Battery charging reset

[CroCo]

I read in another forum, that you should charge your TH55 all the way, until the power LED turns green. I got my TH55 second hand and don´t know if the previous owner did so. In the same forum I also read, that you can reset the charging settings by performing a HARD RESET while charging the device. Well sounds interesting, but then again, maybe after hotsynching my data back on my device the charging-setting wil be overwritten by the old setting?! Could be solved by not synching system-stuff.
Another thing. If you are not supposed to turn you TH55 on while charging it the first time, will hard-resetting it while charging be exactly the same?! It´ll be turned on and charging...well. If anyone got some professional insight into this I´d appreciate it! I´ll post a thread at the clie-support, they should know for sure!-)

[JohnKes]

No need to Hard Reset. Just have it charging then press the reset button (Soft Reset). This will reset the charging limits and ensure max charging. Leave it charging for 4 hours just to be sure.

[CroCo]

Thanks. Actually I did the hard reset thing yesterday. So in a few days of usage I´ll hopefully know if my TH55 has better battery life or not:-)

[JulianL]

I'm glad this thread came up. When I first charged mine I followed the "read me first" instructions and only charged it for 5 hours, I only subsequently saw the bit in the manual that said to wait until the power light goes out so I don't know whether it was fully charged the first time.

How does this going green thing work? I've only ever seen the power light go from orange to off, I've never seen it then come on again (while charging) as green, I only see that when I switch it on for normal use. How long after the orange light goes out does one need to wait until it comes back on as green?

Finally, I would like to suggest a slight ammendment to JohnKes's advice about leaving it 4 hours just to be sure. After I got paranoid that I hadn't charged mine long enough the first time I did an experiment and timed how long it took my TH55 to go from start of charge (from a 10% battery) up to the orange light going off. For mine it took 4 hours 45 minutes so I would advise waiting at least 5 hours (which is what it says in the Clie instructions) not 4 hours as John said in his post.

- Julian

[JulianL]

Thanks. Actually I did the hard reset thing yesterday. So in a few days of usage I´ll hopefully know if my TH55 has better battery life or not:-)
Please report back. This will be interesting to know. Good luck. I hope you get a positive result.

- Julian

[depret]

My values according to BatteryGraph Software Status button.

-4200mV (100%)
-3750mV (Warning Threshold)
-3700mV (Critical Threshold)

Please report your values before and after you execute the procedure. We want to know.

[JulianL]

My values according to BatteryGraph
Woo hoo, this is just what I've been looking for for a few weeks now! I've been trying to find a decent utility for monitoring power-on time. Thanks Depret.

For others that are interested, here is the URL I found via Google: http://palm.jeroenwitteman.com/BatteryGraph/index.php. I tried searching Palmgear first and "BatteryGraph" or "Battery Graph" didn't find it, so I'm just trying to save others the same frustration. I just installed it on my TH55 and it looks really good.

- Julian

P.S. I'm showing 4140mV for an 88% charge.

[depret]

Don't forget to set your preferences to 28 days. I also turn on all options and tweak the colors for best overall plot summary. You are welcome.

[JohnKes]

Woo hoo, this is just what I've been looking for for a few weeks now! I've been trying to find a decent utility for monitoring power-on time. Thanks Depret.

For others that are interested, here is the URL I found via Google: http://palm.jeroenwitteman.com/BatteryGraph/index.php. I tried searching Palmgear first and "BatteryGraph" or "Battery Graph" didn't find it, so I'm just trying to save others the same frustration. I just installed it on my TH55 and it looks really good.

- Julian

P.S. I'm showing 4140mV for an 88% charge.

Thanks for the tip. I used to use BatteryLog but that requires a hack, which would not work under OS5. BatteryGraph tracks the same data, but does graphing too.

[softech]

Do we have to apply that soft reset while charging trick regularly to make keep the battery life good?

[JohnKes]

I only do an In-cradle Reset when battery life seems shorter than normal. BatteryGraph will help tell you what is normal.

[JulianL]

Well, this BatteryGraph is a real eye-opener. I bought my TH55 partly for the 320x480 screen without a slider (i.e. not a T3), but probably more for the battery life.

Well, I discovered BatteryLife part way through a charge so I think I had at least 90 minutes of use off my latest charge before I started measuring with BatteryGraph. BatteryGraph has now recorded another 6 hours of on-time on top of that, so a total of 7.5 hours, and I'm still at 53% charge! I've read a lot of ebooks but I have also hotsynced about 30MB of data onto my memory stick (I'm evaluating dictionaries, and no, there is no charging through my hotsync cable), played with some heavyweight mapping software, and done some sniffing for wireless networks and beaming of apps when I was showing my new-ish toy off to a friend last night. Incredible!!!

- Julian

[Agy]

JulianL

did you find and answer to your question about thwe green ligth after recharge?

I have the same problem my th never goes green unless is unppluged and power on


Quote:
How does this going green thing work? I've only ever seen the power light go from orange to off, I've never seen it then come on again (while charging) as green, I only see that when I switch it on for normal use. How long after the orange light goes out does one need to wait until it comes back on as green?

