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The Legend of the Lithium Battery

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 1:41 am
by DJ_O
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?

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 2:18 am
by Dwedit
Only ram. Archive is on durable flash rom.

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 2:24 am
by Spengo
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

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 12:28 pm
by DJ_O
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

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 1:27 pm
by Andy_J
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)).

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 5:39 pm
by tr1p1ea
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.

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 6:14 pm
by Toaster
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!! :D There still holden strong!! :)

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 6:32 pm
by leofox
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!! :D There still holden strong!! :)
70 bucks??!
You were ripped off man, i paid only 13€ for 4 batteries.

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 6:38 pm
by koolmansam375
maybe he got 2 sets of the things that have like 60~ batteries in them.

70 bucks is a rip off tho...

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 10:06 pm
by dysfunction
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.

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 10:22 pm
by blueskies
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). :)

Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2005 11:18 pm
by Andy_J
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).

Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2005 12:09 am
by DJ_O
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

Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2005 3:59 am
by Spengo
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

Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2005 1:14 pm
by Andy_J
NiMHs also just put out 1.2V apiece. They still suck for calculators.