ErectDis

Ok, so the backup battery is dead and needs to be replaced on my Axim X30. It's got connectors leading from it to the motherboard an wrapped up in heat shrink. Where do you find a replacement or do you have to do it yourself, meaning add the connectors and heat shrink to the battery?

alicialovejoy

Originally Posted by ErectDis

Ok, so the backup battery is dead and needs to be replaced on my Axim X30. It's got connectors leading from it to the motherboard an wrapped up in heat shrink. Where do you find a replacement or do you have to do it yourself, meaning add the connectors and heat shrink to the battery?

If you have a voltmeter and a bit of skill you may not need to buy a new battery. I just bought an axim 3i from Ebay, same battery setup etc. as the x30. It had the "battery abnormal", battery has failed screen. I tried the suggestions in this forum about charging without the main battery, putting it on the cradle while on, do it for several hours, etc, etc., no go. I did some more reading at the sites of the manufacturers of these NimH batteries and learned that they do, if completely drained due to shipping, etc., "die", but can be revived. The battery enters a 0 volt state, and this triggers the built in circuitry in the axim to not try to charge it. The same will actully happen with any decent charger: if it detects 0v it will not try to charge the battery for safety reasons. Most of the time the battery is not truly dead, and can be brought back. How? You need to jump start it with 1.5 to 2x its rated voltage, for 2 to 3 30 second cycles. I just did that a few hours ago, and my battery is now back to a "normal" state and holding charge. The way I did it:

Took 2 AAA batteries, used electrical tape to tape them together in series, along with wire leads at each terminal. Checked with voltmeter for voltage at the wires from the rigged batteries, reads 2.54 volts. Good. You might want to attach the other end of the wires to something pointy, like a nail or needle, as it will make it much easier to do the next step. To check the voltage of the backup battery (bub) there's no need to remove it from the wrap. The tiny white connector has a couple of small, recessed silver tabs on the top of it, where the wires come in. It is much easier (though still a bit hard) to put your probe there then to try to stick it in the little holes in the tip of the connector. These silver tabs are also the easiest place to connect the wires to jump start the bub. When measuring the voltage in my bub it read 0 volts, as expected. Time to jump start it. Touch the positive wire from the rigged AAA batteries to the positive terminal of the bub. In my case, that was the red wire. At the same time touch the negative wire to the negative terminal of the bub, in my case it was the grey wire. Do it for only 5 seconds first, and check the temperature of the bub with your finger. If it got really hot, you might have the polarity wrong. Check the voltage of the bub again. Mine read 0.01V, hey, better than zero. Do it again, but now hold this connection for about 10 seconds. Careful not to short the wires, they are very close together, and if you do the rigged AAA cells will get very hot and.... ehr.. let's not think about it. Provided your bub is not very warm, do a third cycle, this time for 20 seconds. My bub got warm after this, but not hot. Voltage now reads 1.3 V. Yay! One word of caution now: leave reconnecting the battery to the motherboard for last, after all the other screws and connectors are already in place and you are ready to pop the back cover in its place. Why? You don't have your main battery in place, and your backup battery has very little charge in it. If it gets drained to 0V again whiler you're fidgeting with the back cover you're back to where you started. Call me paranoid, but I connected the charger to the axim first, so I'd have main power, then I plugged the white bub connector in its socket. Then I quickly put the back cover in place, installed the main battery, and screwed down the back cover. Anyway, this worked for me, but your mileage may vary.

ErectDis

Alicialovjoy,

It worked!!! I be damned!! I got the backup battery to 1.42 volts!!! I held it on there for 20 seconds! I did it the first time for 10 but got nothing, So I figured I was not making the connection. The second go around was a connection for 20 seconds. Stunner thread!! Thank you!

gevike

hey guys how do you change the battery? where the hex is it at all? with the x5 it was easy :)

steverp

Just wanted to reinforce the successful procedure put forth by "alicialovejoy". It worked like a charm! Also, I recommend a quick trip to Radio Shack to buy a 99 cent battery holder for 2 AAA batteries. The holder already has the red and black leads on it that can be touched to the BUB connector pins and no taping is required. Make the procedure very easy. Awesome thread!

