Hi Paul: Just remember by having the stop watch going in the background this also will drain the battery. smile
> ----- Original Message ----- >From: Paul Henrichsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: Braillenote List <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 17:14:49 -0800 >Subject: Re: battery drain. Was [Braillenote] A suggestion regardingalarms >This is a lengthy message. If you aren't interested in the topic, press delete. >Thanks, Richard. I am going to try with speech on and with speech off, once >for each full charge. I am going to use the stopwatch to measure my time. >Oh, I will probably be off as much as an hour. I don't know how close I can >get to a freeze before I have to bail out with the stopwatch or the >document I am working on, but if I get eight hours and then tack on another >two just because I am still at two percent, ten hours is not what the >manual says nor what I was told during the sales pitch. >And I will tell you all this. If pulse data ever upgrades the motherboard >with a faster processor, they will sure have to redesign their circuitry >somehow. Because a faster processor will probably drain the battery even >more quickly than it drains now. >Also, once the new pacmate gets established, if they have a longer battery >life, I think people will lean towards purchasing that unit even if it does >some things more poorly. IF it doesn't work with the web quite as nicely, >perhaps requiring a few more keystrokes or if pocket word isn't as friendly >as our keyword editor, that may be overlooked because they can go wireless >and they have USB access, can run many third party windows ce programs and >have a longer battery life. I think their advertisement about a 50 hour >battery life is totally bogus. If their advertisement that you don't have >to replace the battery for five years turns out to be as bogus as their >battery life claims, they might have a problem, but only if it is less than >ours. >I was on the pacmate list until a week ago and they were having quite a >disagreement concerning exactly how much battery life the new pacmate >really had. The consensus was, as I remember, that you can run it down from >a full charge in about 12 hours if you put it into some sort of drain mode >where the amplifier is on all of the time. >Of course, in normal use, they would get better time as the amplifier, like >ours, turns off after a specified amount of time. >I didn't stay on the list; so don't know what the final outcome was, but I >think that some people were rather disappointed. >I admit I am making suppositions here, but I was talking to someone who was >getting a notetaker. He said he was getting a pacmate because he really >needed wireless at his school. Well, I guess it wouldn't have mattered much >what I said about how I liked my unit; and make no mistake. I really like >my braillenote except for the poor battery life. It does what I need to do. >I have even tried browsing and downloading books from bookshare. I have >tried the e-mail feature. I read through 187 e-mail messages in ten minutes >by just listening to their subject lines. It would have taken me over an >hour to do the same thing in Eudora. The bn was much more responsive as I >right arrowed from subject to subject. >So, don't think I don't consider that my bn is absolutely fabulous. I just >want the battery life that I was told about during the sales pitch. >Now, I am open-minded enough that if someone from pulse data or someone on >this list wants to show me that I don't know what I am talking about, I >invite the discussion. >I have no reservations about spending over 6000 dollars on my braille note >and would recommend it to anyone. I even spent the 425 dollars on the 48 mb >of memory knowing that all you really get is 32 mb. You already have 16 on >the unit when you buy it. You don't get 48 plus 16 mb. You get only 48 mb. >But I was agreeable to that and am not sorry I chose to do that. I think >that in a long run, having that extra memory on board will come in handy. I >think this will especially be true if third party programs are ever >written. By the way, I think the pacmate has 64 mb, but I could be wrong >about how much memory is actually accessible to the user for data. >The battery life is my only concern. I am even willing to wait for things >like wireless and USB support as well as a newer Internet explorer so I can >get access to secure sites as I don't need that right away. I await the >developer's kit so third parties can develop applications for the braille >note as well. These are the things that will need to happen to make the bn >competitive with the pacmate. >At 1/14/2004, you wrote: >>Hi, Paul >>I totally agree with all your sentiments and my experience has been similar >>to yours; incidentally, I primarily use the Braille display by itself and >>only rarely switch the speech on and so can factor out speech putting an >>extra strain on the battery. I have also had my battery replaced and found >>no improvement. On top of all that, re-calibration doesn't work for me >>either! >>I believe the claims in the manual over the expected battery are a tad >>misleading! >>Regards >>Richard Bartholomew >>E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "Paul Henrichsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To: "Braillenote List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 11:15 PM >>Subject: battery drain. Was [Braillenote] A suggestion regarding alarms >>> Hi, Terry. I guess this alarm suggestion stems from the fact that I still >>> really dislike the amount of battery drain on my bn. >>> I know that everyone on this list has tried to assure me that the >>> percentage of drain is normal, but it just really bothers me that I can >>> read for an hour and drop almost ten percent. >>> I just had my bn fully charged on Sunday morning and I am already at 47 >>> percent on Tuesday. I have probably used the unit for maybe three hours or >>> so, four hours if I were over exaggerating. >>> I like everything about this unit except for the battery drain. If it goes >>> down this fast with a new unit not yet a month old, Imagine what it will >>be >>> like in two years. Will it drop 50 percent each day if I read for an hour >>> or so at that time? >>> What can I expect in a year and a half or two years with regard to battery >>> drain? >>> How will I know it is time to get a new battery? >>> Is it because I have speech and braille turned on that I drop so fast? Is >>> it because I am editing, dleting and adding characters instead of just >>reading? >>> I assume not because I drop at least four percent a day when my unit is >>> switched off. >>> I have a book port, a portable reading device from A P H. Although it >>> doesn't have an alarm, it does have a clock; so that it keeps track of the >>> time even when the unit is off. It uses flash memory to store books and >>> that card is always in the unit. It doesn't drain nearly as fast as the bn >>> does. I don't keep a flash card in my unit; nor do I use the modem, serial >>> port or infra-red port. >>> Of course, we are talking apples and oranges here, but I do remember that >>> in the early rom updates of the book port, it ate batteries like candy. >>> They somehow fixed the drain problem and updated the rom so now, it >>doesn't >>> drain hardly at all. >>> If I over exaggerate, I probably get ten hours out of a full charge. I >>> thought we were supposed to get between 16 and 20 hours; or is that if the >>> unit just sits there doing nothing? >>> I had thought that if we could turn off functions that we weren't >>> interested in using that, perhaps, we could increase the battery life. >>> I think this is really going to be a sticking point if the new packmate >>> gets a much higher battery life. We already have the problem with a newer >>> internet explorer that pocket pc provides for the pacmate and the fact >>that >>> they can use a wireless connection. >>> I think their 50 hour battery life was an exaggeration, but what if they >>> can get 20 or 30 hours to our ten? >>> There is no way to even tell how long you have used the bn between charges >>> The L key doesn't work on the support page. With my braille lite 18, I >>> could bring up the status menu and find out how much of a charge I had >>left >>> and also how many hours I had been using the unit. >>> We can't do this with the bn. >>> If I used the stopwatch each time I switched on the unit to get a running >>> total, would that drain the battery even faster? >>> I tried it last night after a suggestion from a user that this wold tell >>me >>> how much time I had used the unit. I read for an hour and five >>> minutes,according to the stopwatch. I dropped from 58 to near 48 percent. >>> This is the only thing that really frustrates me. >>> Can you tell<grin>? >>> Paul Henrichsen >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> <home.pacbell.net/paulh52 >>> ___ >>> To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >>> http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote >>___ >>To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >>http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote >Paul Henrichsen ><[EMAIL PROTECTED] ><home.pacbell.net/paulh52 >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
