I made a 2900mah battery for my asus A730W ...yeah...

[Qooo]

Hello Everybody ... I just found this forum talking about asus pocketpc today. Few days ago, I combined 1100mah & 1800mah to be a 2900mah for my a730w and just wanna share with you guys here...
I uploaded some pictures of my works at http://www.pocketpc.com.hk/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=23074 which is a Hong Kong forum so .... everything is written in Chinese ....
By the way, I'm from Hong Kong.... and nice to meet you all here.... 0X

[Darius Wey]

Qooo, 你好. Welcome to Pocket PC Thoughts.

I'm guessing there would be a lot of people interested in seeing your work, yet unfortunately, they have to register to view the contents of that link. The problem is, there are a lot of non-Chinese speaking people in this community who probably wouldn't be able to navigate their way around the registration page. Do you have your pictures hosted elsewhere? :)

Thanks.

[Qooo]

The problem is I only uploaded my images to their forum. That's y I pasted the link here since I found that there is no such an "upload image" button in this forum and it requests to upload somewhere server and then forward the link of the images back to here... I wanna share my work with pictures here too... I have many pictures in my computer now...haha...too bad... :cry:

[KTamas]

After going thru the registration process being someone who does not speak even a word in chinese (oh, and did i mentioned the activation? that was funny too..) i finally got registered there...nice job man, I'll post the images soon.

[Qooo]

After going thru the registration process being someone who does not speak even a word in chinese (oh, and did i mentioned the activation? that was funny too..) i finally got registered there...nice job man, I'll post the images soon.

Great! so you will post my images here? Anyway, many thanks...(^_^)... 0X

[Qooo]

http://img96.echo.cx/img96/2775/20040410a730w2900mah32db.th.jpg (http://img96.echo.cx/my.php?image=20040410a730w2900mah32db.jpg)

can you see the image? oh...yeah....it's my 2900mah battery for my a730w now....heehee... :devilboy:

[Qooo]

http://img96.echo.cx/img96/434/200504272900mahcover12pk.jpg

see this one with the backcover of 1800mah battery... so no one can see it's 2900mah inside the cover. 0X

http://img96.echo.cx/img96/305/200504272900mahcover29jb.jpg

i'm glad that 2900mah battery just fits into 1800mah battery cover. otherwise it will looks rare......

http://img96.echo.cx/img96/7940/200504272900mahcover39jm.jpg

Here, I would say thanks to Darius. :mrgreen:

[asuspocketpcw]

Wow, nice job Qooo! This is the size battery we really want :) So all we have to do is cut a hole and solder the battery leads from the 1100mah to the 1800mah?

[1BADRIDE]

NICE MOD!

I was considering it, and now that I see someone else has done it - I'll be doing it as well!

Also, since there are multiple contact points on the batteries - do you have pics of how they are wired together (straight parallel or can you use the OTHER 4 contact points on the extended battery to connect the 1100mah cell?)

Thanks for sharing.

[BUMP THAT]

Wow that is really good. Now I wish I had a Asus. :P

[1BADRIDE]

Hey, Qooo - before I end up cracking the plastic casing - how did you open the battery (both the standard and the extended)...?

Thanks!

[Qooo]

I will post up more pics when I get home tongiht....heehee....right now... I'm testing how long can 2900mah works for us....Qoo....

some stats for your ref. :

~5hr14min
wifi + full speed + msn + icq + surf nets + 2nd level of backlight + highest volumn

~6hr14min
wifi + normal speed + msn + icq + surf nets + 2nd level of backlight + highest volumn

My hands and fingers hurt when testing the battery man.....woo... 0X

[1BADRIDE]

Awesome! Can't wait to do it!

6 hrs! 8) nice!!!

[Darius Wey]

Awesome job, Qooo. Both the pictures and stats look great. :)

[1BADRIDE]

Almost completed the mod!

Turns out, it's VERY easy! :)

[Qooo]

Hey, there is one thing I found.... which is if you unlock the cover of 1800mah ....um...how should I say..... um.... just like if you change the battery, then the 2900mah can't boot up the machine itself....you need to plug in usb/ac power in order to boot up the machine again....and it will hardreset too..... i think a730w can't recognise the 2900mah and the backup battery will show itself empty even it's supposed to be fully charged....but anyway...it's absolutely fine if you just use 2900mah or change 2900mah to 1800mah or 1100mah, then a730w will restart itself like a softreset without any problem.....

