Bragging about my battery

[e1999]

Just thought I would brag a little, and make some people jealous. I haven't charged my NZ in four days, and with the back light off, the battery reads 35% remaining, with an estimated usable time of 12h. 47m.

After the last two full charges, this has been the norm, provided I stay away from the camera app.

[cjones]

post a picture of it! :)

[e1999]

http://www.stoughtonutilities.com/media/raw/MVC-596F.gif

[e1999]

It probably would have been better for me to just post a link to the image....

I'll have to remember that next time.

[e1999]

It just went back up to 13h 45m after playing billiards for ten minutes.

http://www.stoughtonutilities.com/media/raw/MVC-597F.gif

[cjones]

Sweet dude... very sweet. So you said you got this how again? All I've seen posted so far is the whole drain-all-the-way then charge game.

What did *you* do to get this? I want to learn from you... :)

-chris

[e1999]

Well, it was quite simple really. After experiencing horrible times with the battery which came with the unit, I went out and bought a second battery, figuring I can swap them when necessary.

After charging it overnight right when I purchased it, I've been experiencing these extended charges. I haven't taken the new battery out yet.

[Bo_]

You mentioned that you are using the Clie with the backlight off, that will make a HUGE difference since that is quite a drain. Well worth the effort clearly.


Bo

www.bophoto.com/clie

[the_iceman]

What Bo Said is very true..... a Large amount of battery drain does occur with the 'backlight'. even at the lowest setting most won't get over 9hrs showing (except maybe momentarily). Usually with the backlight down to it's lowest setting it will give somewhere between 7 & 8 hours showing when it is fully charged.

I ran a test on my PDA..... using PowerNet... and here is what I found:

Pre-Test Information
Backlight: OFF
Battery Remaining: 100%
EST Time Charge: 0min
EST Time Usage: 10h.30m

Had Unit on for 10min letting it sit and do basically nothing with backlight off

Post Test Information:
Backlight: OFF
Battery Remaining: 99%
EST Time Charge: 3min
EST Time Usage: 10h.29m

with a 10min idle test... no difference. Even though it dropped only a percent with it being on for 10min.... the EST Time Usage dropped for a minute.

3 minutes after the test, the PDA jumped from 10h.29m of Usable time to 11h.13m of Usable time (no interaction from me... did it all on it's own). 1 minute after that (now 4 minutes after the idle test) battery jumped to 11h.21m Usable time.


Second Test.

Pre Test Information:
Backlight: OFF
Battery Remaining: 99%
EST Time Charge: 5min
EST Time Usage: 11h.21m

Work in DateBk5 for 10min. Going through calendars, and appointments. During this time... One appointment alarm went off, and a 5min snooze was used against it. Test completed prior to alarm going off for a second time.

Just Prior to Exiting DateBk5 Here is the information about the battery:
Backlight: OFF
Battery Remaining: 98%
EST Time Charge: 18min
EST Time Usage: 10h.20m

Exited DateBk5

Waited for 1 min to see what the battery did.

Post Test2 Information:
Backlight: OFF
Battery Remaining: 97%
EST Time Charge: 20min
EST Time Usage: 10h.15m

3 minutes after the 1st wait of 1min:
Backlight: OFF
Battery Remaining: 97%
EST Time Charge: 24min
EST Time Usage: 10h.42m


As one can see... it does fluctuate a bit... even with my cycle count being 'up there'. I don't think it is too much 'out of the ordinary' ... to be showing 10+ hours of usage when in the desktop. the estimate usage time is the amount of time remaining for continuous use of the internal battery. The estimated time will be based on the battery usage of the current application.

If you are in an application which is 'intensive'... the battery usage may drop from say 10hrs to 5hrs or 3hrs based on the consumption of battery power. So... it calculates it based only on Power Consumption of the application you are currently running. Most bring up the battery usage when in the clie-desktop ... which can run usually much longer than regular applications. For many of us, who have programs/files on our MS .... this will deminish the length of time you will get running those applications from the MS because of the access it has to perform.

I've left my PDA on (using powernet) for over 30min straight.... using 10min of the time heavily in DateBk5. Rest of the time... idle on the desktop. Battery Life still shows 97% remains... with 10h.19m remaining of 'usable' time.

