What Use Is The Backup Battery?

[Iain51]

Hi

I've got a 2210, and the battery has gone flat and it has hard reset. (Luckily I have a good backup regime! :D ) Now, I have started charging it, and out of curisity looked at the battery settings and was suprised to see the backup battery showing 100% (the main was on 1% by the time I looked).

What purpose does the backup battery serve if not to stop the memory being wiped when you run flat??

TIA
Iain

[newst]

...What purpose does the backup battery serve if not to stop the memory being wiped when you run flat??

TIA
Iain

Iain,

The backup battery on a PPC is intended to allow you to remove and swap main batteries without losing data. It is limited in power (the backup battery in my 2215 will keep the RAM intact for about a half hour max) not capable of sustaining RAM for extended periods.

[Iain51]

Cheers! :D

Iain
[Thinks wistfully of the battery life of his Psion]

[Don Tolson]

Also be aware that the Backup battery is also just that -- a backup to the main battery. If you drain the main battery, the iPAQ will start drawing power from the backup battery to try to keep things going, but it won't last long.

So... word to the wise -- keep that main battery charged.

Another little tidbit I found -- apparently, even though the backup battery CR2032 I think it is, is not supposed to be rechargeable, after charging the main battery, I've found the backup battery to miraculously have regained its full charge as well!