klt

I bought the extra USB cable from dell website when ordering my axim 51v couple of months ago, thinking it was a 'mini' cradle but since found out that it is merely a USB cable for active sync to the desk top.

Now, I presume it should also charge up my x51v via the USB but this doesn't happen?!! why??

When I leave it linked to the desktop couple of hours nothing happens! How can I charge it up? I bought the extra cable so that I can have one at home and one at office.

thanks

bryanbellis

In the end I bought a 2nd mains lead and cradle so I could have one at work to sync to too. Seemed best in the end, and solved all the problems. Bought them direct from Dell UK.

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Axim X30H (Nice) - Sold
XDA Orbit - Very sweet
Palm IIIx (for if the Orbit goes on strike!)
Ex Palm T3 owner

bigdave240

the usb cables won't usually work (some do) unless you turn off the pda. They draw a lot of current and a usb port won't put out enough to charge/run the pda. the problem with using the usb cable to charge is that if you leave it connected overnight it will turn on at midnight like it always do then it probably won't turn back off and will drain the battery so you will find it dead in the morning.

JNDSDA

There are two type of USB cables, one only synchronize and another have capacity of synchronizng and charging. You will need to read description carefully on what type of cable it is.

bigdave240

that is sort of correct. when the x50v first came out there were many claims of being able to sync and charge at the same time but that was proven to not be true pretty quick. The problem is that the vga screen draws a lot of power. the standard usb port only allows 500 mA but the unit needs more than twice that especially if the battery is fairly low. there were a few stories about blown up ports in pc's. There are cables still out there and stories to go with them about being able to do both but I don't think it is a good idea even if it seems to work. sort of like you can't get blood from a rock, you can't get more power from a usb port. But they will work just fine to bring the battery back up if you leave it turned off.

msadler

Originally Posted by klt

I bought the extra USB cable from dell website when ordering my axim 51v couple of months ago, thinking it was a 'mini' cradle but since found out that it is merely a USB cable for active sync to the desk top. Now, I presume it should also charge up my x51v via the USB but this doesn't happen?!! why?? When I leave it linked to the desktop couple of hours nothing happens! How can I charge it up? I bought the extra cable so that I can have one at home and one at office. thanks

If you have the USB cable that I think you do, it will not charge an Axim unless you plug a power supply into it. If the the cable has a power supply connector built into the contector that plugs into the axim, it needs the power supply to charge the axim.

As other people have reported in this thread, there are some USB cables that will charge if the Axim is turned off (with mixed results). I bought a cradle from ebay that I use at work.