danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) (06/08/90)
My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two
and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it
should take approx. four hours!
Has somebody else observed something similar? Are the batteries fully
charged after 2,5 h (which would be great -- my usage pattern is too
irregular to be able to tell from the resulting operating times...)?
Or is the light broken?
This seems to be important, since the batteries are supposed to live
longer and work best when regularly used in a ``completely-charge --
completely discharge'' cycle.
--
Daniel Hernandez Inst. f. Informatik, Technische Universit"at M"unchen
Arcisstr. 21, 8000 Munich 2, Fed. Rep. of Germany
E-Mail (preferred): danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de
UUCP: danher@tumult.{uucp|informatik.tu-muenchen.de} BITNET: danher at dmotui1schads@microsoft.UUCP (Chad SCHWITTERS) (06/11/90)
| From: danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) | My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two | and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it | should take approx. four hours! When I first got my T1000SE, it took 4.5 hours to recharge. After a couple of weeks, the green light started coming on after 3 hours... but I discovered that if I unplug it, remove the battery, replace the battery, and plug it back in, it would charge for another hour and a half... I recently sent it in for service, and mentioned this problem. The technician's report said that the battery had been repaired, but it still exhibits the same behaviour. I'm going to get ahold of Toshiba and complain. This is a serious usability problem. Anybody else with a story to tell? Chad Schwitters
tracy@nixtdc.uucp (Tracy Tims) (06/12/90)
In <DANHER.90Jun8172919@kiss.informatik.tu-muenchen.de> danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) writes: >My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two >and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it >should take approx. four hours! >... Are the batteries fully >charged after 2,5 h (which would be great -- my usage pattern is too >irregular to be able to tell from the resulting operating times...)? I spent some time testing the charging on my T1000SE. It charges the batteries fully in 2.5 hours. After such a charge, I get a little over 2 hours with the backlight up full, and 3.25 hours with the backlight down all the way. My conclusion is that the battery is charged fully. There are a couple of interesting things about the battery management on the T1000SE. The behaviour and the documentation don't quite match. As far as I can tell, the only circumstance under which the battery is NOT being charged is when the green light is ON (or when the external power is disconnected!) Secondly, the unit doesn't detect full charge condition as well when it is being slow-charged (that is, when you have the computer turned on). The green light will be out, but the battery will still be charged. In this circumstance it is possible to overcharge your battery. If you have your computer plugged in, turned on, and the green light is out, check to see if your battery is getting warm. If it is, turn the machine off, pop the battery off for a second or two, then replace the battery, turn the machine back on, and use the alt-esc control panel to tell the machine that the battery is fully charged. This will turn the green light on, turn the charging off, and you can continue to use the machine without worrying about it overcharging. (The battery starts to get warm because it has stopped storing electrical energy and has started to convert it to heat.) I tend to use this technique to make sure I fully discharge the battery (without little chargings) every so often. In fast charge mode the battery does not get warm until the very end of the charge cycle, and the rise in voltage on the charged battery is detected quickly (I assume this is because of the much higher charge current) so there is nothing to worry about. When I got mine I spent some time with an ammeter figuring out how its charging system behaved. Apparently the batteries can be charged even faster than the computer is capable of charging them. One of these days I am going to take a cheap Houseworks 7.2 volt, Makita-compatible battery charger and modify it to fast charge the T1000SE batteries. It shouldn't cost more than 30 dollars. Tracy Tims Nixdorf Computer Engineering/Sietec/Nixdorf/Siemens/Siemens-Nixdorf, etc Toronto, Canada (416) 496-8510
bumby@math.rutgers.edu (Richard Bumby) (06/13/90)
In article <55131@microsoft.UUCP> chads@microsoft.UUCP (Chad SCHWITTERS) writes: > | From: danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) > > | My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two > | and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it > | should take approx. four hours! > > When I first got my T1000SE, it took 4.5 hours to recharge. After a > couple of weeks, the green light started coming on after 3 hours... > ... Anybody else with a story to tell? Different machine, different color chnage, but on the same subject. My T1000 has been claiming to be discharged by changing its light from green to red after about 2 hours instead of the 4 that is claimed. The manual says that there is only supposed to be 10 minutes left before disaster strikes, so I have only recently started experimenting. It appears that there is about an hour left after the color change, and I have now calibrated my copy of "Battery Watch, II" to give me useful warnings. Some