Hack55.Replace Your Batteries

Hack 55. Replace Your Batteries

The rechargeable batteries in Palm devices don't wear out very often. If they do wear out, you can change them yourself.

There are two types of rechargeable batteries in different Palm models. Newer Palm devices have a big rechargeable battery that powers the whole device. Older Palm devices used AAA batteries for primary power. However, you could change the AAA batteries, and if you were fast enough (you usually had a minute to make the swap), you didn't lose any of your data. The reason you didn't lose your data is that the older Palms had a small rechargeable battery that powered the memory when you swapped the primary batteries. The rechargeable battery recharged itself off of a trickle charge from the AAAs.

8.7.1. General Notes

Your Palm device will stop turning on before the batteries are completely exhausted. This gives you a chance to recharge them (or swap them if you are using AAAs) before you lose your data. Typically, you have about a week from the time your Palm device stops turning on until you will lose your data. If you should happen to lose your data, you can always restore the data from your most recent HotSync.

Your Palm device will eventually drain batteries (even full batteries) even if you don't turn it on. It takes power to keep the memory intact, which pulls from the batteries. A powered-off Palm can drain its batteries within a month or so for rechargeables and a bit longer for alkalines.

8.7.2. Replacing Rechargeable Batteries

Replacing rechargeable batteries will likely void the warranty on your Palm device. If your PDA is still under warranty, you are better off having them fix itnot least because your problem might not be a bad battery at all. If your device isn't under warranty, then you can end up paying as much to have it fixed as you paid to buy it in the first place. You would be better off buying a replacement device on eBay! However, you can search on Google for a replacement batteryjust type the model of your device and "replacement battery" (e.g., m515 replacement battery). You should be able to find a new battery online for about $25. You should also buy the appropriate screwdriver to open your device, if you don't already have one, such as a Torx T5.

Before you go through the work of replacing it, you should check to see if the problem you are having is caused by the battery. If your device can power on with the AC adapter inserted, but it won't come up (or it only comes up for a very short time) if you are only using the battery (despite being recharged for several hours), then the problem is most likely the battery. It could be something that is harder to fix, such as the connection from the battery to the Palm device [Hack #54], but the battery is a strong possibility in this case. One other experiment to try before you replace the battery is to reset your device while it is on AC power. This can sometimes reset the charging circuitry which might be the only problem. See http://kb.palmone.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=PalmSupportKB,ts=Palm_External2001,case=obj(887)#incradle for an example.

Replacing the main rechargeable battery will cause your Palm device to lose all data and all applications other than the built-in ones. If possible, try to HotSync to make sure that your PC has the latest available copies of the data on your Palm device.

Locate and open the battery compartment on the back of your Palm device. This may require a special screwdriver such as a mini Phillips or a Torx T5. Open the battery compartment and examine the battery. You need to find out what kind of battery it is so you can buy the appropriate replacement. Figure 8-10 shows a Palm m515 being opened up, and Figure 8-11 shows the Palm with its cover off. The battery is connected to the mainboard by two short wires, one red and one black.

Next, unplug the battery from the mainboard and remove it from the case, as shown in Figure 8-12. You can now plug the new battery into the connector (see Figure 8-13), install it, and reassemble the Palm.

If your device uses AAAs, then you still might need to change the small rechargeable battery that powers the device while you are changing the AAAs. If you find that your device always loses memory when you change the primary batteries, regardless of how quickly you change over the batteries, then it is possible that the rechargeable battery has failed. These are readily available-they are typically a small button battery that you can find in electronics stores. The trick on this is to make sure that you have fresh AAAs installed in your PDA, then open up your device to expose the button battery. Unless there is a marked compartment on the back, you will probably need to remove the entire back cover. Inside, you should find a small battery. Take it with you to the store so that you can get the same kind of battery as a replacement. After installing the replacement battery, you should be able to switch AAAs (quickly) without losing your data.

Figure 8-10. Opening a Palm m515

Figure 8-11. The opened Palm

Figure 8-12. Removing the old battery

Be sure to dispose of the old battery properly. The U.S. electronics chain Best Buy will accept many types of rechargeable batteries for recycling, and several other chains and programs will do the same. For more information, see the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation's web site (http://www.rbrc.org/).

Figure 8-13. Installing the new battery

8.7.3. Finding Replacement Batteries

There are some web sites which have replacement batteries available for various models of Palm devices. The batteries are very specific to which model of device you have, so you need to look around carefully.

• http://www.cliebattery.com lists batteries for different Clié models.

• http://palm.pdainternalbattery.com lists batteries for various Palm-brand devices, including Treos.

• http://store.everythingtreo.com also lists batteries for Treos

Another good resource for batteries are lightly used Palms [Hack #50]. A couple of possibilities are swap meets and http://www.freecycle.org. In both of these, you can look for a similar model to the one you have which has a working battery. You may have to take the devices that are offered and swap the battery (and recharge it) to see if you can salvage a working device.