Compaq 3600 Battery expansion problem

Piccolo_DBz · 01-15-2003

Ok, I just got a compaq that can't hold a charge. I know I would have to replace the battery but I also have a expansion pack for pc cards. I hear that it has a backup battery but whenever I hook up the PDA to it it still doesn't hold a charge. Is this normal?

packetattack · 01-17-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Piccolo_DBz
Ok, I just got a compaq that can't hold a charge. I know I would have to replace the battery but I also have a expansion pack for pc cards. I hear that it has a backup battery but whenever I hook up the PDA to it it still doesn't hold a charge. Is this normal?

This is what I would expect. When a battery like this goes bad, it's not a single cell.. its a few cells wired together. The dead cell acts a resistive load and drains the good cells which is why it doesn *hold* a charge. When you plug in the expansion battery, it too drains due to the resistive load of the damaged cell. If you were to take the cells apart, you would find one bad and the other good. This happens all the time on cars and with the water caps, it's very easy to test each cell and see the dead cell where the rest are fine.

The replacement battery is something like 30 bucks for a do it yourself kit.

Wy-

01-15-2003	#1 (permalink)
Piccolo_DBz Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 1	Compaq 3600 Battery expansion problem Ok, I just got a compaq that can't hold a charge. I know I would have to replace the battery but I also have a expansion pack for pc cards. I hear that it has a backup battery but whenever I hook up the PDA to it it still doesn't hold a charge. Is this normal?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode