Axim x51v 3600~ mAh stock look;)

[plasmar]

Axim x51v 3600~ mAh internal battery mod project

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*** project dead for the meanwhile, doing other things:P***
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goal - have a Pocket PC that packs a punch, has a great battery life all while looking sleek and being as inexpensive as possible(not necessarily for myself;-P)... (if it murders iPod touch then thats an extra)

reasons - 1) avoid needing extended case, 2)the extended batteries at 3600mAh are fugly, 3) have it possibly usable on a aximizer, 4) Have a mp3/mp4 player that is a bit more future proof then consumer units, 5)to avoid people thinking that the axim x51v is a late prototype of the brick phone

rough status

- sticking with Cameron Sino 3600mAh for x51v battery circuit
- battery cells to use chosen! - 2x Cameron Sino 2700mAh for Tungsten C/W / Palm One i705 (3 of 4 cells used)
- battery life estimate needs to be re-assessed(trust no estimateds stated bellow this!)...

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jan05/09 - on my 3rd axim.... other is not dead yet but just out of commission for now(fried battery meter circuit:P by shorting it by accident, may attempt repair later).... on my 3rd I carefully removed the battery contacts with no damage to the circuit(used micro cutters and soldering iron to melt plastic).....I can now confirmed that the leads that I had specified for HT and ID are accurate.

current conclusion:
-best to use a x51v cameron sino 3600mAh circuit with Tungsten C/W / Palm One i705 cells and use registry tweak to disable battery warnings!:P.... best solution I found and this is probably where my trials end......

I may of found a minor improved method on doing the battery switch mod that involves scratching some of the circuit as to expose a bit of the copper that maybe simpler for people to do the battery door mod(may show pictures later)

feel free to continue where I left off..... next attempt maybe attempt to increase volume on the axim x51v if anything:P

other notes: I bought a Kingston SD4 / 16gb and can confirm that it works fine:-)....... ordered a 32gb too will let everyone know on its arrival, though it has nothing to do with the battery mod....

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oct23/08 update --- outdated--- project under revision:P, the circuit board from the 3600mAh cameron sino continued being unstable as far as the battery meter goes,even though it seemed to be almost completely solved.... I'm now trying another battery(2200mAh this time) made by Power Mart or Power Smart from http://www.global-batteries.ca..... will report back if there are any positive results, I will note on a positive the battery had a temperature fuse as a safety which is nice

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-sometime in 2008 --

Just letting people know that I'm experimenting with putting lithium(lipo) polymer batteries in a Dell Axim as permanently enclosed batteries. I've posted pictures and info of my results....
After hadding killed my first Axim and nearly killing the 2nd one, though luckly being able to find alternative contact points, I've tried modding in a set of 3x lipo batteries.... and have been checking the results

Methods I've used mostly involved using the original circuit board(s) off a dell axim battery attached to lipo cells in parallel.... idea's partly came from the dell axim's 3rd party batteries, the idea that the high mAh batteries such as 3600mAh batteries for the the axim require a “extended” cover that looks fairly ugly and makes the unit fairly bulky, in many cases weighing more.....

I've used tried using and have used: Dell Axim's Original Battery circuit, 3rd party Cameron Sino 3600mAh battery circuit, Generic 2000mAh Tungsten/PalmOne lipo batteries, and Cameron Sino 2700mAh Tungsten/PalmOne lipo batteries

This is a on going project wish me luck!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *warning* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if anyone is gonna attempt this please be extremely and absolutely careful as lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries are extremely dangerous and can cause a fire or explode if they leak either from a puncture or from overheating, and I will not be held accountable/liable !!!!

- changes-

Sept 09/2008 - Starting to clean up my posts and trying to make them look nicer:P
Sept 10/2008 - 2nd post cleaned up
Sept 10/2008 8:45 Central America Time - Posts considered cleaned!

[plasmar]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *warning* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if anyone is gonna attempt this please be extremely and absolutely careful as lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries are extremely dangerous and can cause a fire or explode if they leak either from a puncture or from overheating, and I will not be held accountable/liable !!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *warning* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I had originally tried using the circuit board off the original 1100mAh dell axim battery however the result was that it limited how much the cells could charge, and so it didn't give any advantage over the stock 1100mAh battery and battery cover... I ended up using trying out a Cameron Sino 3600mAh battery off ebay(not always known for the greatest source of batteries a person can trust and not greatest brand of battery, however it was highest labeled specs I could find)....