[Qooo]

Oh....there is one more thing which is very important that...when you try to connect 1100mah to 1800mah... make sure that you have a meter(don't know the exact name of the electronic meter) to check the -/+ of these 2 batteries since the location of 1100mah's (-) is different from the location of 1800mah's (-) and it happens the same thing at the (+) too....it's really trap..... :evil:

I cutted out the part of the clips at the 1100mah and then connect to 1800mah's ends so that the clips of 1800mah still controls this 2900mah battery.... :devilboy:

[Qooo]

This is the very first pictures I took....
http://img93.echo.cx/img93/2637/20040410a730w2900mah11ui.jpg
This a closeup...
http://img93.echo.cx/img93/4599/picture001537td.jpg

http://img93.echo.cx/img93/1774/20040410a730w2900mah28xg.jpg
In fact, you can make the wires shorter than mine...
http://img93.echo.cx/img93/8171/picture001550bj.jpg
:D

[Qooo]

Almost completed the mod!

Turns out, it's VERY easy! :)

Hi 1BADRIDE, have you got it done?
share some pics of your works and anything you found... :idea:

all the battery testings I made were just drained the battery to 0%...just till it turned off itself ... I didn't pay attention how much % it would drop during the testings since I think the % meter does not drop constantly... I found the last 5% usually can last for 1.5~2hrs. :?:

[Qooo]

Wow, nice job Qooo! This is the size battery we really want :) So all we have to do is cut a hole and solder the battery leads from the 1100mah to the 1800mah?

Yes, just need to confirm the locations of -/+ since they have different design at these 2 batteries...just look at my pictures and you will find where to connect... :D

[Qooo]

NICE MOD!

I was considering it, and now that I see someone else has done it - I'll be doing it as well!

Also, since there are multiple contact points on the batteries - do you have pics of how they are wired together (straight parallel or can you use the OTHER 4 contact points on the extended battery to connect the 1100mah cell?)

Thanks for sharing.

it must be parallel in order to keep 3.7v and increase to 2900mah. I just simply cut out the clips of 1100mah and then soldier 2 ends to 1800mah before 1800mah's clips so that 1800mah clips still control 2900mah battery. :lol:

[1BADRIDE]

Hey Qooo - I am 99% finished. I didn't have thin enough leads around so the cover doesn't quite fit correctly - I will fix that tomorrow.

Yes, I realized about the + / - and it is definitely different on the two batteries!

My device did not require a hard reset - it works just fine because I put the 2nd standard battery in while doing the modifications so that the backup battery did not die.

I am not sure if the small PCB inside the battery sends a signal to the device indicating FULL CHARGE or not or if it is something that is calibrated on a full charge cycle by the PDA itself.

Thank god for 50,000 rpm dental drills! It made cutting the plastic like BUTTER. :)

I am scavenging my office right now to find smaller leads while the "super-extended" battery is charging... :)

I'll try to post pics later!

[zoo99]

Wow man! Please don't *try* to post pics. Let's see pics and a detailed step
by step of how to do this. This is a big deal for us Asus A730 owners! 8O

[asuspocketpcw]

Hey, there is one thing I found.... which is if you unlock the cover of 1800mah ....um...how should I say..... um.... just like if you change the battery, then the 2900mah can't boot up the machine itself....you need to plug in usb/ac power in order to boot up the machine again....and it will hardreset too..... i think a730w can't recognise the 2900mah and the backup battery will show itself empty even it's supposed to be fully charged....but anyway...it's absolutely fine if you just use 2900mah or change 2900mah to 1800mah or 1100mah, then a730w will restart itself like a softreset without any problem.....

I don't have a second 1100 mah battery. If I plug the asus into the usb and then remove the battery to work on it, will the unit keep the back-up power charged from the usb, so I don't lose my ram memory?

[Qooo]

I don't have a second 1100 mah battery. If I plug the asus into the usb and then remove the battery to work on it, will the unit keep the back-up power charged from the usb, so I don't lose my ram memory?

I don't think you should do that... why don't you just backup your a730w and go make the Super2900mah and just let it hardreset itself.....then.....you can restore everything with your Backup file......it's really not a good idea to remove your battery during your device is connected with ac.

[asuspocketpcw]

I don't think you should do that... why don't you just backup your a730w and go make the Super2900mah and just let it hardreset itself.....then.....you can restore everything with your Backup file......it's really not a good idea to remove your battery during your device is connected with ac.[/quote]


I have bad experiences with back-ups but when the time comes I'll just have to bite the bullet!

[Patrick Y.]

Absolutely amazing!!!!!!!! :D :D :rotfl: I wish I have a 730w.

