Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, usi

[Steve S]

Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, using the Electrovaya PowerPad (80, 120 or 160) external battery with non-Electrovaya hardware?

In particular, I'm curious to know if anyone has seen any "long-term" effects; either premature decay of the battery (literature says they're good for ~350, I think it was, charge cycles) or effects on the tablet battery (many tablet AC adaptors have multi-stage charging systems, not constant DC).

I'm also interested in any non-electrical comments that anyone may have, like quality, service or other issues.

Thanks

[Sagan]

A collegue of mine has one for his HP laptop and really likes it. It's been his for nearly a year and I've heard no complaints. Sorry, no details.

I didn't have the full $300 for the 120 model (to work with my M1400), so I went with the N-charge system II (valence.com). I didn't get two packs, so the price was $150 and it's available at Best Buy and Circuit City, though they charge for the adapter pack (about $10). I'm getting at least 4hrs extra and maybe 5 with this unit while using wireless. Haven't tracked it without. So far, I'm very pleased.

[dds2009]

Sagan,
Would you mind expanding more on this N-Charge battery for me? Maybe some more details on your use. I'm going to assume (yes, that's dangerous to do) that it will work with the LE1600. Thanks.

[terriblue]

quote:Originally posted by Steve S

Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, using the Electrovaya PowerPad (80, 120 or 160) external battery with non-Electrovaya hardware?

In particular, I'm curious to know if anyone has seen any "long-term" effects; either premature decay of the battery (literature says they're good for ~350, I think it was, charge cycles) or effects on the tablet battery (many tablet AC adaptors have multi-stage charging systems, not constant DC).

I'm also interested in any non-electrical comments that anyone may have, like quality, service or other issues.

Thanks

I had one. I used it a couple times and put it away for a couple months and forgot about it. When I went to charge it again it was worthless. It's a good piece of equipment if you can remember to keep it charged. If you plan to use it only occasionally the burden of remembering to charge it every month is too much. I don't appreciate something that requires that much upkeep. I am currently using a 2nd and 3rd battery with a Motion charger. It cost me more than the electrovaya powerpad, but I am happier. I still resent wasting 300 bucks on something I only used a couple times.

Terri

[WNewquay]

Hi Steve,

Here's a pretty good thread
N-Charge vs PowerPad

Repeated from the above thread - for a smile.
I'd stay away from e-Bay for PowerPads. You might end up meeting son-of-old-puffy

[Steve S]

Terri & Warner: Thanks specifically for your comments. That's exactly the type of information that I was hoping to uncover. I did a search on this (pre-crash) but, interestingly, it didn't uncover the thread about "old puffy," so I'm glad that you brought that up. I've heard about this kind of thing before, but didn't know if the Electrovaya (or are they really Tatung??) batteries suffered from this problem.

Sagan: Thanks for the comment on Valance. I've read your postings before on this, but had forgotten about them when I wrote my original post (above). I'll go take another look at them...

[WNewquay]

Hi Steve,

Not that I mind but "Warner" is Wcrocker.



See http://tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic....D=24391#153536 for confirmation.

[terriblue]

quote:Originally posted by WNewquay

Hi Steve,

Here's a pretty good thread
N-Charge vs PowerPad

Repeated from the above thread - for a smile.
I'd stay away from e-Bay for PowerPads. You might end up meeting son-of-old-puffy

I threw "old-puffy" away. :-) I never thought of offloading him on ebay. :-) Maybe we should call him "Puffy the Magic Battery Pad". Mine really didn't look all that puffy, but he was dead nonetheless.

Terri

[Steve S]

<<Not that I mind but "Warner" is Wcrocker. >>

W: Whoops! Sorry. I normally try to verify these sorts of things before I write, but I slipped up on this one...!

[Sagan]

Robrahm,

I doubt that valence has updated their site to tell which adapter to use for the latest and greatest tablets. You may have to call them to get a definitive answer, or you could ask Motion (or your supplier) about the power supply specs. If the LE1600 has the same specs as the M1X00, then you can follow the guide for the N-charge according to the old Motion devices. Of course, you could also wait a month or so for Motions version of the extended battery for the LE1600 to be available--it sounds like a neat concept.

The recommendations for most of these batteries is to keep them in use, it seems. For the valence, they suggest charging it weekly. This hasn't been an issue for me since I use a lot. I find myself plugging it in every evening connected to the M1400 so that both get charged each night. The N-Charge has detachable cables that, when removed, lower the latent charge loss over time. For example, a partially charged battery can discharge through the cables overnight but will stay charged if the cables are removed.