Specs references for the various batteries:

dell stock - 3.7v 1100mAh (single cell)
sino cameron dell axim x51 battery - 3.7v 3600mAh(3 cell lithium ion, 3 cells are in parallel)
sino cameron tungsten/palmone battery - 3.7v 2700mAh(2cell lithium polymer)
generic tungsten/palmone battery - 3.7v 2000mAh(2cell lithium polymer)

I had originally used 1x 2000mAh cell off one of the tungsten battery packs, and the 2x cells off the 2700mAh tungsten battery pack, however I eventually ordered 2x 2700mAh battery packs(with intention to use 3 of the 4 battery cells) for safety and better battery life as when the cells are in parallel I believe they charge equally(they act as a single cell and I think that the smallest cell will limit the others charging ability)....
!!!! Important to note !!!!

Though I didn't myself its a good idea to try keep the original thermal fuse that came from the stock 1100mAh battery to use with this experiment(be careful cause this component is heat sensitive, there is no direct hazard if you ruin it.... but there is a lot of safety added if you can keep it instact and use it in this make shift internal battery....)..... pretty much what the thermal fuse will do is that if for any reason the battery starts acting weird and the cells overheat, the cells will disconnect from the axim and likely keep the cells from overheating which isn't a good thing since many of us will be using this devise in their pockets;P....... if for any reason you fail to keep the thermal fuse intact or just don't have one...... I would suggest monitoring the x51v closely for the first couple of charges and discharges and don't think twice.... I found when charging and discharging the battery if working properly makes little to no heat, by no means should the heat be able to burn you..... base how hot is normal by how the pocket pc acted with its stock battery as the result should be similar..... and for any reason its not check that the wires are all ok..... check that non of the cells are bubbled up they should have no air in them what so ever.... for any reason they do I would replace that cell or possibly all the cells pending.... and monitor again

tip: if you end up charging all the cells and find that for some reason one cells seems defective or for whatever reason you need to replace a cell after having charged all the cells in parallel.... either drain the remaining cells using the pocket pc or place the replacement cell as you would normally and allow some time for the 3 cells to level off in charge....... do not try and charge the batteries right away as you may kill the replacement cell

heres some pictures of the axim:

http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/axim/P1030205.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/axim/P1030203.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/axim/P1030202.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/axim/P1030201.JPG

[plasmar]

pictures of the inards(note this is the one I messed up first time around but just for refference)

the battery circuit: it has 2x contacts on the other side that hook up to the lithium cells, side closest to the cf slot would be the negative and oposite side is positive....

http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/ax...erycircuit.JPG

partly labeled main board off the axim x51v\
http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/axim/labledboard.JPG

some reference:

http://usera.imagecave.com/djpc47/axim/closeup.JPG

slightly better picture of the alternative TH contact:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...GP3200-1-2.jpg

as you can see there are 3 contacts side by side the one closest to the digitizer zif is not connected to the other 2.... the contact closest to the lcd zif is directly soldered to a smt diode.... that one and the center one are alternative soldering points for the TH.....

Alternative contact points for ID

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...3197-close.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...GP3197-1-1.jpg - reference to find area on the board
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k.../ICconacts.jpg - incase anyone is having problems on determining which is pin one, note that the little dimple on the chip indicated pin one... on the picture its a little circle

note: the alternative ID point is on the side of the main board facing the front of the axim.... to access this area you must take out the LCD screen and digitizer unit as well as the framing that's attached to the mainboard

[CUnknown]

looks very creative, but you mentioned something about temperature... there are now 3 accu's in stead of one, and with my axim, the charging stops for a few minutes if i use the pda with the proc @624 and the wifi connection full load, if the temperature dropped, the battery will continue to charge (I gues you know what I mean) Is your creation ready for such heavy loads while charging? or how is the thermofuse set?


ps: the tape looks awefull on such a good pda

[plasmar]

about temperature I think that the 3 cells (since their in parallel) shouldn't produce nearly as much heat as the single as I think it will be able to handle the current being pulled... the heat it did produce so far was barely anything and just when its just about dead.... one reason I mentioned putting in a thermal fuse is just cause of safety:P

one issue I'm having is that the battery meter goes from 20-100% to 0% sticks there for a while then goes back but, I believe its the damn Cameron Sino circuit(did the same thing originally, also my zen vision:m battery I bought also cameron sino does same thing just not so badly;P).... anyone have any suggestions for another high mAh battery that's for x51v that's more reliable?