[johncruise]

Hey guys... any update on that step-by-step instruction (with pictures of course). Prelim pictures looks good however, its unclear where the wires will be soldered to (both side). Also, tips on how to crack open the battery case (just use a cutter?) Thanks!

[Lukas44]

I wonder how charging circuit sees the new "battery" and what are all those other pins on battery for.
Also wonder if power supply, or unit heats up a bit while charging...

[1BADRIDE]

Shoot... I forgot about this thread.

I do not have pics right now...

But here is some info... PERFORM AT YOUR OWN RISK.

As far as opening the standard battery - peel back the stickers on the battery (you will not be able to return the battery back to original condition). Once the stickers are removed, it will become clear how to remove the battery.

The PCB inside the battery is directly behind the terminals.

Remove the battery and PCB from the plastic battery housing and then remove the PCB from the battery. Use a multimeter to mark + and - on the cell.

The casing of the extended battery is held on with strong 2 sided tape on the end containing the battery. My recommendation is to start cutting as indicated in the photos. Use a dremel if you can, otherwise a utility or "x-acto" knife will work. Make the cuts and gut the interior plastic supports. Keep trimming until you get the battery to fit inside the hollowed out area. Once that is done, solder the batteries in parallel using a pair of wires. CONFIRM the + and - on the cells by using a multimeter first - THEY MAY OR MAY NOT BE DIFFERENT ON THE CELLS!

Insulate the stripped standard cell before installing into your PDA or it may short out.

GOOD LUCK!

BE WARNED - PERFORM THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Anyways... it was successful and I have had no issues. Battery life is phenomenal.

[1BADRIDE]

Update: After performing a few charge/discharge cycles, the battery life has increased further.

My first full charge gave me 6+ hours. Now, after 5 complete charge cycles, I played DOTT on Scumm VM with Wifi & BT ON, max bright, max volume, for nearly 2 hours and the power meter indicated 90% remaining.

JUST AWESOME.

Has anyone else performed the mod?

Qooo - has your battery life increased after a few charge cycles?

[Qooo]

Update: After performing a few charge/discharge cycles, the battery life has increased further.

My first full charge gave me 6+ hours. Now, after 5 complete charge cycles, I played DOTT on Scumm VM with Wifi & BT ON, max bright, max volume, for nearly 2 hours and the power meter indicated 90% remaining.

JUST AWESOME.

Has anyone else performed the mod?

Qooo - has your battery life increased after a few charge cycles?

I'm just back from Las Vegas....left HK for 12days....
so I didn't made any test during the trip but I can tell it lasts longer than first charging.

[inteks]

hi,
i mad this mod too. but i have a question. there is not much space in the cover of the extended accu.
is it possible to use ANY Li-Ion Cell ??? is it possible to use a 3.6volt instead of the orig 3.7volt ???

at ebay i can get handy cells with 3.6volt and 1700mAh !!!!! much smaller then the 1100mHa cell from ASUS. and the best thing is
they sell them for only 2,99$ :) !!!!!!!!

thx ia
/inteks

0X

ps:1800+1700 = 3500mHA 8O :D

[Qooo]

Here are final tests I made with my 2900mah + A730W.

Settings : 2nd level of backlight、max volumn、non-stop power settings and no auto backlight shutdown
(1) WiFi to surf website - 5hr20min
(2) Betaplayer to play .wmv movies (full screen) - 7hr14min
(3) WMP9 to play mp3 (off screen) - 14hr47min - starts from 09:43 till 00:30 very sleepy... ( medium speed )
(4) My A730W now is 215g........
0X

[tempest929]

Wow, those are some impressive times! Alright, I'm sold.....anyone know the cheapest place to get the extended battery?

[tempest929]

You can also do the same thing and cram 3 normal batteries under the extended battery cover for a total of 3300mAh!

[jhennig]

woah! care to post a walkthrough on doing that? I just so happen to have 4 standard batteries on hand.

[tempest929]

Well you'll need an extended battery...and you'll have to cut it up a bit. I can't take step by step photos because I've already done it, but I can take some photos of the finished thing and try and post them if you like. Its really not too difficult either...I had no experience with this kinda thing and managed pretty easily!

[Johnathan]

I have a 6500 mah for myA620 plus!! 0X

[cabanas]

Please post photos!!! I need!!!! or mail me
[email protected]

Thanks
Asus A730W
São Paulo - Brasil

[Carlton]

Why don't ASUS make a 2900mAh battery? Its obviously possible. Then we wouldn't have to risk damaging our PDAs.

Anyway, would someone post more accurate pics and instructions on how to connect the two batteries together. I've got my big hammer and knife ready...I'm gonna do it.