Battery Life Diminishing?

[Fzara]

I've ready about the Axim's battery life being one of the best battery lives in the entire Pocket PC market, however, my Axim isn't the same.

I'm running an Axim X5 400mhz, with the backlight at about half-bright, using it normally with the Linksys WCF12 802.11B CF Card, and a Sandisk 32 SD mb card.

Heres the problem: I use the Axim for about 1.5 hrs, and the battery warning comes on. Any of you experiencing this with your Axim similarly?

I'm thinking I should call up Dell this weekend and ask for a battery replacement, and possibly get my PXA255 processor upgrade too with my D-Pad problem. :mrgreen:

[PetiteFlower]

Wifi drains the battery pretty quickly, try running it without the wifi card in and it should last much longer.

[Brad Adrian]

And, if memory serves, the warning comes up at the 40% level, so you still have some juice left after that.

[Bearjaw]

In the settings for your wifi card make sure the box is checked in the power save. this may extend your wifi time. I dont know how it works but it works for me.

[Fzara]

Well, I knew Wi Fi drew alot of battery power, however, my battery life has been pretty bad for the start.

It all started when I didnt charge the device when I first got it, for the reccomended number of hours, and I started using it after about 40-50% of battery. I'm thinking if I send the battery back to Dell, most probably i'll get a completely charged, working battery, which could possibly live up to my "Axim 4-5 hr battery life" expectation, that everyone else has had.

On a side note, the power save is on, and has been on, but only works after about 5-10 minutes of inactivity of the Linksys CF Card.

[Brad Adrian]

I'm not sure that using the device before the battery was fully charged would kill its capacity to that great an extent. That quoted 4-5 hour battery life refers to use under the most spartan conditions: no backlight, etc. So, what you're experiencing may not be that much out of the ordinary.

[jimski]

I would be very happy to get 1.5 hours of use, running WiFi, out of my iPAQ 5450 before the first low battery warning.It's typically closer to 1 hour (with backlight at about 40%). That's why I have two spare batteries (still waiting for the extended battery). I really don't think you have much to complain about.

[PetiteFlower]

I don't think so, I keep my backlight at half and I can use it for MUCH longer then an hour and a half(days) and I've never gotten it even to 40%. Don't use wifi though.

I still say see what kind of battery life you get with the wifi card out before you make any decisions.

[SlimDady]

its gota be teh wifi

i run my axim for an hour and a half backlight on it downs toabout 91 percent remaining

[ethancaine]

I have the same WiFi card for my Axim, and I get the same results... massive battery drain while in use... However, I've run the battery down to 20% and it took a hair over three hours... with the WiFi card in and the screen on full. i always use full brightness and I've never had a problem with battery life. Also, I have two batteries and I didn't wait on the first one either. I did wait on the second one and I get identical result from the two. One of the reasons they want you to wait that long is so that the heating up of the battery will help dissipate and condensation in the unit (just like when you buy a new PC the say let it sit at room temp for four hours before turning power on). I will say that I have the 255, and that does play a significant role in battery life with my usage habits (I returned my first Axim with a screen problem).

[maximus]

I am using the 3400mAH battery, and basically I never run out of charge. A GPRS card is always plugged on my axim, except when I need to connect to office network, then (and only then) the wifi card is plugged.

This is my daily routine :

{start}
6 am : axim alarm went off, unit switched on.
check schedules, take a bath, grab a cup of coffee, run to the MRT station right in front of the apartment building.
listen to mp3s/check email/icq/sms during my 30 minutes on the MRT.
play games/make phone calls/browse internet/do A LOT OF smses/connect to icq/listen to mp3s/etc. during the 1st half of the day.
check/answer email/icq/sms during lunch.
play games/make phone calls/browse internet/do A LOT OF smses/connect to icq/listen to mp3s/etc. again during the 2nd half of the day.
have after-office fun (this is practically the only time when my axim is idle)
go home, check/answer email/icq/sms again (girlfriend is abroad, long distance relationship demands lotsa email/icq/sms) ...
watch TV, brush teeth ...
beep beep ... 40% charge warning.
put axim on cradle.
put myself on the cradle (bed)
enter hybernation mode
making plan (dream mode) on what to do with the $10 million that I am going to own when I am 40.
goto {start}