The tape, don't worry its not permanent..... I'll be using duct tape.... jks...

[plasmar]

Attempt 1) 2x cells off the 2700mAh battery and 1 cell off the 2000mAh
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With the 2x batteries off the 2700mAh battery and 1 cell off the 2000mAh I was getting about one day of charge on average with the Axim not doing much with 8gb SDHC card and 32gb CF card:P(I had noted 12 hours about previously but it seems to have been highly inaccurate, either due to me doing a soft reset and the thing buggering up or system clock change of sorts.... sorry for any excitement I may of caused)

upon doing a bit of research I've discovered that the Lithium Ion battery specs weren't exactly 100% accurate:

Cameron Sino 3600mAh x51v 3rd party extended battery – 3 cells, 900mAh per, 2700mAh(3x900) total
Generic 2000mAh Tungsten/PalmOne 3rd Party battery – 2 cell, 850mAh per, 1700mAh(2x950) total
Cameron Sino 2700mAh Tungsten/PalmOne 3rd party battery – 2 cell, 950mAh per, 1900mAh(2x950) total

conclusion, was that its best to go with the Cameron Sino 2700mAh batteries regardless of them being labeled as 2700mAh and being 1900mAh as the original cells in the cameron sino 3600mah x51v battery are 900mAh each and the cells from the cameron sino 2700mAh tungsten battery are 950mAh each.... using 850mAh can and probably would cause all sorts of problems and also cause a lot less battery life...
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Anyway as of Sept. 10, 2008 here is the revised list of things needed

Actual mod materials/tools:
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note- this is NOT in order of importance and I would suggest you have everything listed

1) a) Dell Axim x51v
b) the guts to do this, the understanding that if you mess up its your fault and only your fault…. You understand that the original guy who did this lost an axim x51v while trying to do this mod….. yada yada yada yada…. All attempting to do this project are at your own risk….. in fact I advise no one try it , that way I can remain exclusive

2)a) 2x Cameron Sino 2700mAh Tungsten C / W / Palm/ PalmOne i705 batteries(cost about 13$+shipping per, I got them off ebay)
b) 1x Cameron Sino 3600mAh x51v extended battery (about 15$+shiping)
c)(important change!)copper strip tape/wire, and thin gage stranded 0.5-0.7mm(about size of lead from a mechanical pencil) or slightly thicker..... avoid using cat5 or solid wire that doesn't easily bend as it is quite useful to bend the wire around obstacles, and using solid non stranded wire can cause you to rip out contacts, components, ext.
d) thermal fuse from original stock 1100mAh dell Axim battery

3) a) Magnifying Florescent light(warning some of these can damage electronics, make sure the balast is not in the lamp/magnifing portion of the light, rather it is in the base of the light or on the wire in a pack of sorts)
b) Digital Multi Meter, pliers, micro/jewelry tool set, torque screw driver(not sure the size, some replacement parts for the axim include one as a bonus item though:P)
c) Soldering Iron(I wouldn’t use a radioshack cheapo soldering iron unless you that damn skilled….. I used a Weller WESD51)
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Misc stuff that maybe handy:
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Super glue, tape, permanent marker

Finish up materials:

1) plastic glue, epoxy, see thru plastic tape, or duct tape(if you use duct tape you require nothing else):P

(I’d advise holding the lid on the back with some see threw tape(all around where the glue may seep threw) and gluing the lid from the inside of the back of the Axim x51v case, to avoid making the outside ugly(don’t put to much glue because if you do, you will have to grind/sand it off like I did)…. I try to use plastic glue, I couldn't find any so used generic 5 min epoxy…. I’d advise not using flexible plastic glue as that will be crappy, and likely not last to long :P

Later I will hopefully give some better instructions on how to do this all and what I think are the best procedures

for the meanwhile, heres some misc. notes:

