Re: [NTLK] e-Mate Hell UPDATE

From: Stephanie Maks (newton_at_maksystems.com)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2002 - 21:05:39 EST


The eMate monitors battery voltage. That is how it knows when the batteries
are full. It does high current rapid charging until the batteries reach
their maximum level, then the eMate goes into low current 'trickle-charging'
mode.

The thermistor is a safety cutoff feature. That is, if the batteries are on
their way to meltdown, the eMate will stop the charging current rather than
turn itself into a molten blob.

If the eMate used battery temperature to decide when to charge the
batteries, it'd be on high-current rapid charge any time it was cold. Many
of the battery monitoring software will show you the rapid charging /
trickle charging cycle, such as the one in Avis Backdrop.

-Stephanie

http://www.maksystems.com/newton/

> ...except that if the eMate doesn't know the battery temperature, it
> doesn't know when to stop charging the batteries - isn't this the case? I
> thought this was what the thermistor was for.

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