yes, there is hardware in the mPower, and indeed the classic, to switch the AC power on and off as needed. So you can just plug the unit into the wall and it will do everything else; hopefully ending up in a fully charged state when it's finished.
end of battery life is usually given as about 500 cycles, which is when the usable capacity of the batteries is about 80% of what it's rated for. So an 1800mAh-rated battery that consistently comes in at less than 1450 is not healthy. I don't think we claim 20 hours of usability for the mPower, I hope not anyway! unless you've got a lot of extras plugged in, I'd expect the current to always be less than 180 mA, which would give at least 10 hours life on a 1800mAh battery. The classic is a different matter, having a slower processor and less stuff built in, so probably would go for longer ... I don't have time to look for the figures in the manual right now though. It is a good idea to fully discharge the battery once in a while - every 3 months or so is recommended. We have found that a badly-performing pack tends to get better if you leave it on charge for a long time. It's even better if you switch the AC adapter on and off occasionally, since this restarts the fast-charge of the battery. To simplify the explanation a little, it effectively stuffs extra charge into the battery, which excercises it and makes it work a little bit better. As with all things, it's possible to overdo it, which is why we didn't make the software do it automatically in KS7. If anyone feels their battery really isn't performing acceptably I'm happy to give an expert opinion - the best thing to do is probably run a calibration cycle (options menu, support information mode, press F) and send me the logs (on the Flash disk, beginning with the serial number of your machine, ending in .txt). 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 ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
