problem with 3756 not using expansion battery

[markcrump]

I've noticed recently my ipaq hasn't been using the external battery. It reads a full in the power monitor, although even at a "full" charge it took an hour or so for it to stop blinking today. I've run out of juice a few times this weekend, getting the ever popular "battery low" problem It's possible that the sled got jostled real hard (a slight fall that didn't affect the unit) and the battery is out of place so...

1) is this a common problem?

2) how do I take the sled appart to re-seat the battery in case it's a tad loose?

[powder2000]

Are you talking about a pccard sleeve or something similar? If so, there should be some small torx screws on the ipaq side of the sled. Just unscrew all (don't lose 'em) and check to make sure the battery is seated correctly. If it is, you have the hard part done, so just order a new battery from one of the few online retailers for replacement batteries. Hope this helps.

[markcrump]

Yeah.. that's it exactly.

I took it apart, and it didn't seem loose. On the other hand, I couldn't figure out how to actually separate the battery to reseat it, so I just pressed the edges to make sure. A lot of times something gets just loose enough to trick a system into thinking its connected.

What happened is the ipaq fell from a counter to the floor and landed face down. No damage seems to have been done, the unit and the sleeve function ok in terms of data, but this morning was the first time I've tried to listen to MP3's.

I've been running the media player as a test, and prior to the dismantling it got to about 50% in less than 30 min. After checking the connections, it's floating between 30-40% and the external is still full.

Is this what I need? http://www.pocketpctechs.com/detail.asp?Product_ID=IPAQLIBAT01 If so, it's about the same cost as a new sleeve, which I might consider replacing entirely if the problem is a cable got broken in the fall.

[markcrump]

Oh.. one other thing.

Prior the mis-hap, the two batteries would discharge together.

[powder2000]

OK, usually under the battery is a piece of very sticky two-sided tape. It may take some patience but peal the battery away and check to make sure the battery connector didn't jar loose or all the way off. It should snap into place when seated properly. Good luck.

[markcrump]

I took it apart again, but didn't want to risk removing the battery. I figued anything with that much tape on it was unlikely to loose. :)

What I've noticed though testing out is this:

1- The main battery goes down faster than it used to.
2- The external battery never drops below 100%
2.1 However, if after letting the main battery get to 20%, I plug in ONLY the expansion pack it takes about 20-30 min to charge up the expansion pack.

If I was certain it was just the battery, and not a cable inside the sleeve that got busted in the crash, I'd just replace the battery. I'm leaning towards trying to find a replacement sled.

I assume both batteries are supposed to go down together? I saw some reports where people were having the same issue. Is this syptomatic of a dead battery?

[markcrump]

ok.. I figured it out.

It's the internal battery that's shot. If I charge it to full and take it out of the cradle it almost immediately drops to 80% power. If I leave it on longer, it just keeps dropping. This is without the sled attached. WIth the sled, the internal battery jumps up in power.

I was thinking of getting a newer ipaq, but I only have $200 to spend, and about 400mb of CF Cards, so I'm thinking of getting the repair kit from http://www.ipaqrepair.com/ipaqrepaircenter.html.

I'm a pretty technical person, but never taken one of these apart. I take it it's a pretty easy repair since they sell them "do it yerself"?