[NTLK] I have a question about the way the eMate handles

[Sonny Hung]

Hi Forrest,

On Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 7:31 PM Forrest Buffenmyer <
newton_phoenix at mindspring.com> wrote:

> I have a question about the way the eMate handles its battery charging
> task, vs. the way the Newton does.
>

I'm not sure nor am I technically inclined or knowledgeable enough on these
detail and will refer them for Frank to be clarified.

Briefly--I recently purchased a like-new eMate off eBay. Not a mark on it;
> display intact with no marks or scratches. The seller had no way to power
> it up, so it was sold as-is.
>

I've had some Old  New Stock eMate 300 battery packs in my possession. In
discussion with Frank, we discussed the possibilities of resuscitating them
for use. Many if not most of them were in the state of Deep Toast as you
mentioned below.

Without the Y2K patch on my eMate 300, I began inserting them one at a time
(first test batch of 8) to try charging them and see if they would first
charge at all, and if they did how long of a run time they would last using
Frank's battery log program.
All I can say is that I had one maybe two of them come back to life. This
is no guarantee that your success percentage will be high, but it says your
results are not impossible.

When I came back to it 3 days ago, it was fully discharged, so I connected
> the eMate to power to recharge it. But again, it would not accept or hold a
> charge. The eMate said it was "deepToast" and that I should replace it, for
> those reasons.
>

Deep Toast, base on my discussion with Frank at times might be possible to
recover the battery if your try to condition the pack. I have somewhere in
my stash of Newton Third-Party Accessories a multi-pack charging station
for MP2000/2100 packs. However, I did at one time did think to modify it to
condition eMate300 packs. However, I never begin the process and I'm at
this time still trying to locate it in my storage stash.

One other discussion with Frank about the eMate300 packs was that we could
freeze the packs and then try charging them to see if they hold a charge.
If I'm wrong Frank please correct me as these memories maybe a bit fuzzy as
I age. This if I recall also applies to the MP2000/2100 packs too. YMMV but
you might be able to resuscitate a pack, but the usage/hours might not be
stable or consistent. I believe we used Frank's Battery Log app to test
howling packs that were resuscitated lasted. I saved a few logs back then
on oneeMate300. No idea where it is at this time.

So now what happens? Do I tear down and rebuild what could be a
> still-functioning battery pack...or do I wait until the issue shows up
> again?


You could try to bring it back to life or rebuild it. I can't give you the
best choice on this. The cells are old and may not be stable. Re-celling a
pack if done correctly is a better option if you can do it or pay for it.


> Mahalo,
> Forrest
> Sent from my eMate 300
>