[JulianL]

JulianL

did you find and answer to your question about thwe green ligth after recharge?
No, I didn't.

I have 2 possible theories of my own though, for what that is worth.

Either (1) The person who said the light goes green just replied in a bit of a hurry and just got it wrong, what they meant to say was that the charge light goes out (which is what it says in the TH55 manual).

Or (2) Maybe the original responder has their TH55 auto-off setting set so that the TH55 stays on when in the cradle. I never have mine set this way but if the TH55 is set to stay on during charging then I expect that the power light would change from amber to green when charging is complete.

I'm not too worried about it now. I've left my TH55 charging for 15 hours or so and the green light never comes on so I don't think it ever will. I've also now measured the amount of on-time I get from a single charge using BatteryGraph and it's far more than I expected so I really can't believe that I'm not getting a full charge.

- Julian

[Agy]

Thanks JulianL

I guess i won't be worried

[Streamhawk]

No, I didn't.


Or (2) Maybe the original responder has their TH55 auto-off setting set so that the TH55 stays on when in the cradle. I never have mine set this way but if the TH55 is set to stay on during charging then I expect that the power light would change from amber to green when charging is complete.

I'm not too worried about it now. I've left my TH55 charging for 15 hours or so and the green light never comes on so I don't think it ever will. I've also now measured the amount of on-time I get from a single charge using BatteryGraph and it's far more than I expected so I really can't believe that I'm not getting a full charge.

- Julian

Your second guess is correct, I have mine set to stay on with my Cable that charges it. When it's totally charged the light turns green, if I have my TH55 turned off the light goes off when charged, all of this connected to the cable of course.

[CroCo]

THE LONG AWAITED ANSWER TO THE "RESET WHILE CHARGING ISSUE" TO RESET THE CHARGING LIMITS:

1. as I wrote in one of my initial threads, I did the reset while charging thingy. I even did the hard-reset thing. These are my results:
A: the maximum voltage 100% = 4200mV did not change.
B: the battery performance has not changed

conclusion:
I assume that the person who owned the device before me did the inital charge correctly, or the TH55 doesn´t really care.

2. I finally got an Sony-support answer to this question. The guys seem to know nothing about this issue. They told me to just charge my clie just normal.

Final conclusion:
Reseting your device while charging to reset the charging limits in your device seems to be a hoax. I know that some batteries should be charged fully before they are used for the first time. The reason is some physics reason and has nothing to do with charging limits. I guess the charging-control in the TH55 is not so sophisticated as asumed by the person who put this reset while charging thing in the net. I´d think sony solved that problem hardware whise...otherwise it would be fatal to reset your clie, because then you would have to recharge it all the way. And I cannot remember reading anything about that in the manual.Also, how would the unit know when it is charged fully for the first time when the bounds are not known?
Seemed to be a nice trick but I guess it´s a hoax.

[JohnKes]

Well, it is not a hoax for Palms and Handsprings. The In-Cradle Reset really does help. I don't know why charging limits would be changeable, since the battery was never meant to be changed. Dumb design.

Perhaps Sonys (esp. TH-55) have more sophisticated charging circuits, and don't need/respond to the In-Cradle Reset.

[m8rk]

Just want to say thanks for a great thread. Fascinating findings and a great app. in the form of BatteryGraph (http://palm.jeroenwitteman.com/BatteryGraph/index.php)!

:)

[JulianL]

Final conclusion:
Reseting your device while charging to reset the charging limits in your device seems to be a hoax.
I can confirm from experience that reseting while charging does do some sort of re-callibration of the charging circuitry. If it wasn't for this then I would have a dead TH55 on my hands.

I posted my experience in another thread, but briefly, here's what happened. Somehow my TH55 got itself stuck on in my pocket and drained the battery so it was completely dead and wouldn't power on at all. When I got to a charger that evening I plugged it in overnight but the following day, after 8 hours charging and the battery charge indicator gone from orange to off, when I tried to switch it on it was still completely dead. Partly out of desperation I plugged it back into the charger and tried to power it on while it was plugged in.... nothing. Finally I tried reseting it while plugged in and.... hello TH55, all back to normal with a full charge in the battery (as there should have been after 8 hours charging).

All I can conclude is that the deep discharge confused the battery/charging circuits so badly that it didn't realise it was recharged, and the reset fixed it.

- Julian.

[JohnKes]

JulianL,
Thanks for the confirmation. Yes, this is a great thread!

[CroCo]

All I can conclude is that the deep discharge confused the battery/charging circuits so badly that it didn't realise it was recharged, and the reset fixed it.

- Julian.

This could be one conclusion. Another could be, that your TH55 was crashed, stalled, whatever you want to call it, and the reset just resolved the crash. Happened also to my PalmIII, which can not be charged- you have to swap batteries, which means no charging circuit whatsoever.
Well, I mean it doesn´t hurt to reset the device, except for the reinstallation effort:-)