A Cordless Phone's Major Problem - Dealing w/ Batteries? 53
Brian James asks: "I am sick to death of cordless phone batteries going dead at the drop of a hat. And with frequent recharging they tend not to hold much of a charge. Replacement often equals the cost of a new phone altogether... so what's the point? Ultimately I wish cordless phone manufacturers would design a phone that used standard rechargeable batteries, preferably with 2 battery bays and a switch that allowed you to switch over to the fresh set when one set starts to go dead (of course, I don't see this happening any time soon). Is there any way to modify a cordless phone such that I can run the handset off of standard batteries? I don't care how 'cheap and dirty' it ends up, I just need to know I can pop in a fresh battery and call the guy back, without waiting 8 hours for it to charge up." A few cordless phone manufacturers do have a clue. Some phones allow you to charge an extra battery in the base while the other is being used by the phone, which works well (I have a Sony 900Mhz model that does this). It would be interesting to see if someone has done what the poster has asked, however if you'd like to recommend a cordless phone that keeps downtime to a minimum, I'm sure such would be appreciated.
Re:FP (Score:1, Offtopic)
So overall, this was a fairly weak and uninspired first post.
A better challenge is fp'ing on a popular topic, like Microsoft bashing.
On the other hand. It is a good first try, and sometimes the mood just hits you, as it did me in my own unchallenging first fp [slashdot.org]
older phones (Score:1)
Easy-Recharge (Score:1)
Re:Easy-Recharge (Score:3, Funny)
No wait -- Are you suggesting that when I set the phone down on my desk, nowhere near the cradle or any source of electricity, it should somehow recharge itself by simply drawing electricity from the ether?
An interesting idea, but not yet practical. See, e.g., the movie "The Quiet Earth" [1985].
In my expirence (Score:4, Informative)
Now when the old couple comes in with the pre-1980's cordless phone, and I tell them the batter is 40-60$, I generaly ask if they want a new phone.
So I bring them over to the wall and show them the selection of phones with a lithium-ion batter in them, and I tell them about how if they keep charging their old battery (nickle cadium) it will damage the battery, but instead with these lithium-ion phone batterys, give them one good charge on your first use, then recharge them any time you wish!
The same thing is with my cell phone, the Sanyo SCP-4000. Not a spectacular phone, but the default lithium-ion battery that comes with it is a god send, I recharge it every night with no fear of the battery dying.
So in short I tell you, pick a cordless phone that has a lithium-ion battery in it, instead of a nickle cadium, or nickle metal hydrate (the latter is your next best alternative).
Re:In my expirence (Score:1)
dyi (Score:4, Informative)
That'll give you a little primer on what's involved. It's geared towards hobby RC cars, but you could adapt this for phones pretty easily.
I also make it a point to stay with NMH batteries when possible. They actually get batter after a little use, and no need to drain them completely before you charge them again.
Re:DYI? (Score:1)
Re:DYI? (Score:1)
You won't need a battery switch. (Score:2, Informative)
It would be nice to have solar cells to help compliment the amount of power from the battery. I don't expect that you'll get much power out of the solar cells, but every bit helps.
The thing with parallel is... (Score:1)
Re:The thing with parallel is... (Score:2)
I could now see a benefit to having a seperate battery instead of one big one or two in parallel. An idea would be to have two batteries in one battery case. When the first one goes dead, you take it off and leave it in your pocket. When you empty your pockets at the end of the day, you say to yourself, "Oh yeah, I have to recharge this.".
I'm not sure that I would need a feature like this, but it would help some people, based on the battery type and the way that they use the phone.
i have never had a problem (Score:1, Informative)
i have your basic motorola startac... its not like i am out of business when my batteries are dead... its not any more inconvenient than a normal telephone used to be... i just look at the batteries as being a luxury to have them at all... the important part is the ability to talk from anywhere.
Re:i have never had a problem (Score:1)
cordless as in hooked to a landline at its base station...
Siemens Gigaset (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Siemens Gigaset (Score:3, Informative)
I got a couple 1800mAh Powerex batteries from Thomas Distributing [thomasdistributing.com] and the phone has worked great. After weeks of on-hook/off-hook type usage, it can go for a LONG time without charging with no memory effects.