Originally Posted by alicialovejoy

If you have a voltmeter and a bit of skill you may not need to buy a new battery. I just bought an axim 3i from Ebay, same battery setup etc. as the x30. It had the "battery abnormal", battery has failed screen. I tried the suggestions in this forum about charging without the main battery, putting it on the cradle while on, do it for several hours, etc, etc., no go. I did some more reading at the sites of the manufacturers of these NimH batteries and learned that they do, if completely drained due to shipping, etc., "die", but can be revived. The battery enters a 0 volt state, and this triggers the built in circuitry in the axim to not try to charge it. The same will actully happen with any decent charger: if it detects 0v it will not try to charge the battery for safety reasons. Most of the time the battery is not truly dead, and can be brought back. How? You need to jump start it with 1.5 to 2x its rated voltage, for 2 to 3 30 second cycles. I just did that a few hours ago, and my battery is now back to a "normal" state and holding charge. The way I did it: Took 2 AAA batteries, used electrical tape to tape them together in series, along with wire leads at each terminal. Checked with voltmeter for voltage at the wires from the rigged batteries, reads 2.54 volts. Good. You might want to attach the other end of the wires to something pointy, like a nail or needle, as it will make it much easier to do the next step. To check the voltage of the backup battery (bub) there's no need to remove it from the wrap. The tiny white connector has a couple of small, recessed silver tabs on the top of it, where the wires come in. It is much easier (though still a bit hard) to put your probe there then to try to stick it in the little holes in the tip of the connector. These silver tabs are also the easiest place to connect the wires to jump start the bub. When measuring the voltage in my bub it read 0 volts, as expected. Time to jump start it. Touch the positive wire from the rigged AAA batteries to the positive terminal of the bub. In my case, that was the red wire. At the same time touch the negative wire to the negative terminal of the bub, in my case it was the grey wire. Do it for only 5 seconds first, and check the temperature of the bub with your finger. If it got really hot, you might have the polarity wrong. Check the voltage of the bub again. Mine read 0.01V, hey, better than zero. Do it again, but now hold this connection for about 10 seconds. Careful not to short the wires, they are very close together, and if you do the rigged AAA cells will get very hot and.... ehr.. let's not think about it. Provided your bub is not very warm, do a third cycle, this time for 20 seconds. My bub got warm after this, but not hot. Voltage now reads 1.3 V. Yay! One word of caution now: leave reconnecting the battery to the motherboard for last, after all the other screws and connectors are already in place and you are ready to pop the back cover in its place. Why? You don't have your main battery in place, and your backup battery has very little charge in it. If it gets drained to 0V again whiler you're fidgeting with the back cover you're back to where you started. Call me paranoid, but I connected the charger to the axim first, so I'd have main power, then I plugged the white bub connector in its socket. Then I quickly put the back cover in place, installed the main battery, and screwed down the back cover. Anyway, this worked for me, but your mileage may vary.

bilyth

would it not be recommended to do this without a voltmeter? sounds like you can connect it..feel the warmth, connect again..fell the warmth etc...for 5, 10, then 20 sec...

& how "risky" is this whole procedure for someone not electronic knowledgeable- in terms of personal & pda safety.

thx

spider1950

I to had the same problem and was able to fix it by ordering a replacement backup battery from the following site. It cost right around $30.00 with shipping. Here is the site.

PDASmart is the Axim Repair and Axim Parts Headquarters!

When you get ready to replace the battery in the unit, do a search and find a video on how to open and replace the screen. (I think it's on UTube).

Just follow the instructions and that's it. It's fairly straight forward. I found that the only frustrating part was hooking back up the ribbon cables.

Just take your time and it's a snap. Took less than 20 minutes start to finish. The battery backup is working fawlessly.

Good Luck!
Spider1950

Beaker61

You might want to try this web site:PDASmart is the Axim Repair and Axim Parts Headquarters!

I am having similar problems with my backup internal battery and I am going to get a replacement from this company. They seem helpful. Let me know if you have any further problems or success.
beaker61:):)

hgonik

Worked great for me also, but I realized that is not necessary to take apart unit completely, just remove cover, release power connector tab as described in step 10 at:

Dell Axim X3 Take Apart Directions: PDAparts is the Palm Treo, HP iPAQ, Blackberry, iPhone, PDA Parts and Repair Specialist

And apply procedure described in this thread (the power connector released is that of the backup battery which is under motherboard), it will save you a lot of work!!

setec

Well, I didn't have a voltage meter. I tried the above and when I put it back together (with not screws in case I needed to take it apart), the backup battery said Normal!! So, I left it plugged in over night. When I looked at it this morning, it said abnormal. So, either it jumpstarted then failed again or I never it never got any voltage in the first place. Guess I need to get a voltage meter.

UPDATE: I have an SDIO GPS card coming, so I didn't want to guess on this since I didn't have a voltage meter. I ordered a battery for $20 + $8 shipping to PA with the link above. Thanks for posting that. And the post about using the voltage mater was fun to try out, even if it didn't work for me. Glad it worked for others.

RosaButton

Originally Posted by ErectDis

Ok, so the backup battery is dead and needs to be replaced on my Axim X30. It's got connectors leading from it to the motherboard an wrapped up in heat shrink. Where do you find a replacement or do you have to do it yourself, meaning add the connectors and heat shrink to the battery?

you can get one on eBay. just do a search and you will find it. they cost $5 plus S/H $5.

RosaButton

Originally Posted by RosaButton

you can get one on eBay. just do a search and you will find it. they cost $5 plus S/H $5.

It also comes with instructions and material.

Angellas

Originally Posted by alicialovejoy

If you have a voltmeter and a bit of skill you may not need to buy a new battery.

Alicialovejoy,

Your advice is SUPERB! As an electronics engineer, I NEVER thought of the charger's behavior. I kept getting stuck on the battery's inability to BE charged not the charger's unwillingness to DO the charging. I used 2xLR03 (AAA) checked @ 2.534v w/o load (used batteries). Positive-to-positive/neg-to-neg in 2 30-second cycles. Re-assembled the X30 the 'safe-way' (charger before battery insertion), and all is A-Ok! Back-up battery reading "Normal" and charge is at 100% (read via tool) after 24-hr charge.

Thanks a ton!!