do you always leave your ipaq in it's cradle??

[Chauzer]

i just got a new ipaq 4155..before i had a 1945. with my 1945 i used to only charge it if the battery was low, or only right before i sleep and then take out it in the morning..

but i just got a new 4155 and i read the quick start sheet, and it says for best power to always leave the ipaq in it's cradle when not in use. is this true? what do u guys do?

also, the orange light always blinks while it's charging right? and will be solid orange when it's full?

thanks!

[Jeff Rutledge]

I leave mine in the cradle all day while at work. It seems to work well.

[Kevin Remhof]

I used to keep my iPAQ 3765 in a cradle. But I didn't have much of a choice. After about 2 years, the battery was in such bad shape that I had to keep charging it.

Now with my iPAQ 1945, I just charge it (no cradle for me) when I need to. I prefer this method. I even took an old key ring and threaded the cables through it so I could hide it better on my desk. The key ring keeps it from falling down between my desktops (cubicle).

[Chris Spera]

I used to keep my iPAQ 3765 in a cradle. But I didn't have much of a choice. After about 2 years, the battery was in such bad shape that I had to keep charging it.

Now with my iPAQ 1945, I just charge it (no cradle for me) when I need to. I prefer this method. I even took an old key ring and threaded the cables through it so I could hide it better on my desk. The key ring keeps it from falling down between my desktops (cubicle).

The older iPAQ 3000's were like this. The 3900, and 5000 series devices and later (including the 1940/5, 2210/5, 4100 and 4300) all use different battery technology. You can leave these things in the cradle as long as you want during the day, they should be just fine...

[jimski]

I keep my PPC in my pocket all day long (hence the term Pocket PC). It only goes in the cradle for syncing (usually once or twice per day) and generally overnight ( in my cradle at home) for charging.

While I am at my desk a good part of the day, I do get up occasionally for meetings or to join in on conference calls. I always want my PPC at my side. As I usually say a short prayer each time I initialize Active Sync (has actually been working quite nicely lately) I don't like inserting/removing the PPC many times per day.

My 5450 is about 17 months old and while I have two spare batteries, the original battery is in the device most of the time. I have honestly not seen any degradation in the battery as of yet.

[Kowalski]

i use my cradle only for charging because i use BT for sync.
for a daily bases usage i never drop below 60% so i usually charge my device the day after last charge

[ombu]

:?: Cradle? Oh, yes, I used it twice, sync'n my 2210 for the first time and updating to ROM ver 1.1. :mrgreen: WiFi rocks!!!

Serious, there's no trouble at all leaving your PPC connected all the time, some say it's better for battery life.

Regards.

[Wiggster]

Yea, there should be no problem leaving it plugged in, I tend to do that with my 1935.

However, I did experience a snafu doing so. About 2 weeks after my warranty was up, I left it plugged in all night, as usual. Then, I woke up and found the device had wiped out its memory. I unplugged it, went through the welcome screen, and restored from a backup on my SD card, and it was working. The battery ran low, so I plugged it in again. The screen goes dead, and won't turn on. I unplug it and it turns on again, taking my time through the welcome screen. Thereafter, whenever I plugged it into any AC outlet, it'd wipe itself out. HP said the motherboard had short-circuited, and I opted to replace it with one sold right here on the forums.

No idea how it short-circuited, but it was while it was plugged in. I still plug my new one into the cradle for a while, as the motherboard thing seems to have been a fluke.

[outdoor]

i had bad experiences with leaving my old palm IIIc in the cradle always charging..... resulted in less than 5 min of usage time on my palm!


every since then i only charge when my battery goes down ~20-30%. I now own a 4150, and when i dont charge it i just pull the a/c connector that connects to the cradle.

[Janak Parekh]

i had bad experiences with leaving my old palm IIIc in the cradle always charging..... resulted in less than 5 min of usage time on my palm!
Don't use that device experience to make your modern-day decisions. ;) Battery technology has advanced a lot since the IIIc days...

--janak

[Kowalski]

Don't use that device experience to make your modern-day decisions. Battery technology has advanced a lot since the IIIc days...
i couldnt agree more! they days of NI-CAD and NiMH days have past. now we are living in the golden age of Li-ion!

[KenClunk]

It's not neccasarily the type of battery lion batteries can do the same as well.

Lets see how to explain it? Okay well I am not sure if you have ever read the specs of something and it said "memory loss technology" but that essentially is what you need, of corse it is with just about every battery sold today. Basically it's a way that the cells hold the charger. What used to happen is that if you had a battery and lets say charged it 100% then you took it out and used it down to 60% and then put it back to charge. Then you let it charge to say 80% then used it. Well, the battery would get confused and think that 80% percent is a full charge and thus would not really charge the other cells because it had thought (In It's memory) that it was fully charged. Now a days this is not the issue. Also back then this is why you needed to let the battery die all the way down, before charging it. Now the "memory loss" prevents this. I hope you get it. Do a google on it if not.

Oh yeah, I keep my 2215 in the cradle at all times. When it's not in use I mean. Then again My PC is right in my room so it is rather easy to ust toss it in the cradle.

[outdoor]

so do you mean that say, if i put it to charge whenever i want, and pull out even if its not fully charged?

[Janak Parekh]

so do you mean that say, if i put it to charge whenever i want, and pull out even if its not fully charged?
You can. For my non-phone Pocket PC, I'd walk into my office, cradle it, and pull it out whenever I needed it. For my phone Pocket PC, it's different, as I interact with it even at my desk. In that case, I simply plug it in for a few seconds during the day, and do a full charge at night when I'm asleep.

The one key with Li-Ion batteries is to avoid a deep discharge. That remains the same with modern Pocket PCs.

