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FW: Re: DAUPHIN-L: Dauphin memory, drive, pen, modem, battery and , recognition Q&A.

>I don't know the current draw, but my son is successfully using a 12 V, 5 AH
>gel cell type battery to power his DTR-1 which he is using to compile and
>download programs into a 68HC11 board for his science fair project.
>
>Jim
>
>James M. Potter, President      E-mail: jpotter@jpaw.com
>JP Accelerator Works, Inc.      URL: www.jpaw.com/jpaw/
>2245 47th Street                Voice: 505-662-5804
>Los Alamos, NM 87544-1604       FAX: 505-662-5210
>
>

Fellow Dauphiners,

First let me give you some data I collected relating to the power supply.

I measured these currents:

A	condition
--	---------
0.55	Dauphin computer with nothing attached except the keyboard
0.55+	keyboard and crt attached (crt powered externally of course)
0.65	keyboard attached plus hard disk drive running
0.70	keyboard, floppy disk drive running and crt

Now, I would greatly appreciate help on the single major problem I have with 
my Dauphin:  batteries.  Basically, my batteries don't work for any practical 
use.  The longest I have got them to last is 15 minutes.  I have two sets of 
batteries, and they act similarly.  I suspect the power supply.  I thought 
something was screwy when the "BATT" LED only stayed on for a few minutes 
after shutting the computer off, then really got nervous when charging all 
night still left me with batteris that would only survive for 15 min.

Here is what I measured, the time starts when the computer is shut off:

time:	3 min	2 min	2 hr	>2 hr
	-----   -----	----	-----
LED	blink	blink	off	off
Amp	0.5	1.4	0.4	~0

Back when I suspected my batteries, I broke a pack open, thinking I would buy 
new batteries.  I found similar ones at 1V each, but they cost about US$2, so 
I haven't tried that yet, also there were some wierd electronic things in 
there that I don't know how to replace.

Basically, the batteries are six cells in series.  If you lay the pack flat, 
so that the terminals make a "V", or look like two eyes and a nose, the cells 
are in series between the eyes.  There is a thing that looks kinda like a 
diode between the nose and left eye, but measures a short circuit in both 
directions.  The cells are actually like this:  

left.eye-cell-cell-cell-*-@-cell-cell-cell-right.eye

where:
	* = a big black thing with part #KIXON(R) 8-8,  4NM(0)-06 M31
	    (I think, though it was hard to read)
	@ = a thing that looks like a fat, metal can diode, labelled,
	    PAT.  K, MICROTEMP (R), 4194A1  UR, CKAXQ  93C

Take that for what it's worth.  What I would really like to know is, can I 
charge up these batteries with a straight 9V supply (and a resistor to limit 
current)?  I shouldn't be worse off than I am now, right?  How do your 
batteries perform?

Thanks for your attention.

===========>>> Doug & KaiLin + Tom <<<=========
kdt@hntp2.hinet.net  ---or---   d.maly@ieee.org
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