From: Brian Bender (bbender_at_vocollect.com)
Date: Wed Jul 19 2000 - 12:45:01 EDT
A question to you guys who like to leave the batteries out:
Do you then plug the AC adapter into a proper UPS?
If not, why the heck are you defeating one of the great unsung features
of a notebook PC (the built-in UPS)? Is the work you're doing that
unimportant? <humor>Or are you just used to your OS locking up all the
time and hoping the disk is clean or repairable when it reboots
anyway?</humor>
(KIDDING! I was KIDDING!!!! I'm just poking fun at the flame-war
threads with that last comment! If anyone was offended: grow a sense of
humor already...)
Seriously, though, _I_ wouldn't spend any significant time on _any_
machine without a UPS.
- Brian Bender
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
TP600: 10GB HDD, 224MB RAM, WinNT5 / Slack7 Linux dual-booting
nicely.
One battery or the other _always_ installed.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alden S Klovdahl [mailto:Alden.Klovdahl_at_anu.edu.au]
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 5:32 AM
To: Randal Whittle
Cc: TP List
Subject: Re: Tech Support Problems -'defective battery' - T20
the T20 manual reads as follows:
"Extending the life of your computer's battery
....
The following tips can help you to extend the life of your battery:
. Do not recharge the battery pack until all of its power is used.
Recharging a battery pack that is not completely discharged can
shorten battery life.
. Once you start charging the battery pack, do not use it until it
is fully charged.
...."
so, if you keep your battery in, because of the absence of a battery
compartment cover, you invariably reduce the life of your battery.
if you take your battery out to extend its life, because of the absence
of a battery cover you risk damage to T20's 'underbelly'?
that doesn't strike me as an ideal choice.
looking at a T20 battery, it seems it would be fairly straighforward
either to take the cover (before its 'glued' to the battery itself)
and provide that as a battery compartment cover, or alternatively,
glue this cover to a plastic 'waffle/eggcrate' piece (for greater
strength) and provide this as a battery compartment cover.
unbundle it and sell it, fine, but make it available for anyone
who wants it.
regards, al
> > > my unit. I have only had my 1420i for less than 2 months, and the
> > > battery only holds a one hour charge. Plus, it looses all of its
charge
> > > within a week of no use. The man said, "This is normal with the
type of
> > > battery that came with your unit". (Ni-Mh)
>
>
> >if so, and if such a cover is not purchasable, this would mean a
choice of
> >running the machine on AC without the battery with a big hole in the
bottom,
> >or running it on AC with the battery in all the time. if the latter
would
> >not this tend to shorten the battery life considerably? ... the
drops in
> >charge that would invariably occur if one forgot to plug in to AC
before
> >turning the machine on, then did so later, followed by the re-charge
from
> >partially empty to full.
>
> It was indeed a problem on the earlier TP's (I really burned
up a
> battery on the TP 750C by leaving it plugged in all the time. It
would
> drain slowly to something under 100%, then charge back up, drain
slowly
> again...etc.)
>
> The good news is (a) Li-Ion batteries don't discharge
themselves
> as readily as NiMH batts do, (b) The "Memory Effect" is significantly
> diminished over NiMH batts, and (c) the charging circuitry is smarter
now
> than it was earlier.
>
> In a nutshell, I haven't had any "kill the battery" problems
> since...oh, barring a few odd issues with the 701, since that 750.
That
> means my 560, 600, and now 1-month old T20, didn't seem to have that
problem.
>
Alden S Klovdahl / alden.klovdahl_at_anu.edu.au / fax: +61 2 62 49 05
25
Sociology Arts / Australian National University / Canberra ACT
Australia 0200
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