What depletes the Backup Battery?

[gforeman]

I've had the Axe for 1 week and only removed the main battery once. I notice that my B/U battery is at 90% now. Is this normal?

[timinnes]

sorry - this isnt an answer for you but I noticed the same thing last night. My main battery seems to stay charged but whilst checking power levels I noticed that the backup had lost 10%. Ive had mine about 10 days - if it contunues at this rate I'll be replacing it after the summer. No idea if this is normal but you are not on your own.

[gforeman]

Funny, but today, the B/U battery is back at 100%

My Axim has a mind of its own. I believe by the end of the week it will become self aware and take over my life :-)

[Rick@Dell]

Don't put much stock in the backup battery indicator unless the AXIM reports the battery as being completely drained.

[cavuu]

What you are seeing with the battery is normal, or at least the way it is. The battery is not discharging or changing, but the circuit that monitors the battery voltage/charge is not reporting the battery condition correctly. Assuming that you have not removed the main battery for an extended period the backup battery will vary from 80-100%. This does not cause any problems and not to worry unless it gets below 70%. Search for other posts on this problem.

[JakeRich]

Actually, the circuit is reporting accurately, but with too high sensitivity. A 0.01v drop from 3.00v is reported as an 80% level battery. That small change can come from temperature changes alone. When you soft reset the machine and the temperature has changed again, the battery looks like it goes back up. The threshold for these changes is right at 3.00 volts, which is the nominal voltage on the backup battery Dell sends out. If you get a fresh one ($3 at RadioShack), it is actually slightly above 3.00 v and the gauge never drops below 100%, even if the temperature fluctuates. Basically don't worry about it unless it drops below 70% and stays there. (Or get a new one from RS and eliminate the phenomenon.)