patfla

Something else just occurred to me (and I've already messaged Gomadic to this effect). The battery currently in my x50v is an extended 2200 mAh battery. I found the battery life of the standard 1100 mAh that comes with the x50v to be too short, so bought this extended battery (which is larger and so I bought a special larger case as well).

I'm guessing that it takes more current to 'push' this larger capacity battery into recharge mode?

One way I can check on my own is when I get home this evening, to dig out the original 1100, swap it back in and then see if the Gomadic charger seems to work better.

However the 1100 might be completely drained and there also seems to be an issue of these external chargers working better when there's more rather than less remaining charge. If that's the case, then that would argue for charging it off the wall till it's over 50% and only then test the Gomadic charger on the 1100.

pat

msadler

I've been eyeing this one for some time:

http://www.socketcom.com/product/AC4009-614.asp

It's gotten good reviews but is pricey.

bill_n_opus

The Socket is nice ... but also take a look at the Tekkeon products.

Rated higher in capacity with comparable or better accessory set and also available at newegg.com for 86 bucks plus shipping - which I believe is significantly cheaper than the socket.

With your 2200mAh battery IIRC it requires more juice to charge than your OEM 1100mAh battery. What your gomadic could do with your 1100mAh battery - you have less leeway with your 2200mAh battery.

So, instead of waiting for ~60% left with your 1100mAh you'll have to probably slap in the gomadic at ~80% in order to get it going.

If you have the money then the Tekkeon and other products like it are the way to go because they have much more headroom to push out the amperage and you have selectable voltages which means you also power laptops and the like. They will charge your battery from dead i'm pretty sure.


Here, this is a link that taught me about the idiosyncracies of the Axim x50v/51v power issue(s). I always link it for future purposes.

http://www.pc-mobile.net/x50note.htm

I do have their battery extender and it does work but i'm careful to make sure that the batteries are fresh and of good quality so that there's enough useable voltage before it drops enough to shut off charging. I do use the OEM 1100mAh battery so it's easier than your 2200mAh battery. I can usually get ~ 1500-1800 or a bit more out of 4x2500mAh rated NiMh MiJ batts before having to recharge them.

Also, definitely you will have more problems charging your battery from dead ... try wall-charging (which the Dell OEM is 2A) up to a certain level (like 50%) and then swap to the extended charger and see what happens. I'll guess that your 2200mAh battery will have to get higher in charge before accepting your gomadic as an external charger.

Pocketbrain

Yes, it takes more current to recharge a larger battery. Also, try using high-capacity NiMH batteries. NiMH chemistry has much lower internal resistance than most other battery chemistries. This means that they can handle a larger discharge current while maintaining a usable terminal voltage. It's not a design flaw of the Dell Axim, It's a fact of physics.

(X)
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timepilot84

With my experiences using AA battery packs and a variety of voltage regulators, I keep finding that NiMH batteries just don't provide the amps to use the X51v and charge it at the same time. You get the flickery screen.

My latest attempt at finding a decent portable charger prompted me to buy a 5v 4400mAH li-ion PSP battery pack off of e-bay. I just got it in the mail today and am charging it up. The Socket battery costs way more than this one did (I think I paid ~$27 for the battery and shipping from England), and is the same size. Socket states that their battery is 4.4Ah @ 5V in the datasheet, the same as the el cheapo one I bought. Mine came with a nice case, too.

Any of the external power products for the PSP will work with the Axim X51v. They're all 5V and they use the same connector even. I use a cheap PSP car adapter for mine as well. Just be sure to buy and external battery, not a 3.7V internal PSP setup.

patfla

I was suprised to find that the original 1100 mAh claimed it was 76% charged when I pulled it out of the plastic bag in which it's been sitting for perhaps a year.

No go. Attach batter charger and turn it on. Red light goes on on battery charger and power button on the x50v goes orange/amber.

76%. Leave it an hr+ and come back. Still 76%.

Shit, this is getting quite annoying. Well I'll try one more thing. The 1100 mAh has been sitting unused for a year, so I'll recondition it. Full drain and the full charge.

In the meanwhile though it looks like the 777 that will take me to Tokyo is now fitted out with 15V at your seat - yowza! A colleague told me that in fact the airlines were now doing this and I called UAL and yes indeed my plane to Tokyo is thus equipped.

But that's weird - 15V? It appears that it's this system: www.igo.com. Never heard of them before. All the products appear to be there, but I don't find their web site to be very informative. I'll give them a call and see how it works.

