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From: k36853p@saha.hut.fi (Tapani Otala)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Battery problem in 48SX?
Keywords: 48SX,batteries,I/O,alarms
Message-ID: <1990Oct18.013921.28895@santra.uucp>
Date: 18 Oct 90 01:39:21 GMT
Sender: news@santra.uucp (Cnews - USENET news system)
Reply-To: k36853p@saha.hut.fi (Tapani Otala)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Lines: 34


I bought my 48SX around July.  The first set of batteries drained around
August.  At that time I thought the batteries that came with the machine
were old/crap anyway, so I didn't think anything was wrong.

But, couple of days ago the second set of batteries drained (_naturally_
about 20 minutes before mid-term physics exam...).  Now this is not 
exactly what I would have expected, so I measured the batteries --
seems that one of the three batteries is drained, while the other two
are in good condition.

Any suggestions as to reasons why this happened?  I could _almost_
accept the fact if all three batteries would be drained, but...
Could it be a) a single bad battery, b) a bad contact somewhere?, or
c) an extraordinary stroke of bad luck...

Couple of questions: how much does the serial I/O drain the batteries?
Do the Kermit commands in 48SX leave the serial port open?  The manual
states something about closing the port when not in use (so as to
conserve batteries), but I thought this applied to the low-level I/O
commands only.  The reason I'm asking this is that I've been doing
some pretty heavy serial I/O using the 48SX as a Kermit server.

Also while I'm certainly not an expert on 48SX, I should think that the
checking of pending alarms does drain the batteries somewhat even when
the machine is turned off.  I _used_ to have a quite large alarm list
(around 20-30 alarms)... so if this has any bearing on the problem...

Any comments are appreciated, via e-mail or as replies to this
article. (I don't mind bying new set of batteries every other
year or so -- but I _do_ mind bying them every two months...)
  -- k36853p@saha.hut.fi  ! Clothes make the man. Naked people have little
    -- tpo@otax.tky.hut.fi  ! or no influence on society. -- Mark Twain
      -- Tapani_'TpO'_Otala   !