Version 1.1
Software and Documentation Copyright © 2006 Karl Fischer
Battery Gadget is a utility for your Palm OS device that reveals internal system information about the performance of the battery in your device. You can use Battery Gadget to help diagnose problems with battery performance, and to monitor the life of the battery under normal operation.
To install Battery Gadget, double click on the file “BatteryGadget.prc”, answer the Install Tool dialogs that appear, and then perform a HotSync operation. Battery Gadget requires at least Palm OS version 3.5. If you would like to run Battery Gadget on an earlier version of Palm OS, email battery@platy.org; support may be added if there is enough interest.
One common use of Battery Gadget is to estimate how long you can use your device before it has to be recharged. To do this, monitor the “Time On” indicator in Battery Gadget. This indicator shows the total time that your device has been turned on since the last time it was charged. When the battery runs low, check the “Time On”—this shows you the total time the device can be turned on with one battery charge. Then in the future you can monitor the “Time On” and estimate how much longer the device can be used before it needs to be recharged.
Battery Gadget cannot detect when the battery is only partially recharged because charging was ended early. (Palm OS doesn't provide a way to detect this.) Therefore to get the most accurate information from Battery Gadget, it is recommended that you allow the battery to completely recharge each time you charge it.
Comments, questions, and suggestions for improvements are welcome. Email battery@platy.org.
Due to limitations of Palm OS on some devices, Battery Gadget may not always detect when the battery is being charged. If charging is not detected properly then the “Charged”, “Time On”, “Time Off”, and “Total Time” indicators will be incorrect. Battery Gadget will always detect charging that occurs when the device is turned on and the Battery Gadget program is running. Battery Gadget will also always detect charging that occurs when you initiate a HotSync operation. On some but not all devices Battery Gadget will detect charging that occurs when the device is turned off. Battery Gadget typically will not detect charging that occurs when the device is turned on and the Battery Gadget program is not running, but even this may work on some devices.
You may need to experiment to determine the conditions that allow Battery Gadget to detect when the battery is charged. Look at the “Charged” indicator in Battery Gadget to see if it shows the last time that the battery was charged correctly. In any case, Battery Gadget should always report correct results if you initiate a HotSync operation every time you charge the battery, or if you turn the device on and run Battery Gadget every time you charge the battery.
If you change the system time, then Battery Gadget will be unable to correctly calculate the values for “Time On”, “Time Off”, and “Total Time”, so these indicators will become temporarily unavailable. They will become available again the next time that battery charging is detected.
Battery Gadget shows the following indicators, which are continuously updated.
Power: The percentage of power remaining in the battery.
Plugged In/Battery: This indicator shows whether the device is plugged in or is running on battery power.
Power Graph: This graph shows the power remaining in the battery.
Voltage: The current battery voltage.
Max: The maximum battery voltage that Battery Gadget has ever observed on the device.
Critical: The threshold for the battery voltage critical condition.
Warn: The threshold for the battery voltage warning condition.
Voltage Graph: This graph shows the current battery voltage. The critical voltage range is indicated in red, the warning voltage range is indicated in yellow, and the normal operating voltage range is indicated in green. On devices without color displays, these three ranges are indicated with contrasting shading. The graph is scaled so that the right edge represents the maximum battery voltage that Battery Gadget has ever observed on the device.
Battery Kind: The kind of battery in the device as reported by the system.
Timeout: The battery timeout reported by the system. The official Palm OS documentation doesn't explain the meaning of this timeout, but it seems to be related to battery voltage warning and critical conditions.
Charged: The last time that charging of the battery was detected.
Time On: The amount of time that the device has been turned on since the last time that the battery was charged.
Time Off: The amount of time that the device has been turned off since the last time that the battery was charged.
Total Time: The total time that has elapsed since the last time that the battery was charged.
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