Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!batcomputer!pwong
From: pwong@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Patrick Wong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: Tosh battery life.
Message-ID: <1991Feb8.132820.21555@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 8 Feb 91 13:28:20 GMT
References: <1991Jan26.150118.7569@vax1.tcd.ie> <5690009@pollux.svale.hp.com> <TYTSO.91Feb7190330@tsx-11.mit.edu>
Organization: Cornell Theory Center
Lines: 36

Finally, I couldn't resist to post my experience about the subject.
I know two facts, based on actual experience:

After the my T1000SE runs the battery all the way to "zero" (i.e., it
shuts itself down, I  usually do one of the following:

1.  Plug the charger in and go to bed.  The next morning (i.e. 6 hours
    later), certainly the green battery light is on.  And when I feel
    the housings of the charger and the battery on the computer, they
    both are COLD.  That indicates to me that the charger shuts itself
    down when it senses that the battery is "full".

2.  Plug the charger and keep on using the computer.  This leads to
    one of the two events:
    a) After computing for a couple hours with the charged plugged in,
       the green light comes on and the charger and battery feel cold.
    b) The green light never lights up but the battery housing feels
       HOT (I mean very HOT!) while I am continuously using the computer. 

    Event 2b happens randomly: sometimes it occurs and sometimes it doesn't.
    But one additional observation for event 2b is that if I shut down the
    computer after plugging the charger in and using the computer for a
    while (let say an hour) with the charging going on, this would cause
    event 2b more likely to occur than event 2a.

*** One important thing that I haven't mentioned is that after the computer
    shuts itself down due to complete battery drain, I ALWAYS remove the
    battery from the computer and put it back immediately.  As most Toshiba
    owners know, this procedure would set the computer fuel gauge to "???" 
    and the charger will charge the battery as if it is a new battery that
    has never been charged.
    I think perhaps this procedure of setting the fuel gauge may be the reason
    for event 2b to occur.

Patrick
pcw@squid.graphics.cornell.edu