Chapter 3: Getting To Know Your 7535
Monitoring The Battery And Maximizing Run Time
To maximize the run time of your batteries, consider the following:
• The display backlight is the largest drain on the battery. Try to keep its brightness as low as possible.
• The hand-held is ‘event’ driven – that is, when the unit is not in use, it reverts to sleep mode (even when it appears to be running), saving battery power. Events include a key press, touchscreen taps and scan triggers.
Power consumption is reduced if you avoid unnecessary events, and allow the unit to sleep as much as possible.
• The 7535 battery is a ‘smart battery’ with built-in intelligence. The taskbar battery icon is a linear gauge used to estimate the remaining run time of the battery. It is important to note that the battery capacity icon displays quarter percentages of nominal capacity (the capacity of a new battery). An aged battery, even when fully charged, shows somewhat less capacity than nominal.
Double-tapping on the battery icon displays a dialogue box that provides detailed information about the battery status and performance. If the remaining capacity indication seems inaccurate, the battery may need recalibration. Recalibration requires that the battery be fully charged, discharged and then charged again before use. If the battery is fully discharged and
charged on a regular basis, recalibration should not be necessary.
• When the hand-held is switched off, it goes into a low-power, suspend state but continues to draw a small amount of power from the battery. This should not be an issue unless the unit is left in suspend state for more than a week – in this case, the battery should be removed.
• Batteries left for durations of more than one or two months should be fully charged, discharged and then charged again before use. This recalibrates the gas gauge and allows the internal electronics to determine the actual capacity of the battery.
• The hand-held can determine when the useful life of the battery has expired and will notify the user. Chargers may reject batteries that have exceeded their lifespan.
56 Teklogix 7535 Hand-Held Computer User Manual
