Why does my back-up battery discharge?

Bazx5 · 03-22-04, 08:22 AM

My main battery shows 99% and the back-up shows 80%.
I would have thought that the back-up didn't kick in until the main battery was exhausted.
Is this battery performance normal?

Thanks.

03-22-04, 12:35 PM

im not sure what you are talking about, but i think when a battery is charged, but you dont use it for a while, it looses aome of its charge.

spoon · 03-22-04, 01:11 PM

If you read some of the threads on this site, there are many guys with this problem. Some of the solutions are shimming the battery to make better contact etc. - hunt around and you will see it`s a big problem.

As for me, it happened too so I put a similar post to yours a week or so ago. My back up went to 40% overnight for no apparent reason and my main was 100% - did`nt make sense.

After trying some of the suggestions on this site,to no avail, I just
bought a new battery and it seems to be fine (at least for a week now)

Sorry this is not an answer to your question - but you are not alone.

jaugust · 03-22-04, 02:21 PM

Has anyone every contacted Dell about this (what I call) defect? My AXIM 5-400 always looses backup battery life over the course of a month. I actually have a box-o-batteries on standby, plus I back up my data once a week. This has been going on long since I upgraded to PocketPC 2003. The threads of thise site have been helpfull, but they only seem to work about 50% of the time. Once I thought I got to stop, sure enough it started again. So I don't know what the flaw is with the hardware, but I wish they would address it with Dell. I never had this problem with my old CASIO Windows CE device. Anywho, my 2cents.
Wish you all the best in figuring this one out.

ikehiker · 03-22-04, 05:29 PM

I'm assuming since this is in the X3 forum that Bazx5 has an X3, in which case most of the replies above do not address his problem. The X3 has a rechargable battery which is not accessible - thus there is no way to 'shim' it nor, of course, replace it. Bazx5, normally, it takes longer for the backup to achieve a full charge so if you've just recently gotten your Axim, make sure to leave it on the charger overnight at least once (it's actually good for the Li-ion main battery to be kept fully charged so I keep my PPCs connected to the power supply whenever I'm not using them, include all night every night).

For you guys with the X5 and this problem, make sure you've upgraded at least to version A02 of PPC02 since the original ROM had a problem with battery reporting. Even with the newer ROMs, this tends to be a recurring problem (but less than it was with PPC02 ROM A00). It's been suggested that the metering process itself uses some power and eventually wears down the battery. I replaced the original battery that came with my X5 less than a month after I received it (probably due to the A00 problem) and that replacement lasted about 11 months before I started getting the low battery warning again. I replaced that battery and it's been steady 100% for the 3 months since.

Bazx5 · 03-22-04, 05:55 PM

Thanks for the good input.
I do have the X3i. Both batteries were fully charged and the unit is regularly re-charged where both the main and the back-up batteries read 100%.
What is confusing me is that the back-up battery seems to be going from 100% to 80% in the same time that it takes the main battery to go from 100% to 99%.
In my thought process the back-up should stay at 100% until the main battery gets low enough.
It's not a problem as such at the moment but I fear that when I really need the back-up battery to actually back me up it will be flat.

ikehiker · 03-22-04, 06:01 PM

You may want to contact Dell about this. Realize that the backup is only intended to keep power to the ROM for a short period of time when the main battery is removed or depleted. It's not meant to actually run the PPC.

Odie2004 · 03-23-04, 04:47 PM

I just wanted to say that I also noticed this on my X3i today.

The reason I probably didn't notice before was that the power utility only says "normal" for the backup battery, and I recently installed WisBar advanced which gives an actual reading.

Is it possible that the WisBar reading is incorrect? (it does show 100% for awhile before dipping to 80%, although I have to say that I've not yet seen it go any lower)

- Odie

sheepy · 03-23-04, 06:53 PM

Previously when this was discussed I remember someone posted information about the type of rechargable battery that the backup battery is... basically there is no way of accurately detecting the charge level in it due to the type of battery it is, so don't pay much attention to the readings if they're wandering around between 70 and 100%....

I'm sure that's what someone posted anyway last time this was discussed a few months ago. Don't quote me on it ;)

mark

Odie2004 · 03-24-04, 04:52 AM

I think you're probably right Mark. Mine went "down" to 80% and then later was back "up" at 100%

That's probably why the Power utility doesn't show a value itself.

- Odie

SUNARISE · 03-24-04, 01:26 PM

AXIM 5 HERE

I have not been on for a while but I to stated taht I was having these problems and mine goes from 0 to 40 to 80 to 100 to 40 to 0

I reset the PC when it is at 0 and 80% of the time it goes up to some other number so in my mind it is a software issue and not the battery leads or battery.

I have tried bending the tabs on the leads.

I have tried the battery boost of adding something in the bay to push harder on the battery.

I have 2003 so I am fully updated.

I HAVE called DELL and they (the first rate tech support) say there is no know issue.

There used to be a good Dell guy that hung out in this forum, maybe we can get him to do some investigating.

BY THE WAY - I DID NOT HAVE THIS PROBLEM UNITL I WENT TO PPC2003