All I say.. .is be careful with all the hype ..... my battery works very well for me... but I don't think most of us use our PDAs much without the backlight on. Usually we have it set 'low' but we have it on.

Once I was done with my testing... I turned the backlight on... and it immediately dropped from 10h.19m remaining .... to 9h.05m remaining... and finally back down to 7h.19m remaining (which seems typical for my battery with 97% of the battery remaining.

I'll drain down my battery to the 35-40% and see what it then shows me with the backlight off... to compare with the original posting.

[dks99]

Backlight differences.

Just turning off the backlight on my clie the 95% battery charge goes from 7h 04m to 10h 36m in about 60 seconds...

maybe this could be used to increse the battery "life" when taking photos...

dks

[dks99]

Well, I was going to post a reply about the backlight, but the_iceman must have been typing at the same time. and we posted the same thing. but his version is WAY better :)

later
dks

(P.S. This site is getting really popular (and slows down :( ))

[Bo_]

WOW. Iceman,

You are going sicentific research on us here... Great numbers. Pretty much confirmed what I though. mainly becuase the backlight in my Fujitsu P1000 seems to be the biggest single source of battery drain.


Bo

www.bophoto.com/clie

[kwajkat]

Guess I should have added my comments regarding this on this post instead of the new battery one. I have noticed that after 10 cycles my battery time is increasing. With the backlight on but at the bottom of the brightness, I am getting around 6 hr reading.

I am wondering if all the battery problems are not necessarily the battery itself but the smart battery reader?

Yesterday, at 100% I got 9 hrs, 11 mins (a first for 9 hrs) and as I watched it went to down to 6t hrs 30 min then 97% and 4 hrs 11 min then back up to 100% 5 hrs 45 min and then settled at 6 hrs 11 min 100%.

I also have noticed that when it is still plugged in to the charger the reading is 5 hrs 30 mins 100% and showing the charger lightening bolt. When I unplug it it shows 100% 4 hrs 30 min and then goes back up to either 6 hrs 45 min or 5 hrs 30 mins.

As this seems to be the only problem(?) I am having, I sure don't want to take it back.

I did notice when I first got it I took around 40-45 pictures with flash and started at 100% which was around 5 hrs 11 min and it dropped to 39%. I shut it off and then turned it back on and it went back to around 90& and 5hrs and something.

Any advise on if I have a problem or not. I would lovew to get those 11 hr readings but realize that I won't with the backlight on.

[cjones]

Yup... it's the magic of the backlight. I turned my backlight off and volia! my est. time usage jumped to 13+ hours. Then back down again to the 6+ hour range after turning the backlight on (at the lowest setting... the lowest is good enough in almost 99.9% of any situation I'm in).

-chris

[e1999]

Awww. Just crush my self esteem while you're at it. Here I was thinking I was all special.

Actually, I just posted that as proof to all the people out there that say they won't buy a NZ because of questionable battery life.

[the_iceman]

good thread... though... we are glad you did post it e19999999999999 no matter what the 'reason' was. Always good to have discussions :)

[lookman]

How do you switch off the backlight ?

Thanks

[dorianne]

Originally posted by e1999
Just thought I would brag a little, and make some people jealous. I haven't charged my NZ in four days, and with the back light off, the battery reads 35% remaining, with an estimated usable time of 12h. 47m.

After the last two full charges, this has been the norm, provided I stay away from the camera app. Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's not nice to brag???:D :D :D :D I'm jealous! I can't even get up to 6hrs, with either of my batteries.:eek:

[jadjman]

The battery thing is pissing me off.

I was trying to take some digital pics today, but because the battery was at 24%, it wouldn't let me.

Of course, 5 minutes later, the freakin' InfoLithium says, "Oh... now you're at 48%... go ahead and take your pics."

Any way to bypass this minimum battery thing?

Nick

[olo]

...just a thought: could it be possible that 3rd party launchers drain the battery more than the standard Clie launcher? Due to refresh procedures?
Has someone run a test?

cheers Nicolas

PS: it is very logical that the battery performance is trillions times better with backlight off, but hey who uses eg his digital cam without the LCD display?

[cjones]

Originally posted by lookman
How do you switch off the backlight ?