In principle, I buy one apapter and then two seperate tips. I have my x50v of course but also an IBM (er, Lenovo) Thinkpad.

If that works, then I'm sending the extended batter pack back. It's too much of a pain-in-the-ass.

And once I'm down in SE Asia, there will pretty much always be a plug nearby and my devices (and is standard these days) do 50-60 Hz and 100-220 V. So all one needs are plug adpaters, which, if I rummage around, I'm pretty sure I'll find that I have the necessary ones already.

It's cool that planes (some, most?) are now outfitted with in-seat electrical outputs. Provided that is, that this 15V/igo system works OK.

pat

msadler

Originally Posted by patfla

I was suprised to find that the original 1100 mAh claimed it was 76% charged when I pulled it out of the plastic bag in which it's been sitting for perhaps a year. No go. Attach batter charger and turn it on. Red light goes on on battery charger and power button on the x50v goes orange/amber. 76%. Leave it an hr+ and come back. Still 76%. Shit, this is getting quite annoying. Well I'll try one more thing. The 1100 mAh has been sitting unused for a year, so I'll recondition it. Full drain and the full charge. In the meanwhile though it looks like the 777 that will take me to Tokyo is now fitted out with 15V at your seat - yowza! A colleague told me that in fact the airlines were now doing this and I called UAL and yes indeed my plane to Tokyo is thus equipped. But that's weird - 15V? It appears that it's this system: www.igo.com. Never heard of them before. All the products appear to be there, but I don't find their web site to be very informative. I'll give them a call and see how it works. In principle, I buy one apapter and then two seperate tips. I have my x50v of course but also an IBM (er, Lenovo) Thinkpad. If that works, then I'm sending the extended batter pack back. It's too much of a pain-in-the-ass. And once I'm down in SE Asia, there will pretty much always be a plug nearby and my devices (and is standard these days) do 50-60 Hz and 100-220 V. So all one needs are plug adpaters, which, if I rummage around, I'm pretty sure I'll find that I have the necessary ones already. It's cool that planes (some, most?) are now outfitted with in-seat electrical outputs. Provided that is, that this 15V/igo system works OK. pat

The igo products are sold by Radio Shack here in the States, if you want to look at them before you buy. I've used them for my laptop, Palm Tungsten, and cell phone and they work. They just receintly came out with a x50/51 tip. I have not tried it. I don't think they sell an external battery, but you can plug their adapters into wall / car / airplane. Not many USA airplanes have power outlets in coach. Overseas may be different.

Pocketbrain

Originally Posted by patfla

I was suprised to find that the original 1100 mAh claimed it was 76% charged when I pulled it out of the plastic bag in which it's been sitting for perhaps a year. No go. Attach batter charger and turn it on. Red light goes on on battery charger and power button on the x50v goes orange/amber. 76%. Leave it an hr+ and come back. Still 76%. Shit, this is getting quite annoying. Well I'll try one more thing. The 1100 mAh has been sitting unused for a year, so I'll recondition it. Full drain and the full charge. In the meanwhile though it looks like the 777 that will take me to Tokyo is now fitted out with 15V at your seat - yowza! A colleague told me that in fact the airlines were now doing this and I called UAL and yes indeed my plane to Tokyo is thus equipped. But that's weird - 15V? It appears that it's this system: www.igo.com. Never heard of them before. All the products appear to be there, but I don't find their web site to be very informative. I'll give them a call and see how it works. In principle, I buy one apapter and then two seperate tips. I have my x50v of course but also an IBM (er, Lenovo) Thinkpad. If that works, then I'm sending the extended batter pack back. It's too much of a pain-in-the-ass. And once I'm down in SE Asia, there will pretty much always be a plug nearby and my devices (and is standard these days) do 50-60 Hz and 100-220 V. So all one needs are plug adpaters, which, if I rummage around, I'm pretty sure I'll find that I have the necessary ones already. It's cool that planes (some, most?) are now outfitted with in-seat electrical outputs. Provided that is, that this 15V/igo system works OK. pat

You don't need to "condition" a Li-Ion battery, but a discharge-recharge would recalibrate the battery meter.
If you have fresh batteries in the extension and your PDA is off an still no recharge, then that is a serious defect in the external battery.
Have you tried NiMH rechargable yet?


