Battery is confused!

VTwin · 03-19-07, 07:47 PM

Anybody have any trouble with the battery on your H5555 shutting down. There seems to be an internal circuit breaker that will completely shutdown the battery. It is easy enough to reset, with a volt meter, place the (+) probe on the left most terminal then touch each of the 3 remaining terminals from left to right in sequence (this is what I am doing, I do not recommend it for others to try, I am only describing my issue!) by the time you have reached the last, right most, terminal, the circuit will be reset.

My issue is, why does the battery shut off in the first place?
Why doesn't the iPAQ perform this reset, or does it?
Is it the result of a low battery charge condition?
One would think that if the circuit is open then the battery will not be able to accept a charge either.

This started when I left the unit for 2 weeks unused and not charging. I have since been tinkering for the last 2-3 weeks, charging with no results, then just randomly looking for the (+) (-) terminals to manually test the battery. With no (0) voltage I started to give up, then viola! suddenly there is an EMF. So I placed the battery in the unit and reset the iPAQ. All seemed well, but it failed on me today, the first road trip for the resurrected HP, I assumed the battery is just done...but not so, I put it on charge (hours)... nothing.... did this reset....life again...

Anybody know how to fix this?

Thank for you time
KF

Julie · 03-19-07, 08:03 PM

What you are referring to is a safety mechanism. If the battery is allowed to because depleted, it becomes unstable and can explode. Before it reaches this state the safety mechanism kicks in and throws the switch to turn the battery off completely. Messing with it as you have is dangerous and not adviseable.

To avoid this condition, one should take every precaution to prevent the battery from becoming completely depleted. Leaving the pocket pc plugged into AC power for extended periods of time does not shorten the life of the battery or damage the battery in any way. Lithium Ion batteries do not have a memory, so there is no harm done when you regularly "top off" the charge and there is no benefit to letting the battery completely discharge. Allowing the battery to overdischarge shortens the life of the battery and can render the battery useless.

julie

desertsky · 05-01-07, 06:24 PM

I have this same issue and I bought a new battery. I plugged it in and the orange charge light flashed briefly once and nothing since then. This is the same thing it did with the original battery. I have an extended 2800mAh battery that works fine.

This is NOT a good thing and I am getting unhappy.