--janak

[outdoor]

Thanks alot for the help....... i always thought over charging it and charging it when its still half full will damage the battery life. Now i dont need to plug/unplug my a/c conector again!



The one key with Li-Ion batteries is to avoid a deep discharge. That remains the same with modern Pocket PCs.



so do you mean that going lower than a certian percentage (e.g. 20%) is not good for a Li-ion battery?

[Janak Parekh]

so do you mean that going lower than a certian percentage (e.g. 20%) is not good for a Li-ion battery?
I don't know what percentage per se, but draining it all the way is indeed bad.

If you want detailed advice on battery care, see this link I posted about (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9063) some time ago. It's the best resource I've found yet. :)

--janak

[Darius Wey]

I don't know what percentage per se, but draining it all the way is indeed bad.

This applies to your mobile phones as well 8)

[mv]

Hp has a white paper on that... to always charge the battery is the best choice. It dies of too many discharges... 8O

[Shadowcat]

I'm interested in where you all keep your Pocket PCs when you're not using them! At home mine is always in its cradle. It's always kept charging, it's within easy reach when I need information, and I just can't see myself leaving it on a desk, it's so inconvenient that way in my opinion!

[mredd27]

Mine is in its cradle almost all of the time.

As people have been saying, battery technology has moved on significantly over recent years. They now allow you to 'top-up charge' whenever you want and you don't need to worry about memory effects or overcharging anymore.

[azizi]

1. do anybody now why if i charge my ipaq (3835/50 or 1940/45)happend something like this, it's have 100% and the led light is still on and off, so is charging, but overcharging is no good for battery, so what to do ? i don't look how long it could do it, becouse of battery,
2. if i putt ipaq for full charg(starts form 10%) and turn it off, have long usualy it's charge until is full charged (1945) ?

sometimes i'm charge it, it has 100% and the led is still on and off so i reset it and thats help, after reset is charg for the moment and stop, like it should :\

thnx for answers
sorry for my EN :)
i'm PL

[Janak Parekh]

The light should stop blinking. I've had some sporadic charging blink issues on the 38xx units, but never on the 19xx units myself. A soft-reset usually clears it up on my 3870.

--janak

[azizi]

so if ipaq i charged, the led is not blink, then battery is not charging, just ipaq is connect to ac/usb and thats it,
no overcharging :)

[Kacey Green]

I only use the cradle for ROM updates, and transfering music to my PDA, I use BT to sync also.

Question, is the unit supposed to charge for about a min, after a soft reset while the power connector is attached? I use an iPAQ 22xx

[azizi]

answer: if your battery is full and you soft reset yes, a think system is cheking level of charge,
in my 3835 and 1940 is sometime even longer

[Kacey Green]

answer: if your battery is full and you soft reset yes, a think system is cheking level of charge,
in my 3835 and 1940 is sometime even longer

so if I unplug at this point the battery is still completly charged and not at 99.995% ?

[Janak Parekh]

so if I unplug at this point the battery is still completly charged and not at 99.995% ?
What's the difference? ;)

A battery is a complex chemical reaction, and it's unlikely you're going to get the exact same capacity, down to microvolt, every time. Most modern batteries are amazingly accurate, but there's always a slight fudge factor involved -- if for no other reason, to avoid overcharging, which is dangerous for Li-Ion batteries.

--janak

[Kati Compton]

And if every time you plug it into the charger, it only charges halfway, it'll never be fully charged!!! 8O 8O 8O


...sorry... :silly:

[Kacey Green]

so if I unplug at this point the battery is still completly charged and not at 99.995% ?
What's the difference? ;)

--janak

I just wanted to know if it was "done charging" or if the soft-reset actuly uses the battery and not the AC power

When I post while sleepy sometimes it doesn't come out right.

[Janak Parekh]

I just wanted to know if it was "done charging" or if the soft-reset actuly uses the battery and not the AC power
Well, Pocket PCs "run" through their battery, even if they're plugged into a charger. If you take out the battery and leave the AC connected, the Pocket PC will not turn on. So, it's "always" using the battery; whether or not it continues to charge during a soft reset is something I don't have an answer to, and I'm not sure it makes a huge difference one way or the other. ;)

--janak

[buckyg]

Mine's usually in the cradle during the day at work. It's nice to have my to-do list or email up on a separate screen so I can stay working in the same windows on my PC. I can just glance over at my iPAQ to see what I need.

On the weekend or overnight, I may plug it into the spare cradle at home or use the charge & sync cable, if the battery goes down low enough.

I just wish my wife would learn to put hers in the cradle if she's not using it. It's either sitting next to her cradle or by her bed for several days. If I see it, I plug it in. About once or twice a month, I have to help her restore from backups after recharging it, since the battery died.

[Kacey Green]

I just wanted to know if it was "done charging" or if the soft-reset actuly uses the battery and not the AC power
Well, Pocket PCs "run" through their battery, even if they're plugged into a charger. If you take out the battery and leave the AC connected, the Pocket PC will not turn on. So, it's "always" using the battery; whether or not it continues to charge during a soft reset is something I don't have an answer to, and I'm not sure it makes a huge difference one way or the other. ;)

--janak

I see my old nino would run without the battery (if it was connected to AC power) but it was also nimh so maybe that's just part of the adjustment to a more advanced device

[Janak Parekh]

I see my old nino would run without the battery (if it was connected to AC power) but it was also nimh so maybe that's just part of the adjustment to a more advanced device
Hmm. Then it's a more modern thing, or it isn't consistent across manufacturers. Nevertheless, I think most do run through the battery nowadays.

--janak

[Kati Compton]

I wouldn't say that's dependent on the battery's chemical composition, but instead just the design of the device. I mean, I run my laptop just on AC without the battery in it.