revo battery: increase capacity with software/settings

bas · revo battery: increase capacity with software/settings

revo battery: increase capacity with software/settings

I remeber that some years ago, en program was available on the internet for the Psion revo to increase it's battery capacity. The Revo keeps 30% capacity left when it shows "0%" end switches off, to preserve the memory for a copple of weeks. The little program decreases the 30% to 10%, so you can use 20% more capacity to run the Revo as usual.

I can't find that program anymore, and I don't remember the name. Does anyone have this program or know where I can find it? Or are there other ways to change the settings of the Revo battery indicator?

Tanx!

MartinG

Yeah, this vaguely rings a bell with me too. I'll have a hunt but if anyone finds it in the meantime, can they forward a copy on to me to add to the Pscience5 site?

Thanks,
Martin

Kees vd Straten

Do you meen Chadis by Kevin Millicam?

bas · revo battery: increase capacity with software/settings

No, it's not Chadis

bas

I found a way to do the same thing as the program did, but in a difficult and time consuming way:
- backup the revo
- charge it to more than 85%
- do a hard reset by pressing the resetwholes 1 and 2 for more than 10 seconds
- charge the revo again. As the 85% is already passed and as the revo doesn't know this anymore, it will fastcharge again. Keep fast charging for 1 hour and 50 minutes.
- Heat the battery compartiment of the revo with a hair dryer (is that correct English?). This will make the revo think the 85% has been reached. The revo measures this point by temperature. NiMH batteries become hot at the 85% point.
- Keep charging until the 100% has been reached, for a good calibration.

I tested this after I changed the revo batteries myself. I wanted to do this because the new batteries have more capacity (2 x 900 mAh instead of the original 2 x 700 mAh) and it works: now I have 11-12 hours autonomy instead of 7-8.

I don't know whether this is important: I did not restore the entire backup. I installed all programs again and restored only the rest. Why? Because I don't know if the battery indicator callibration is in the system folder or not. If so, a restore of the entire backup will put the old callibration back and all your efforts will be a waste of time!

bas

11-12 hours seems to be a bit too optimistic: it's 10-11 hours.

Forgot to explain why you should fastcharged the second time for 1 hour and 50 minutes:

Normaly, fast charging takes 1 hour and 30 minutes (check the time at firts charging when the batteries are complety dead, 1h30 is mentioned in the revo manual) and add about 20% to gain the 20% battery capacity.

bas

I posted about the same question at de Freevo forum, and get an answer:
[url]http://www.freepoc.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=178;start=0#lastPost[/url]
I don't think the upgrade is what I'm looking for. There is also no manual.
Maybe the upgrade can be added in the lost&found page (if it's not already there)

bas

The upgrade I talked about here, should it be added in the lost & found?

You can download it here: http://www.freepoc.org/yabbse/ind...lay;threadid=178;start=0#lastPost (it's called upgrade.sis.zip).

I don't know what it is doing. Read the topic in this and the other forum!

I tested it:
* After installation, there is nothing to see, except in the software list, where it's called Batterijbeheer 1.00 (I guess Battery Managment 1.00 in English).
* It is said to give more autonomy to the revo. It didnot give more capacity on my revo
* I deleted it. After that, the battery indicator did nog function correctly (as well as Chadis): Red LED, but indicator says it's not charging, as well as Chadis. No sign of trickle charging too. After reinstalling, everthing worked fine again. I guess the installation overwrites the standard battery manager, and deleting the upgrade doesn't put back the standard one.
* I'm not sure, but I have the impression that I have less chargingproblems (like not switching to trickle charging) with the upgrade than before. Maybe the upgrade lowers the tresholdtemperature of the termistor build in in the batterypack of the revo, but that's just a guess that's probably wrong, because I didn't have to restart after installing the upgrade (which I think should be needed).

Something for the Lost & Found of Pscience5?

MartinG

Well tracked down bas! Very Happy

Yes, definitelysomething for the 'Lost & Found' pages. I'll upload it in the next few days.

Cheers,
Martin