Set appointment in future to automatically charge your batteries

The HP Palmtop recharging circuit was designed to recharge NiCd batteries. However, there is another type of rechargeable battery called the Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMH) battery. It can hold more of a charge than the NiCd (providing about 10 hours of continuous use) and does not suffer for the so called memory effect that has been associated with the NiCd.

Although HP does not recommend charging NiMH batteries in the Palmtop, it is possible to do so. To be fully charged, they need 2 charging cycles in the Palmtop.

Here are two system macros I've developed that will give you a double charge.

The first macro extends the charging by turning the charge cycle off and then on again (set up as Fn-F10).

{Setup}{Menu}obe{Tab}

{Enter}{Menu}obe{Tab}

{Enter}{Menu}Q

The next macro sets an appointment to run Fn-F10 six hours from now.

{Appt}{Menu}AA||10

{Tab}{Time}{Alt+B}

{Alt+L}18:00 {Alt+D}

{Date}+{F10}

Go into the Battery Settings screen of the Palmtop Setup application and make sure that the Battery Type is set to Nickel Cadmium and that the Enable recharging box is selected.

To recharge a pair of NiMH batteries in your Palmtop, plug in the AC Adapter to automatically start the first 6-hour charging cycle. Then open Appointment Book and run the second macro to set an appointment six hours later to restart the cycle.

What's special about the second macro is that it adds an appointment regardless of whether Appointment Book was open or not. It also avoids another problem with Appointment Book. If you try to increment the start time by pressing the plus key, you can only go up to 11:59 p.m. You cant get past it into the next day.

The second macro above goes to the same time next day and sets an appointment with a lead time of 18 hours. This causes the appointment to be run six hours from when you start the initial charge cycle. The result is clean and neat. No-brainer to use.

ldor Gemst

CompuServe ID: [75300,2370]