beackup battery or main battery?

[Choirguy]

This thread should be moved to the X5 forum, where it belongs and will help the most people.

[Gigi]

This thread should be moved to the X5 forum, where it belongs and will help the most people.

Done... :)

[RobertCF]

You know, I've not once heard anyone just grab a multimeter and really MEASURE their allegedly dead/dieing battery to see if the battery really is depleted. I certainly would be doing that before spending copious amounts of money on new batteried. Multimeters aren't expensive (they're handy tools to have around the house). Or just go down to your neighborhood Radio Shack and ask them to test the battery before you buy one. A common problem in the X5 is the tiny feelers that connect with the batter get "relaxed" and don't make a good contact, thereby causing a false reading. I know this because my wife had that problem with hers. I've not run into that on mine (yet).

I did appreciate, though that Sunarise posted the info on the different manufacturers' batteries not being the same. I'll definitely be picky when it comes time to buy a BuB for my X5 (two years, still going strong).

[Axim X5er]

i replaced mine because i thought it was the reason of unexpected hard reset but i just tested it and it read three volts

[Cepeu]

You know, I've not once heard anyone just grab a multimeter and really MEASURE their allegedly dead/dieing battery to see if the battery really is depleted.

Of course that would be a reasonable course of action but after having my first battery for a year one does not really do that.
The problem first occured after a soft or hard reset. As the battery was an old one I figured that it probably has to do with a new adjusting of the software and the battery beeing old.
I bought a second battery and the problem went away to come back shortly after.
I though that I might have bought too cheap a battery and bought a name brand one. I got the problem again (right after putting it in). I then bend the contacts after reading the advice here but that did not help.
In fact I did the hard/software reset procedure as described above without bending the contacts again as this did not help in the first place. Only after above procedure did my axim accept the exact SAME battery. So I still think it is a software adjustment problem.

But as everyone knows only time will show if that really cured the problem and other users who are able to fix their axim by the same procedure.
Therefore any post good or bad would help to find a fix or establish if there is a way to get rid of that annoying problem.

I used a multi meter exactly for that reason to see if it is a voltage problem as stated above. As my battery was full I doubt that really is the problem.

[takers84]

I don't think it's a software problem because I've been having the same problem with my X5 and last night the backup battery completely died and i happened to have it next to the cradle and threw it on there right as the Dell blue screen (of death) that comes on at a reset was coming on.
Furthermore, it isn't even using the main battery at all. So now it's living on the cradle until I find a solution! Any other ideas?

There's also this I pulled from another forum:
This is an extremely common and annoying problem with Dell Axim X5's--one of several serious ones for which Dell takes little or no responsibility (the worst being the unreliability of alarms and often backups). Between Dell and (especially) Microsoft, I now recommended Palms to all my clients and friends, despite (rather, because of) my having owned several Pocket PCs.

Possible Solutions:

Get a different brand of backup battery (they're all nominally rated 3V, but some are actually closer to 3.3, others 3.0--the Axim X5 needs one at least 3.2, apparently)--some have had success with Panasonic and Varta.

Fold up a little piece of paper and put it between the backup battery and the outer case to put pressure on it and ensure better contact

CAREFULLY bend out the prongs underneath the backup battery to make them come into firmer contact with the backup battery.


I've tried the last two and still have the problem; I'm going to try the first and see if that helps.

[KC9AAH]

I bent up the prongs under the backup battery and my battery life jumped 34%.

[SimonMWatts]

Just for reference I have an Energiser battery that went from 100% to 0% on the Dell meter in about 2 days from new. I cleaned the battery and contacts, made sure they were tight and still the same issue. Measuring the open circuit voltage I get 3.175V so I guess the 3.2V is really an issue, I will try and source a Panasonic battery in the UK.

Incidentally previous Energizers had been a little better, lasting a few months at least.

Thanks :-)
Simon

Backup battery problem A5(may solved)!!!
Hi Aximguys,

I have had also the backup battery problem my friend and I solved it. At first we connected a DC-Source instead a new backup battery on the pins and we found out that the Axim needs 3,09 to 3,25V to show 90 to 100% on display!!! Then we bought some batterys 2032 from different manufacturers and we found also out that they have small but different voltages (about 200mV) e.g.:

Panasonic 3,3V
Varta 3,25V
Newsun (trash!) 3,01V
...all 2032!

This difference in voltages is very important because if you have installed a "new" one with 3,01V this won´t solve your backup battery problem and you would never think the new battery caused the problem again!!!

!!!!Buy a Panasonic or Varta with 3.3V and then your b.battery problem will be solved till the end of time!!!!

yours steveaxt & Don Padre(Germany)

ps.: I also informed the Dell-Support-Serviceteam in Germany!

Note.: Dear reader please inform every friend or collegue about this solution according the "BackupBatteryProblem" a lot of Axims would be pleased!!!


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