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timepilot84

You don't need a fancy/expensive power pack to take advantage of the 15V that the airlines provide. What you need is an Airline to Car Adapter and a cheap PSP Car Charger. This setup will allow you to take advantage of the power systems on airlines with your Axim.

I wish Hawaiian Airlines would put DC power systems into their planes. The reason I need a portable power system is to fly to Maui and back every year. That would make it so much easier.

FYI- the L-ion battery I got yesterday can't crank out enough amps to stop the flicker. It's a great battery though. I think my solution is to use my cradle to charge my extra batteries, with the 4.4Ah 5V battery powering it. So far, the only solution that I've found that will allow you to charge and play at the same time is a deep cycle lead acid battery connected to my PSP charger. Unfortunately, you can't fly with a lead acid battery.

timepilot84

I decided to quit pussy footing around with the tiny batteries and ordered one of these PR-2310 Monsters. I was looking at the battery options and this just seems like a great solution for many power options, not just my Axim. It uses the versaplug tips you can get a Radio Shack and can power stuff up to 12 volts. It has twice the capacity of the Socket battery pack for about 60% of the cost.

I will have a portable power solution that works the way I'd like it to!

MichaelWilliams

Hi,

I bought a rechargable PSP battery unit a few weeks ago on eBay.
The PSP uses the same connector and voltage as the Axim. With the supplied travel power plug that came with my Axim I am able to recharge the axim several times with this. Additionally the power unit itself is very easy to recharge as it (of course) uses the same power plug again as Axim. The power unit also sports a builtin power indicator with six steps.

At the same time I bought one of the usual battery extenders. These are also very nice. Not as easy to recharge however, and neither the same power nor any power meter.

Just my five cent
:) Will

bill_n_opus

Originally Posted by timepilot84

I decided to quit pussy footing around with the tiny batteries and ordered one of these PR-2310 Monsters. I was looking at the battery options and this just seems like a great solution for many power options, not just my Axim. It uses the versaplug tips you can get a Radio Shack and can power stuff up to 12 volts. It has twice the capacity of the Socket battery pack for about 60% of the cost. I will have a portable power solution that works the way I'd like it too!

I hope this works out for you. Well, i'm pretty sure it will.

Did you check out the Tekkeon product? (no, I don't work for them)

Because the Tekkeon has a claimed higher capacity when you do the math.

The pr-2310 is a lithium-ion which gives out a claimed capacity of 7.2 Ah at a rated 5V. The Tekkeon is lithium-polymer (lighter, more power per ounce) and is claimed rated at 40Wh which if you break it down from 40Wh/5V is ~ 9Ah.

The Tekkeon is also 86 bucks plus 6 dollar shipping and newegg usually has great customer service.

The one thing that the batterybarn product has over the Tekkeon is the extra accessories in the package. If you need those, or find those extras a necessity then it would make more sense to try that product out.

However, the Tekkeon looks much better IMO and also carries 8 adapter tips versus 4 for the Batterybarn product.

colorebel

Just got back from a roadtrip, 8 hour drive in each direction. FWIW, I bought the Datel PSP50 battery extender for PSP (based on some recommendations here). With my x51v on the lowest brightness setting and PocketPlayer playing mp3s at about 25% volume (with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off), the fully charged each way Datel kept the x51v a fully charged green, not requiring any power draw from the internal battery.

The Datel has a battery life gauge of 25/50/75/100 percent. At the end of the 8 hour drive in each case the battery pack indicated 25%. Would have liked to known how much longer it would have lasted, may have to wait until the next roadtrip.

timepilot84

UPDATE: I've been using the 4.4Ah PSP battery, even though when I first tried it it caused the screen flicker. For whatever reason, the flickering stops after a few minutes and the battery works great. The Axim reports that it's charging and all is good. I'm going to make the screen the same brightness with power connected and on battery, and it'll work great.

Pocketbrain

Originally Posted by timepilot84

UPDATE: I've been using the 4.4Ah PSP battery, even though when I first tried it it caused the screen flicker. For whatever reason, the flickering stops after a few minutes and the battery works great. The Axim reports that it's charging and all is good. I'm going to make the screen the same brightness with power connected and on battery, and it'll work great.

Likely, the flickering stops either because it's actually charging as it flickers, so the battery ends up not pulling as much current, or possibly it pushes a few more milliamps when it warms up. Have you started it from 100% Axim battery yet?


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__________________
The plural of Wii is Wiii.

boot up. log on. drop out.

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE SYNTHESIZED