curious things happenned during these experiments: Initially the light would turn green immediately on connecting the charger; but when the power was allowed to get low, the time to turn green lenghthened. With about 10 minutes power remaining, this time seemed close to a minute. In one test, the power got so low that the light remained red until I turned the machine off many minutes later. On repowering, I was told that my HARD-RAM had lost data and needed to be reformatted. By contrast, the "deep discharge" cycle of "Battery Watch" has never lost data. The relevance to the topic at hand is that the indicator light itself may be the weak link here. Some other way of testing the battery might be needed in order to discover the truth. -- --R. T. Bumby ** Math ** Rutgers ** New Brunswick ** NJ08903 ** USA -- above postal address abbreviated by internet to bumby@math.rutgers.edu voice communication unreliable -- telephone ignored -- please use Email
portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) (06/13/90)
>>>>> On 13 Jun 90 17:11:34 GMT, ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) said: > In <DANHER.90Jun8172919@kiss.informatik.tu-muenchen.de> danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) writes: >>My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two >>and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it >>should take approx. four hours! > I have an older Toshiba whose battery takes longer to charge, but it > sounds to me like you've misunderstood how the light works. The green > light does *not* mean the battery is fully charged. It means that > you have at least 20 minutes left on the battery (probably more than > that on your newer model). The red light is only a warning that you'd > better start saving your files. This is incorrect. The battery lights on the T1000SE/XE have different meanings than they do on your older Toshiba. The battery light can have four states -- off, blinking red, yellow, or green. off The system is off and you are not on AC current OR you are on AC current, the system is on, and battery is charging OR you are running on the battery and it still has power. blink The system is off, you are on AC current, and the battery has red been heavily discharged. Do not turn the machine on until the light changes yellow. yellow The system is off, you are on AC current, and the battery is charging. green you are on AC current and the battery has been fully charged. The green light shows regardless of whether the system is on or off. The confusing part about the battery light is that it behaves differently depending upon whether the system is on or off, and whether you have AC power connected or not. On a different note, does anybody know where I can buy an extra power adapter for the T1000SE/XE? It would be nice to be able to plug my machine in at work and at home without having to carry the cord and adapter back and forth. --M -- __ \/ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics, Inc. portuesi@sgi.com Listen to your users, but ignore what they say.
ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) (06/14/90)
In <DANHER.90Jun8172919@kiss.informatik.tu-muenchen.de> danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) writes: >My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two >and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it >should take approx. four hours! I have an older Toshiba whose battery takes longer to charge, but it sounds to me like you've misunderstood how the light works. The green light does *not* mean the battery is fully charged. It means that you have at least 20 minutes left on the battery (probably more than that on your newer model). The red light is only a warning that you'd better start saving your files. The only way to get a full charge is recharge for the recommended time. It's not all that hard -- just plug it in before you go to bed. But note that you should run down the battery all the way (to prevent "memory") every month or so. And you should leave the machine plugged in if you're not going to use it for a couple days. I forgot that last rule and it cost me a battery; especially vexing since it now appears that these NC rechargables last *forever* if you treat them right.
veby@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (06/14/90)
ffIn article <DANHER.90Jun8172919@kiss.informatik.tu-muenchen.de>, danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Daniel Hernandez) writes: > My T1000SE's charging light always turns to green after at most two > and a half hours even though the manual and several reviews say it > should take approx. four hours! > Has somebody else observed something similar? Are the batteries fully > charged after 2,5 h (which would be great -- my usage pattern is too > irregular to be able to tell from the resulting operating times...)? > Or is the light broken? > This seems to be important, since the batteries are supposed to live > longer and work best when regularly used in a ``completely-charge -- > completely discharge'' cycle. > -- > Daniel Hernandez Inst. f. Informatik, Technische Universit"at M"unchen > Arcisstr. 21, 8000 Munich 2, Fed. Rep. of Germany > E-Mail (preferred): danher@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de > UUCP: danher@tumult.{uucp|informatik.tu-muenchen.de} BITNET: danher at dmotui1s Nicad batteries can develop a "memory" .. try taking the pack out and dischage it by attacing a load across it. Then reinstall and check charge time. Some folks have two packs and do this regularly. It seems to extend the life of the battery packs. h