Erratic New Battery Behavior on Tx

Within the last 6 months, I sent my 2 year old Tx to Chris Short to get a Glass Digitizer, a new Power Switch, and a new Battery. I love the glass digitizer. It sure is a major improvement.

At any rate my new battery started acting very erratic about 3 weeks ago. After listening to music with Pocket Tunes on my Tx for no more than 2 hours, I got a low battery alert stating that I had 16% remaining. I double-checked using SysInfo and it agreed. I turned off my Tx. I turned it back on 15 minutes later and it stated that I had a 30%charge and SysInfo agreed. I listened to music for about 5 minutes and I got the battery alert again.

Upon returning home I discovered that after 15 minutes of use the battery might read as low as 80%. If I turned my Tx back on 10 minutes later, it would read 95%. Essentially I have 2 problems. My battery life is definitely much less than it should be and it is all over the map with its readings.

The first thing I did was a soft reset. No change! Then I removed the only app that I have installed in the last 6 months. No change! Next I did a hard reset and restored using NVBAckup. No change. Finally I did a cradle battery reset. No change!

I hesitate to email Chris Short until I have had the benefit of the collective Brighthand wisdom. Any thoughts?

 

I'm sure Chris Short wouldn't mind an email. He might have some good ideas for dealing with this, or perhaps he'd be the first to recognize that it's defective and offer to help.

Anyway, I know it'd be a pain, but consider doing a hard reset, followed by in-cradle reset and 4-hour recharge. Don't restore anything or hotsync. Now test it out with some music, videos, web-surfing, or whatever. If the battery life seems acceptable, then you should consider doing a fresh install of applications you know are compatible. A simple restore or hotsync could restore the problem, so a fresh install might be the best route.

 

I had the same thing just happen with I battery from Shawn Lux and I've sent it back to him for a warranty replacement. The battery was about the same age. I know that Shawn and Chris work together sometimes and it is possible they share a battery supplier.

If this isn't a coincidence, there could be a problematic battery lot out there, but I'm sure that Chris, like Shawn, will cheerfully work with you until it is right.

 

I will try the hard reset followed by the in cradle reset followed by a 4 hour recharge and report back.

 

The fact that your battery percentage of charge goes up after a rest is normal behavior of any battery. The amount can vary depending on the battery's real capacity.

If your battery happens to be the Cameron Sino brand then a short life is what I would expect from the experience that I have had with two different Cameron Sino batteries for the TX.

 

Yup, Cameron Sino. Any idea why these would be so short lived? Six months? They are called "extended Life" batteries.

 

I think they are called extended life because they are supposed to be 1400 mAh instead of the 1250 mAh battery that comes in the TX. But in my experience with two of them, they are not even 1400 mAh when brand new. The two I had never were as high of a capacity as the stock battery in my TX.

 

Thanks for the info. By the way, do you have a battery you recommend (i.e., have you since found one that works better?)

 

I have not bought another battery since the two Cameron Sinos, which I don't use. My original battery is still good.

There is one advertised at:
http://www.batterymart.com/p-palm-tx-tungsten-t5-x-battery.html
that appears to NOT be Cameron Sino by looking at its picture. It is expensive at $38 and I have no idea if it is any good.

 

The change in battery percentage is not normal and never happened with the original battery nor my other Tx or any other Palm that I have owned. This could, however, be a function of the battery Chris used.