What happens when the battery dies?

[Unregistered]

I have a SJ20. When the batter loses its ability to hold a charge (I had a Plam Vx, and this happened after about a year and a half), what happens? Can the battery be replaced? Does Sony do this sort of thing? Do they make it so expensive (as Palm did) that you have to just go out and buy a new PDA?

[Noodles Hovar]

You will never have to buy a battery for the same reason most of us never buy motherboard backup batteries.

Who keeps their current setup long enough for the battery to die?

With a new Clie coming out every 45 minutes or so, Sony knows we'll eventually do the upgrade path (i.e. buy more stuff)!

[wellsjs]

It's called "Planned Obsolescence!" Unless your Clie is giving you problems, I wouldn't lose sleep over it though! :) There is not a marketing channel for replacement batteries, not that you can't find them being sold by slightly obscure online retailers. But as "Noodles" said, by the time you're done with downtime (PDAless), cost, shipping, luckily disassembling and reassembling your PDA with new battery and it actually working, you're probably better off just buying a new one!

[gvtexas]

Originally posted by wellsjs
There is not a marketing channel for replacement batteries, not that you can't find them being sold by slightly obscure online retailers.

If anyone's interested:

http://www.cliebattery.com/

Show all as "coming soon," but it is an option if you want to keep your SJ20 instead of upgrading. One would *hope* that at some point they might make a replacement battery that would hold a longer charge, but as said in this thread, PDAs are looked at more often than not as a 1-2 year disposable commodity, which makes it hard for any concern to invest in supporting after-market upgrades/parts.

Gary

[wnm]

It goes to that big battery charger in the sky.

Cali'd

[rhart00]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I have a SJ20. When the batter loses its ability to hold a charge (I had a Plam Vx, and this happened after about a year and a half), what happens? Can the battery be replaced? Does Sony do this sort of thing? Do they make it so expensive (as Palm did) that you have to just go out and buy a new PDA?

I have this same problem with my N760c. haven't tried to replace the battery yet but if you do PM me. I am interested in knowing how it went. I am not really in any hurry to fix mine because I have an NX70V but i would like to sometime

[valodya]

It looks like these replacement batteries will cost on the order of $50-$60, so if you don't feel a need to upgrade you're pda, replacing the battery still sounds like an economical option. I haven't replaced the battery in my NR70v, but I have opened the back to disconnect it due to a freeze that wouldn't respond to a hard reset. I'm all thumbs and have no real electronics experience, and managed to disassemble and reassemble my Clie in about half an hour with no ill effects, so it's pretty easy to do, and all you need is a small phillips head screwdriver. I might consider this if these replacement batteries ever become available, since Clie already seems to be losing charge. :(

[kstuart]

When faced with a minimum US$50 cost to replace my Palm IIIC battery, I ended up applying the $50 towards a new Clie NR70, and it was one of the best things to ever happen to me, PDA-wise.

My hunch/guess is that around April, there will be some new Clies in that middle price range that will make people want to replace their ailing PDAs.

[rob_squared]

Well, since I bought my clie after it had been used quite frequently, a replacement battery isn't a bad idea considering mine will probably die after outliving its usefulness.

[clie5]

Hi everyone, first I would like to say thanks to everyone who uses Clie Source, it has been very helpful to me. On batteries, I like my T615 C,s , have two. I would just like to say, I wish they did sell replacement batteries, as I do not expect to need anything more powerful than my 615,s and I as much as I like my Clie,s , I will not purchase another PDA, that does not sell replacement batteries, for there product, I have had mine apart just to see what makes them tick, and it would be to easy to replace the batteries, if they were available, as I think they should be, just my thoughts, thanks again everyone.

[MacClie]

Originally posted by gvtexas
If anyone's interested:

http://www.cliebattery.com/

Show all as "coming soon,"...If I remember correctly, it has been showing as, "coming soon", for quite some time now.

- MacClie

[clie5]

Hi, I would just like to ad a comment to my last post. I do not expect to ever see a replacement battery available for the 615C, at a reasonable price, marketing strategy for sony, I think. I am watching the Garmin, I think they are on the right track, have to see about battery replacement, and software adaptability, if any, but a Palm with built in GPS, would be something I would consider, if it was compatible with palm software applications. thanks, have a nice day.

[wellsjs]

Along the lines of this subject, what opinions/experiences do you all have regarding:

Is it better to keep the battery "topped off" or is it better to drop it down to the battery warning frequently, or from time to time? Which strategy will yield maximum life of the battery?

[werul]

Originally posted by wellsjs
Along the lines of this subject, what opinions/experiences do you all have regarding:

Is it better to keep the battery "topped off" or is it better to drop it down to the battery warning frequently, or from time to time? Which strategy will yield maximum life of the battery?

Keep it as highly charged as possible and avoid running it down to minimum!

[wellsjs]

Originally posted by werul
Keep it as highly charged as possible and avoid running it down to minimum! So Lithium Ion batteries don't suffer the memory idiosyncrasies like nicad, etc.?

[werul]

Originally posted by wellsjs
So Lithium Ion batteries don't suffer the memory idiosyncrasies like nicad, etc.?

Yes, they absolutely don´t!

[wellsjs]

Thanks! :)

[valodya]

No memory effect, and deep discharges will damage them, so avoid letting them run down to 0.

[merle]

If anyone's interested:

http://www.cliebattery.com/

Show all as "coming soon," but it is an option if you want to keep your SJ20 instead of upgrading. One would *hope* that at some point they might make a replacement battery that would hold a longer charge, but as said in this thread, PDAs are looked at more often than not as a 1-2 year disposable commodity, which makes it hard for any concern to invest in supporting after-market upgrades/parts.
I emailed them and was told to check back in 2-3 months (see below). I wonder what's taking so long. Sure wish the batteries could be replaced because Lithium ion battery have a expected useful life of 2-3 years no matter how often you charge or discharge them. There's good overview of this at: http://www.buchmann.ca/Chap10-page6.asp

It's better for both the wallet and the environment if we didn't have throw these machines away once the battery poops out.

_____________
From: <mitch@getadeal.com>

try back in 2-3 months
Mitch Anderson
Laptops for Less
2995 Whitestar Ave
Anaheim CA 92806 -USA
Ph (714) 224-3980
Fx 1(208) 474-1828
Mitch@Getadeal.com
----- Original Message -----
To: <mitch@getadeal.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 11:38 AM
Subject: Clie replacement battery


> Hi,
>
> Your website says that replacement batteries for CLIEs are coming soon.
Do
> you know when they'll be available? I have a N610c.
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
>

[gvtexas]

I received a reply from cliebattery.com to my question of if their replacement batteries would hold a longer charge, and they replied that due to the small size, they can't supply a battery that will do any differently than the original battery. This query was on the SJ30 replacement batteries.