Hi everyone on the list, I've been at Humanware for a few months now and have been reading this list, and thought I could clarify a couple of issues about battery calibration, since that's one of the things I've been working on. Here's my understanding:
Firstly, you don't have to do a battery calibration - it just helps the unit keep track of exactly what your battery capacity is. All batteries degrade with use and after 12 months you'd expect a reduction in capacity. If you never calibrate your unit, it may think that the battery has more juice left than it really does. If it was me, I'd probably try to do a recalibration once every few months and leave it running overnight so I don't have to listen to it . In addition, some battery types (including NiMH which the mPower uses) need a few full charge cycles before they reach full capacity - for example, this is what the instructions for my electric drill said. Secondly, the mPower and BrailleNote classic systems measure remaining charge in different units. mPower gives a reading of how many milliAmpere hours it thinks are left in the battery. So a battery with a design capacity of 1800 mAh will probably reach the 1700 - 1800 mAh range. The classic doesn't read in milliampere hours but just reads off the information directly from the fuel gauge chip - the one I'm playing with now goes says it's last discharge was 27,000-ish. So don't worry if your mPower doesn't go up as high as that - it's not supposed to. hope that's useful! I'm copying Dean on this in case he wants to add to or clarify my clarification <grin> regards, Andy. ---- Andrew Riden Software Development Engineer HumanWare Ltd 11 Mary Muller Drive, Christchurch , New Zealand . DDI +64 3 940 2264 Fax +64 3 384 4933 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet: www.humanware.com *Pulse Data and VisuAide have merged to form HumanWare*