Thanks

Just hit the power switch like you're going to turn it off, but instead hold it for a second or two. The backlight *should* go off. Best to try this when you've already got decent light so you can easily see the change.

Then do the same thing again to toggle the backlight back on.

-chris

[Hong Kong Nick]

MMMmmmmmm. I've always had the backlight set at minimum brightness ... never turned the backlight OFF before until now.

10-odd hours at 75%.

I couldn't live with the 'view' though ... even under a naked striplight, the thing is too damn difficult to see.

S'pose I could eat more carrots, though :D

Nick

[cjones]

10 hours at 75%? nice Nick. so how are *you* doing it? anything special to get the Usable up so high?

-chris

[e1999]

When you live under the flourescent lighting in my office, the backlight isn't necessary most of the time. Even if you do want to use the camera function's LCD preview.

[cjones]

yeah e1999, but then you've got to toggle the backlight off *every* time you turn on the NZ right? unless there's some way to permanently turn it off so it's off by default when you turn on the NZ.

-chris

[e1999]

When I turn the unit off while the backlight is off, the b.l. is still off when I turn it back on.

[the_iceman]

I think Sony made a little mistake with the battery. I'm not complaining about it too much.... but I'm sure almost all of us are sick to death of the 11mb internal ram. WE have pretty much all migrated applications from RAM to the MS. Whether or not we are running Power-Run or whatnot.

Fastest way to get an app to run is to have it in FLASH. If the app isn't in flash.. it goes to RAM. This is the 2nd fastest way to run an application or update files. The s-l-o-w-e-s-t methods are CF and/or MS. the CPU has determine to go to the MS... then you have I/O on the BUS to the MS to get the data... all the time we see our little amber MS light flashing and flashing all day long... like a BT light on Speed... LOL.

the more MS flashing we see.. the greater consumption of power is happening. Data being drawn from the MS.. into internal ram... then you get done with the file/program... and go back to main menu.... it then has to update (if necessary) the RAM files... remove it from internal RAM .. blah blah blah .... .lotsa wasted energies with this.

I agree with the thread.. that the backlight uses quite a bit of power. I also think.... that the more on a MS.. the less battery usage you will get ... because of all the data being moved around and around... and around.

:)

[jadjman]

Originally posted by the_iceman
it then has to update (if necessary) the RAM files... remove it from internal RAM .. blah blah blah .... .lotsa wasted energies with this.

If there's one single thing that I'm flabbergasted about with this NZ90, is the fact that it has to "recreate" thumbnails of photos EACH time you launch that viewer program.

Is it too much to ask to have the OS create a thumbnail file that it updates as necessary the way MS Windows does? This one factor is driving me NUTS!

Wanna see a few picture? Wait 10 seconds for thumbnails to load on the first page of pics, wait another 8-15 to scroll to that pic while thumbnails continue to load... display that picture, first waiting 3-5 seconds for THAT to load... Then back to the drawing board to view pic #2. RIDICULOUS!

Nick

[Bo_]

Nick,

I understand that AcidViewer is the answer to this, as it does keep the thumbnails in a DB.


Bo

www.bophoto.com/clie

[cjones]

Originally posted by jadjman


If there's one single thing that I'm flabbergasted about with this NZ90, is the fact that it has to "recreate" thumbnails of photos EACH time you launch that viewer program.

Is it too much to ask to have the OS create a thumbnail file that it updates as necessary the way MS Windows does? This one factor is driving me NUTS!

Wanna see a few picture? Wait 10 seconds for thumbnails to load on the first page of pics, wait another 8-15 to scroll to that pic while thumbnails continue to load... display that picture, first waiting 3-5 seconds for THAT to load... Then back to the drawing board to view pic #2. RIDICULOUS!

Nick

Nick - I've said this in other posts... that's *exactly* why I don't use the 'CLIE Viewer'. I use my launcher... YiShow. I just click the little icon to show me the memory stick contents, navigate to the appropriate location of my pictures, and click on them. I can also select as many as I want and view them in a slide show.

It's sooo convenient.

-chris

[Bo_]

Chris, do that give you a thumbnail view of the images before you click on one to view it.. or is it a straight file view..?


Bo

www.bophoto.com/clie

[the_iceman]

Acidimage is much much much much better than the ClieViewer... I don't use the ClieViewer ... I think that program... is 'crap'