Tip! Do your won research and make up your mind as to the PDA model you want to get. DO this research before you go shopping, so you’ll have a good background about which model you want, and what are the potential problems it has.

Extending your PDA Battery Life so that you get the most cost effective use of your PDA battery begins with always keeping a spare pda battery replacement. PDA batteries are cheap enough that owning a backup pda battery makes absolute sense.

Beyond a spare pda battery replacement you can use some basic battery conditioning techniques to help further extend the life of your pda battery like: use the AC adapter or pda cradle at a desk, powering your pda battery down when not in use, dimming your pda screen down, and using peripherals wisely.

Tip! Full Internet and email capability. This is a standard feature among PDA’s today, but it’s worth mentioning.

But with PDA batteries there is far more going on internally that work against the life of a pda battery. Contained within your PDA Battery is a design and chemistry make-up that impacts your battery life far more than your usage activity and there is no amount of conditioning you can do to preven the ultimate power loss of your pda battery.

For example we know that batteries are rated by their voltage, their mAh, and of course the chemicals contained within. These three technical facts about your battery give some insight into the actual life of (energy stored within) your battery.

Tip! Your own PDA in now being repaired. This is obvious - your PDA is broken or malfunctions and it’s being repaired.

But the length of time a pda battery can operate is not linear to the amount of energy stored in the battery. In fact their are four ongoing problems with all batteries that affect performance and the extended battery life of your pda.

They are: declining capacity, increasing internal resistance, elevated self-discharge, and premature voltage cut-off on discharge.

These are more complex issues that are beyond user control and are wholly contained within your pda battery and within your device! As we will see these issues (declining capacity, increasing internal resistance, elevated self-discharge, and premature voltage cut-off on discharge) do more to cause PDA Battery Degradation and PDA Power Loss than your typical PDA owner could ever do.

Tip! The H6315 is an integrated PDA + cell phone. In the US, this device works perfectly along with the T-Mobile and Cingular networks.

Declining Capacity

Declining capacity is when the amount of charge a battery can hold gradually decreases due to usage, aging, and with some chemistry, lack of maintenance. PDA batteries are specified to deliver about 100 percent capacity when new but after usage and aging and lack of conditioning a pda battery’s capacity will drop. This is normal. If you are using a pda battery (or any lithium-ion or lithium-polymer battery) when your battery’s capacity reaches 60% to 70% the pda battery will need to be replaced. Standard industry practice will warranty a battery above 80%. Below 80% typically means you have used the practical life of a battery. Thus the threshold by which a battery can be returned under warranty is typically 80%.

Tip! Make sure what brand of PDA you want. If you already own a PDA - that is easy.

Loss of Charge Acceptance

The loss of charge acceptance of the Li?ion/polymer batteries is due to cell oxidation. Cell oxidation is when the cells of the battery lose their electrons. This is a normal process of the battery charge creation process. In fact every time you use your pda battery a loss of charge acceptance occurs (the charge loss allows your battery to power your pda). Capacity loss is permanent. Li?ion/polymer batteries cannot be restored with cycling or any other external means. The capacity loss is permanent because the metals used in the cells run for a specific time only and are being consumed during their service life.

Internal Resistance

Internal resistance, known as impedance, determines the performance and runtime of a battery. It is a measure of opposition to a sinusoidal electric current. A high internal resistance curtails the flow of energy from the battery to a pda device. The aging of the battery cells contributes, primarily, to the increase in resistance, not usage. Expect a typical life span of a Li?ion battery to be one to three years, whether it is used or not. The internal resistance of the Li?ion batteries cannot be improved with cycling (recharging). Cell oxidation, which causes high resistance, is non-reversible and is the ultimate cause of battery failure (energy may still be present in the battery, but it can no longer be delivered due to poor conductivity).

Tip! If you are surfing the web, there are types of viruses and Trojan horses who ‘know’ how to penetrate your PDA and do their worst. You therefore need proper protection from infected files, just like any PC user who surfs the web, downloads files, reads emails etc.

Elevated Self-Discharge

All batteries have an inherent self-discharge. The self-discharge on nickel-based batteries is 10 to 15 percent of its capacity in the first 24 hours after charge, followed by 10 to 15 percent every month thereafter. Li?ion battery’s self-discharges about five percent in the first 24 hours and one to two percent thereafter. At higher temperatures, the self-discharge on all battery chemistries increases. The self-discharge of a battery increases with age and usage. Once a battery exhibits high self-discharge, little can be done to reverse the effect.

Premature Voltage Cut-Off

Some pdas do not fully utilize the low-end voltage spectrum of a pda battery. The pda device itself cuts off before the designated end-of-discharge voltage is reached and battery power remains unused. For example, a pda that is powered with a single-cell Li?ion battery and is designed to cut-off at 3.7V may actually cut-off at 3.3V. Obviously the full potential of the battery and the device is lost (not utilized). Why? It could be something with elevated internal resistance and are pda operations at warm ambient temperatures. PDAs that load the battery with current bursts are more receptive to premature voltage cut-off than analog equipment. High cut-off voltage is mostly equipment related, not battery.

Tip! You need accessories. These are the basic, non essential goodies that are accompanying your PDA, like a nice leather case, a spare battery, a data/recharge cable, a recharge cradle and the like.

Dan Hagopian of Batteryship.com authored this article. http://www.Batteryship.com offers PDA Battery Replacement Kits with tools and instructions for iPod battery, iPAQ battery, Clie battery, Palm Battery, Axim battery, Treos, and Blackberries.

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