TG50 battery life test

[bordeaaj]

In case any one is interested in battery life of TG50, I just tested my TG50 vs my SJ33 battery life using PalmBench and the TG50 has almost double the usage capabilities:

SJ33 = 4hrs 45min
TG50 = 8hrs 33min

[rTenshi]

Booya!

[philj]

Hi,
I recently bought my TG50 and find that the battery drains veeeeeery fast :-/ Just 30 minutes after the end of a full charge, I fall down to about 80 percent....and it drops down to 45 one hour after (with the backlight close to zero !)
Do I have a problem or is it normal according to your personal experiences ?
Thanks in advance

[TechnoCat]

Originally posted by philj
I recently bought my TG50 and find that the battery drains veeeeeery fast :-/ Just 30 minutes after the end of a full charge, I fall down to about 80 percent....and it drops down to 45 one hour after (with the backlight close to zero !)Did you turn off Bluetooth and IR searching and receiving? Both of those eat up some power.

[rTenshi]

philj, thats what I found too. On mine, BT and IR were off by default, but the battery still drained pretty quick, it lasts longer the more times you charge it though. So relax.

[graph101]

damn... 8 hours? u sure?

[philj]

Ii guys :-)
Technocat, I already have BT and IR off, and that's why I'm so concerned with this batt life :-/ !! Thanks for this advice.

rTenshi, do you mean the batt endurance improves after a few weeks ? Is there any particular cyle for batt charging supposed to improve the endurance ? I use to charge it every day, even if the unit is not under 30 percent, do you think it has a good or bad influence on this kind of batt (NiCd batt did't like this)

Thanks in advance to tou all :-)

[Ni+Mh]

Originally posted by TechnoCat
Did you turn off Bluetooth and IR searching and receiving? Both of those eat up some power.

Give it a try.But I didn't know that the TG50 had such a beautiful battery life!Dang!Now I'm envy!

[Take1]

I too get fantastic battery life. I've not tested it, but I can say that I don't worry about the battery while surfing using B/T.

I'd say 8 hours isn't out of the realm of possibility. I've not seen my TG-50's battery meter below 85% and that's with several hours of use.

[philj]

Take1,
did you also have at the beginning the same fellings I have about the battery ?
For the moment my batt life seems to be veeery short, but some tell that it's going to improve charge after charge. Do you agree with this ? Or do you think my unit may be defective ?
Thanks ;-)

[rTenshi]

Well, it seems that way philj. I think it was sneezy on the forums that explained how L.Ion Batteries discharge.

They can retain a peak level of 100% for a long time, but then they begin to discharge after a little while. In my experience, the length of time my Clie stayed at 100% increased with 1) Number of times I charged the Clie and 2) The length of time I charged my Clie for.

The othernight, I plugged my Clie into my cradle, when I had just began using my Clie, I noticed it would discharge quite quickly when on the Cradle ( I don't plug the charger into the cradle) so yeah, the othernight when I plugged my Clie into the Cradle, I left it on there, ON, for around 3 and 1/2 hours and it didn't leave 100%.

On another occasion, I was playing Jezzball or Prison while listening to MP3s. At the time, I didn't realize that I could tturn down the brightness to save power, so I was using my clie at 100% brightness as well. The thing lasted for around 3 hours. I stopped playing after 1 hour, but I began beaming data from my old Palm IIIc into my Clie. It only began dropping after 3 hours.

I believe you can keep the Clie running for a long time, longer than you'd expect. Although when I bought it, the sales rep told me you could keep the Clie running for 2 days with all features on like the backlight on at 100%, BT, etc. I think thats BS.

[philj]

Thanks a lot rTenshi !
You give a some more hope about my unit ;-)
Thanks to you I better understand that things keep on improving charge after charge. But can I consider that this so quick discharge I experience now is to be sonsidered as normal ? Did you also have so rapid discharges at the very beginning ?
That will be my last candid question ;-)
Cheers
Phil

[rTenshi]

Yes indeed. I remember thinking, "WTF?" because the sales rep told me that the TG50 can last, around 2 days with everything on. While that must be bull, I was surprised at how quickly my TG50 discharged the first time I used it.

The gist is, yes, I believe that the rapid discharge during your initial use is normal. If this isn't the case with your TG50, you should take it back for a replacement, otherwise, this is how it was with my model.

BTW, you shouldn't Deep Cycle your battery, that is, use it until all the charge has been depleted. Charge it as frequently as possible. I recommend leaving it on charge even when the charge lamp is off.

[philj]

Thanks a lot for all your kind answers !!!! You're probably right, and as usual patience is a good thing : I'll wait this batt to get fit !
I'll sure sleep better tonight now ;-)
Cheers
Phil

[Unregistered]

This is so funny that you guys turn out getting 'totally different and yet much better than Sony claimed' battery performance results for the 2 models. Check this link out for the official model comparison chart:

http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/clie/Comparison/comp_main.html

[rTenshi]

Actually, this is wierd. Yesterday I was in a car, flipped on the TG50 to check out my schedule until the weekend, the batt was at 97% (I hadn't plugged it into the charger the last night, so I wasn't surprised ) I flipped off the Tg50 after. An hour later, I was in a mall cafe, and I flipped on the TG50 again to play some prison while waiting for someone, and the batt level was at 100%. What? Is my body heat charging it now? ahaha :D

[graph101]

thats weird. btw OFf topic im selling my 2 yr old m505 for $150 with 32mb and some cases, you think thats a good deal?

[wilsonch_98]

Originally posted by rTenshi
Actually, this is wierd. Yesterday I was in a car, flipped on the TG50 to check out my schedule until the weekend, the batt was at 97% (I hadn't plugged it into the charger the last night, so I wasn't surprised ) I flipped off the Tg50 after. An hour later, I was in a mall cafe, and I flipped on the TG50 again to play some prison while waiting for someone, and the batt level was at 100%. What? Is my body heat charging it now? ahaha :D

You might have been correct on the body heat factor.

Batteries have certain working temperature. If you are using it when the battery is cold, the voltage output would be lower then when the unit is in room temperature.

The other reason would be if you let the battery rest for a while after a long continuous run, it will run better. This got to do with the chemistry inside the batt.

[contravox]

I find that every time I charge, it takes a few seconds after I take the TG-50 off the cradle for it to register all the wat to 100%. The meter seems to "crawl" up to full just like a car does when you fill up the gas tank and start to drive away.

[Bionic Antboy]

Exactly. I've noticed with both my old S360 and my T665 the same phenomenon. I've noticed it most if I've been doing something that would be battery intensive, then shut it off and turn the Clie on again a little later. I've also noticed that the time doesn't always update until you tap it, or something else first.

Interestingly, since I've started using the free program Today, I've not had this "problem". It seems that Today polls the internal clock (and battery meter?) to give you an accurate display. Now that I have Today to always launch when the Clie is turned on, it's a non-issue :)