Palm Pilot not charging.

[brownfinger]

Palm IIIc for datalogging. I got it right around New Years. It worked great then using MMCd. I got a little tipsy the other night and apparently bought a car from somone via email by telling him he's a fool for asking a penny over $1500.
So I stuck my Palm on the charger after recieving another email from the guy, I should check out the car before buying it. Damn thing won't take a charge.
I wasn't suprised that it was so dead that I lost all my data and needed to reload MMCd. That all went down just fine. The problem is, after it turns off automaticly in 2 minutes, it stops charging. The little charge light goes out a few seconds after the screen turns off.
I changed the settings to "remain on while in cradle" and left it in the cradle all night. The charge light stayed on all night. But it still dies as soon as I remove it from the cradle. Every time I remove it and it dies, if you put it back in the cradle, the setup screen come on again, and I have to reset the time, date, etc...
Anyone have any experience with this problem?

 

[Spln_Hrd]

I am not sure what stile of cradle yours has, but every chargin device will list its output and input.

Input will be 120V at 60hz

Output will be between 6-12V dc I would assume.

You need to get out a volt meter and see where your losing the output at, check it at the charging unit, then check it at the wires going to your battery.

Or mail it to me and I'll keep it

 

[brownfinger]

The cradle is the direct-serial hot-sync cradle charger for the built-in lithium-ion battery. It has a seperate AC adapter which plugs into the serial connecter on the back of the PC.
I guess it's worth checking the adapter's output, but I don't think that's the problem. The charge light comes on when the unit is placed into the cradle, but it goes out as soon as the unit turns itself off. That should only happen if it's fully charged. If I remove it from the cradle it will not operate at all. When I place it back in the cradle it operates fine, but always starts at the set-up screen.

 

[stevo911]

Sounds like your battery is dead cradle is working battery isnt holding charge.

 

[brownfinger]

Yes it does sound that way. I tested the output from the AC adapter. It says 5V DC output, I measured 5.3V. The part that bugs me is that the last time I used it, it worked just fine, and held charge for weeks. It's just been sitting around for a few months, un-touched. It's been in the house, as opposed to the glove box or garage.
This sucks.

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

Some of the really old cradles have issues with static electricity messing with their internal charging circuit. Might be worth checking out if a battery replacement doesn't work for you.

 

[brownfinger]

Is ebay my best bet for a new battery? Is it a relatively simple matter of taking off the rear cover and swapping in a new battery? Palm IIIc.
BTW, thanks, guys.

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

Yes to both questions.

 

[smokem]

PM'ed OP.