- do not solder the axim with the adapter plugged into an outlet, a lot of soldering irons are grounded using earth ground while the Axim is not, the difference between earth ground and the axim's grounding can itself cause permanent damage.(this is the same with many electronics)
- avoid charging the lipo batteries till you are completely done(check things over before you close the case, be careful with wires/contacts you've soldered but try and check things over to make sure you hooked up everything right:P).....
- if for any reason either, one of the batteries wasn't connected or had to be replaced.... connect all the batteries in parallel and then allow them to balance their charge for atleast 30-60min(I left mine over night)
- when taking apart the batteries after buying them I'd avoid using any tools at all till you get to needing to cut wires(alot of it is held together with tape, unsolder what you can if needed
- avoid shorting the leads of the battery cells(old and new), it can cause damage to the cells or cause all sorts of possibly dangerous problems
-when disposing lipo or lithium batteries either take em to a battery disposal place or atleast put tape around the contacts so that they don't short....
- when soldering the batteries try and be quick as to not overheat the battery:P.....
- Its a good idea to put tape on the circuit board where the battery rests or plastic to avoid possibly shorting any circuits/contacts....
-To remove the original stock contacts thing on the circuit board either cut up the plastic and slowly unsolder it in pieces or if you know what your doing use a heat gun, I myself didn't use a heat gun cause I didn't want to risk melting the ZIF's that near it.... if you use one I'd suggest a digital one to monitor and control the temperature....
- the digitizer zif opens/closes in and out to tighten/loosen the digitizer ribbon.... the lcd zif opens/closes upward to loosen/tighten the lcd ribbon... neither ZIF comes apart, just the ribbon slides out....
- be careful when closing the Axim casing, make sure that the hold switch is in the right position as to not break it(if it does break note that there is software locking, otherwise I think they're 450-1577-ND on digikey :P)
- if you do this mod its suggested that you also do the battery switch mod so that the Axim doesn't ever complain about the back cover being off
- for people who haven't gotten their soldering skill up yet... its best to: 1) use the smallest tip you can..... 2) tin the wire(tin the lead if it doesn't have solder yet) and then clean the tip, then proceed to solder the wire to the lead

[plasmar]

UPDATE PICTURES!!!!

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...d/P1030547.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...d/P1030548.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...d/P1030550.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...d/P1030549.jpg

Just joking;P

[plasmar]

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030555.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030556.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030557.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030558.jpg

[plasmar]

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030560.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030562.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030552.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/P1030553.jpg

*Update! - Issue ConsideredSolved!!! - check post 10*

side note: still having problems with the battery meter jumping around every once and a while..... if anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to get em.... I've ordered a 2200mAh battery to try its circuit, shouldn't be much of a diff in battery life though as the cells total are only 650mAh over 2200mAh

[plasmar]

No, my axim has not yet attained paradise as the other guys dell laptop did...

Update!


Having had some a crap load of problems with the battery meter jumping around back and forth claiming the battery was full followed by drained and so on....

upon replacing the wires for the positive and negative lines with copper tape stripes followed by trying it out, concluding that I should double them up... It seems at least I think, some success!!!!


as for a estimate on battery runtime, using LennySh WM6.1 L11 20273 Lenny Edition...... based off the first try with with one set of copper tape stripes, the thing still complained about the battery meter once and a while(every half hour or so:P).... But, I had made sure it had never shut off.... it did about 6 to7hr's..... based off right now which I've got the thing running with copper stripes doubled up and slightly thicker wire for the ID line, it seems to be doing 6 .5+ to 7hr's which is I think quite nice

(Note to all Axim users.... if you have trouble with the meter jumping around..... well heres what could be a cause:P..... the contacts or the battery/axim not having a good enough contact....)

in both instances I had the thing running with: max back light, cpu scaled to 624mhz, 32gb cf card in place, 8gb sd card in place, 802.11b enabled(disable wlan to conserve power was disabled), bluetooth enabled

Other news I got me a black alluminum NON-extended case, and 2x Belkin Snap-N-Type Thumbpad... don't trust the website http://www.computerize.com.... I had ordered one off them, waited some weeks with no results.... contacted them at 3 email addresses and even tried calling with no results.... luckly got refunded threw paypal..... bought mine at http://ca.Buy.com and www.cendirect.com both came.... hurry while supplies last

minor update - Sept 12, 2008 - I'm considering putting a 3rd stripe of copper tape/strip to see if it will eliminate the meter issue completely, rarely comes around however still comes around at first 1-5% of battery drain..... not sure if its just a 3rd party battery thing or if its still the electricity draw that's still not sufficient... either way its a minor issue since it doesn't appear much.