Battery life dramatically reduced

three_sixteen · 05-20-05, 05:24 PM

It seems like my battery is only lasting for about 5 hours without being on the charger. Some of the connector pins on the bottom of the device are bent and making contact, but I have a hard time believing that this would cause the battery to drain while the device is off. I've discharged/recharged the battery about 3 times now in hopes that the battery life would pop back up to normal but I'm afraid that it hasn't done anything. After losing all of the saved information on the device about 3 times now I'm starting to get sick of this happening.

Am I missing a setting somewhere or is this a hardware faulire that I should try to get Dell to fix?

Thanks!

Gigi · 05-20-05, 05:26 PM

Five hours sounds really good! How many hours were you expecting?

BTW, welcome to Aximsite!

three_sixteen · 05-20-05, 05:30 PM

I can remember when I first got the thing that I could take it off the charger, listen to mp3s on the bus until I got to work (15-30 minutes) turn it off and then turn it back on with my battery life practically untouched. Now I do the same routine, only when I leave work my battery is nearly dead. What changed that my battery is constantly being drained?

FlyACL · 05-20-05, 05:31 PM

I would say five hours is "dramatically" good depending on what you are doing. Best I usually see (if you pretend the spb battery indicator is correct) is about 6 hours will the screen turned down low, no BT or Wi-FI, and no high graphic stuff like movies.

Congrats on haveing a normal battery! :)

three_sixteen · 05-20-05, 05:33 PM

Im so confused.. it just seems like the battery used to last a lot longer than it does now :(

GWing_02 · 05-20-05, 08:18 PM

I think his issue is that the battery is still draining even when the device is off.

Are you getting 5 hours from off-the-charger to dead time or 5 hours of "on" time?

three_sixteen · 05-20-05, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by GWing_02

I think his issue is that the battery is still draining even when the device is off.

Are you getting 5 hours from off-the-charger to dead time or 5 hours of "on" time?

Five hours from when I take it off of the charger.

05-20-05, 10:31 PM

try bending the connectors back. also what is the backup battery doing?

three_sixteen · 05-20-05, 10:46 PM

I have bent them back, but theres still a few I cant stop from touching.. it charges fine and connects to my computer fine. My backup battery always charges up to normal.

05-23-05, 01:07 PM

You might have a program running that is doing something to drain the battery. Have you tried hard reseting and seeing if it continues?

three_sixteen · 05-24-05, 12:05 AM

Well, when the battery dies everything on the Axim gets wiped saved for whats on my memory card, so it certainly can't be a program thats running. I sort of suspect that the battery may just be dying.

axzilla · 05-24-05, 12:12 PM

If you have pins touching each other then this is probably draining your battery. One has power on it and the other must have ground so you make a short circuit when they touch each other. Try carefully to seperate any pins that touch each other and your battery will last again.

three_sixteen · 05-24-05, 01:24 PM

Argh, I went to Dells support site and still have 40 days while it's still under warranty. I'm just going to RMA the thing and be done with it.

Amy · 05-24-05, 02:53 PM

Another consideration might be what is running while it is getting short battery life.
For example - running power through the screen (so that the unit turns on when you touch the screen instead of the power button) uses more of the battery.
You might also want to check your screen illumination and sleep settings.

three_sixteen · 05-24-05, 05:10 PM

Already RMAed. They wouldn't replace it at first -- but with a little persuasion and an angry voice I got both the Axim and the charger cable replaced :)