Did I Fry and iPAQ?

[Peter]

After wrestling with what kind of Pocket PC to buy, I've settled on an iPAQ.  I test drove one today at Sears, of all places, and I'm kinda tempted to go back and snag it, since they seem to be in short supply.<br><br>My question is this . . .<br><br>To get this hummer to work, the sales guy plugged it into the AC adapter right out of the box, without letting it charge for three hours (let alone, three minutes!)  When I was done playing with it, we just put it away in the box.  Have I screwed up that unit and should control my impulse buying urges until a new one comes in or until I find a better one online?<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Peter<br>

[Jaybot]

No, it should be fine.  That's just a precautionary thing everyone says you have to do, just in case the battery wasn't charged when you first got it, which in most cases it is, (yes even the Ipaq which (supposedly) mysteriously loses it's charge in 14 days). I've gone through 4 different PPCs and never fried one by opening up the box right away and starting to play with it while I'm driving home , until I can get home to plug it in.

[SonicSilicon]

I used to completely drain the batteries on my Nino before completely recharging them. I thought it'd prevent battery memory, but doing so actually caused memory. After a few months the batteries would only last a few minutes before shutting the unit off. It wasn't a real problem since I could just plop AA bateries in (I almost wish every PDA could do that.)<br><br>After having left the batteries "dead" for a few months I decided to try them again. After completely charging one I could use the Nino for over 8 hours continuously. I wouldn't give a second thought about the few minutes the iPAQ was used as long as it got charged overnight.

[Jaybot]

"I thought it'd prevent battery memory, but doing so actually caused memory"<br><br>What?  I didn't know batteries had memory. I really have no idea about what you just said.

[SonicSilicon]

Okay...<br>When you charge a NiCad battery without completely draining it first it tends to provide less time the next time you use it. The first few times you do that it's imperceptible. After a while the amount of time that you can use the battery before it dies tends to be around the avereage amount of time you have used it each time before. It is said that the battery has a "memory" as to how long you normally use it and plays dead once you have reached that time.<br><br>As i said, this is common with NiCad (nickel cadmium) batteries, but not so with every rechargeable battery. For instance, this situation doesn't occur with your car battery because it is a Lead Acid battery (which gets charged by your engine driven alternator all the time your car runs.)

[Peter]

But in the case of a this battery (Lithium Polymer, I believe) I shouldn't have to worry about screwing up the battery in some way because of what I described in the first note in this string, right?<br><br>As Jaybot said, the instructions always tell you to charge the battery as "a precautionary thing" even though it wasn't charged when we opened the box.  (We had to plug it into the AC adapter to get it to work.)  <br><br>So, if no one stops me (including my wife who thinks $500+ for a "toy" is nuts), I'm probably gonna head back to Sears to pick this baby up tomorrow.  (Who would have thought I'd be buying this at Sears - but since the availability online seems pretty slim OR only available at the full price AND since I'm not sure I want to risk eBay on this one, it seems like the best bet.)<br><br>Thanks again,<br><br>Peter

[Jaybot]

I tried to reply to this earlier, but I guess I got disconnected, I knew what you meant Silicon, I was just kidding around. <br>This is true with the NiCad batteries, and that's about it, with Lithium Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride, and Lithium Polymer batteries, it really doesn't matter when or how often you charge them (in fact some people say, the more you have it sitting on the charger the better...) So hooking up the Ipaq at the store and not letting it charge is equal to me taking the batteries out of my casio and plugging it in, it does no harm.

[SonicSilicon]

You forgot the ~ after your comment then, Jaybot. By the way, the Nino battery packs are NiMH. Personally I'd prefer Lithium Polymer since it can't leak anything if it happens to crack. I wonder how large a charge it can hold and how long the charge stays.<br><br>Anyway, yes, Peter, the battery will be just fine. And unless you are going to be working with digital photography or Excel spreadsheets everyday, just about any PPC can be considered a toy. (Personally I'm lost without color coding and would've shelled out more for a color palm than my refurbished E-105, so I have somewhat of an excuse.~)<br><br>Woohoo! 60th post! Like I care. I just happened to notice.