS try upgrading it. it is said that can save power too (probably an alteration in processor calls).

[Jonlea]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't use the backlight very much, so I think the cause must lie elsewhere. My IIIX was OK up till about 2 weeks ago, so I it shouldn't be anything to do with the nature of the RAM.

I've never used rechargeables.

I have updated the OS this morning to version 3.5.3 - will see if this has any effect, but as I write, things are not looking too hopeful, as battery indication down to about 50% after 8 hours - most of that time the palm has been powered down.

Any other suggestions, or should I look out for another IIIx on ebay???

[vollie]

nope, that's about all i know about the IIIx on this subject. but you will not see me suggesting to buy a new IIIx, get something with a rechargeable battery in it so you will not need to replace battery's (just get yourself a travelcharger and a power supply), when i bought my IIIc the Li-Ion in it whas (with the color and flash mem) one of the main reasons.

[JohnKes]

Probably best to get another unit. This problem seems to be coming up on many Palm III and Handspring Visors.

Or you could get a FullCharge NiMH battery system and plug it in every night:
http://www.extendcomputer.com/pages/AllFullChargePalm.html

I had a FullCharge with my Visor Deluxe. Worked great. I plugged in as needed, like my cell phone.

Either way it will cost you at least $40. Good luck.

[riedllc]

I have some information that might help you.

I recently bought a used Palm IIIxe from a guy on Ebay who acknowledged that he had similar battery problems. Bought it anyway (cheap). Sure enough, I discovered that I couldn't get through 24 hours on a set of good batteries.

I opened up the case and checked with my multimeter, and found a current draw of about 50 milliamps even with the unit turned off. This will sure enough drain batteries in a day.

After about a week of fooling around with it, I finally took it completely apart, including disconnecting the touchscreen connector (ribbon cable). When I put it back together, it worked normally, except that the backlight now doesn't work. I can live with that. I think that my problems were somehow related to the way the ribbon connector was installed.

I noticed elsewhere in the forum that IIIc users are having problems with the touchscreen, and one user reported what sounded like a similar experience with a connector.

[vollie]

as for the IIc touchscreen prob that is indeed right (have a IIIc myself). the touchscreen is very insensitive once batery drain is raised (usage of full brightness). The brightness/battery usage is one of the lesser points on a IIIc, capable of draining the full cell in 4hours (though at night it functions as a torch as well :D )

[JohnKes]

Another source for battery drain - a backup capacitor that failed in a low resistance condition. See:
http://www.pdastreet.com/forums//showthread.php?s=&postid=23286#post23286