The Legend of the Lithium Battery

DJ_O · Post by **DJ_O** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 1:41 am

Ok, just one lil question about the lithium battery in my calc: Actually I got my TI-83+ SE in february 2002 and it has been manufactured in March 2001, meaning that the lithium battery is more than 4 years old. What I was wondering about (knowing this is a backup battery when you change the 4 AAA batteries) is that if my lithium battery is dead, if I remove the 4 AAA batteries, will it clear only the RAM or both RAM and archive memory?

Post by **Dwedit** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 2:18 am

Only ram. Archive is on durable flash rom.

Spengo · Post by **Spengo** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 2:24 am

Yeah, think about it- It's the same kinda stuff that they put in my 1 GB jump drive and I don't think that has any batteries. :O

DJ_O · Post by **DJ_O** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 12:28 pm

Ok, thanks for the info. I was just afraid because most of my programs are archived when I change my batteries so I dont lose anything

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 1:27 pm

Yeah, the lithium battery is almost defunct in the new FLASH calculators... It basically just keeps transient information and settings intact anymore (unless you ARE stupid enough to not archive everything (you being in general)).

Post by **tr1p1ea** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 5:39 pm

I like the name of this topic, it would make for the title of a funny story.

I often find people who have removed the lithium battery from their calcs completely.

Toaster · Post by **Toaster** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 6:14 pm

Um it doesnt clear the RAM when it says your batteries are low!!

I have rechargeable batteries so it's really nice!! I paid $70 US Dolars for 2 sets of batteries 3 years ago!!

There still holden strong!!

leofox · Post by **leofox** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 6:32 pm

Toaster wrote:Um it doesnt clear the RAM when it says your batteries are low!! I have rechargeable batteries so it's really nice!! I paid $70 US Dolars for 2 sets of batteries 3 years ago!! There still holden strong!!

70 bucks??!
You were ripped off man, i paid only 13ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ for 4 batteries.

koolmansam375 · Post by **koolmansam375** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 6:38 pm

maybe he got 2 sets of the things that have like 60~ batteries in them.

70 bucks is a rip off tho...

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 10:06 pm

Rechargeables are a bad deal for a calc- they're great for something like a cd player, where you're recharging them several times a week at least, and a non-recheargeable would last only a little longer than that. But in a calc, rechargeables would still only last a week or so, while non-rechargeables last months.

blueskies · Post by **blueskies** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 10:22 pm

maybe true, but you can then recharge them and they last much longer than regular batteries ('last' meaning the time you can use them before you have to throw them out).

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Tue 05 Apr, 2005 11:18 pm

The calculators also need the full 6V from the alkalines. The rechargeables only would give 4.8V -- not even enough to do any archive work. IIRC, the EEPROM chip requires 5V to erase, and linking would be iffy without 5V as well (since the protocol uses 5V specifically).

DJ_O · Post by **DJ_O** » Wed 06 Apr, 2005 12:09 am

good point. Rechargable batteries wont even turn ON my portable CD player because they are only 1.25 volts each

and I would be afraid to see my calc turning off every 5 minutes due to lack of power

Spengo · Post by **Spengo** » Wed 06 Apr, 2005 3:59 am

WTF? o_O Are you using NiCads? Don't use those, they suck. Get NiMH batteries, that's what I use in my calc. They last pretty long and they don't get lower and lower like those crappy NiCads do. >:( Rechargeables pwn all if you have NiMH. Also, I never have any power issues unless the batteries actually DO need charging. :P

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Wed 06 Apr, 2005 1:14 pm

NiMHs also just put out 1.2V apiece. They still suck for calculators.