With standard AA NiMHs, you can keep a spare set sitting in the charger if you need em.
It's a freakin' cool phone, too.
Ian
Re:Siemens Gigaset (Score:2)
Re:Siemens Gigaset (Score:1)
A True Geek Phone (Score:1)
It does all the stuff you'd expect out of a "high-end" phone (voice mail, intercom, caller ID, headset port, phonebook, etc), but its also really sleek looking (no antennae on the outside :)! If anything it reminds me of a cell phone. Anyway, its got a ton of features and I've often wondered if it was hackable... there just has to be things you change in there if you only knew the codes. :)
Back to the poster's desire for a phone that runs off of AAs, this phone is a champ in that department too. It takes NiCD and NiMH... which was a huge selling point for me, as I've thrown away 3 cordless phones in the past few years due to dying/dead batteries. Plus, since I've got other stuff in the house that uses rechargable AAs, its really convenient.
Re:A True Geek Phone (Score:2)
Ok, I just have to complain! (Score:3, Insightful)
First of all, the betteries died on all the cordless phones I've ever had. However, it was never more than just a fraction of the cost (less than CAD$20 on a CAD$200-something phone). However, none of them died sooner than 3 years. By that time I was usually tired of the phone, or significantly better ones came out.
Second, maybe I'm not an average phone user, but I never ran out of batteries on any of my cordless phones. I have a Sanyo 900Mhz, and the longest conversation I had lasted 3 hours, on the hands-free speaker (works out really well to coordinate attacks in RTCW). And this is with a 3.6V 600mAh battery.
My advice? Get a better phone. None of the GE 9or the likes) crap. Frm my experience Sanyo, Sony, Panasonic make good phones. It would be pointless to get a phone with rechargeable batteries. Especially since a good set of 4 NiMH are pretty much the same price as the original phone battery.
And here's an afterthought: if you dislike cordless phones so much, why not use one with a wire? They still have those, you know?
It's not that he dislikes cordless phones... (Score:1)
Besides, that line of reasoning boils down to: If you dislike one thing, why not use something else you dislike even more
Re:Ok, I just have to complain! (Score:1)
Perhaps you'll notice that this wasn't posted to the front page, but has found itself buried in the Ask Slashdot section?
Re:Ok, I just have to complain! (Score:1)
Some fool posts this "how is this news for nerds?" reply to every story, and has done so for years. Do shut up and go away.
-Waldo Jaquith
Corded Phones (Score:3, Insightful)
Solutions: 1) Don't charge so much. 2) Discharge. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm surprised no one else has said this:
Nickel Cadmium cells have 2 unfortunate limitations: 1) They have a "memory effect". 2) Charging them all the time makes them old very quickly, and makes the memory effect much worse.
So, this is what you do: 1) Don't charge the batteries all the time. I have two ATT 900 MHz Cordless phones. (I bought one for $30 at Costco, and the other for $5 at a garage sale. These are not expensive phones.)
I charge the batteries for about 6 hours once a week. I regularly talk for 3 or 4 hours in one phone conversation, and I have never had problems with the battery going dead. I've never switched phones in the middle of a conversation, either.
If I have a conversation lasting more than 20 minutes, I charge the phone then, also, after the call.
This is how you tell if you should stop charging a NiCad battery: It becomes warm. That is because all of the charge energy goes into making heat after the battery is fully charged. Before the battery fully charged, some of the charge energy goes into charging the battery, of course.
Don't worry about overcharging a little. A few extra hours, even 10 extra hours, in one or two charges a month seems to make no difference. It is 24-hour, 7-days-a-week charging that causes the problems.
2) The memory effect can be completely cured by discharging the battery completely. To do this, buy a 510 ohm, 1/4 or 1/10 watt resistor (an electronic component) at Radio Shack or an electronics parts store or an electronics surplus store. Remove the battery. Just push the leads of the resistor into the contact sockets of the battery (where the contact pins normally go), and leave it for 12 hours. Once the battery is discharged, it will no longer have the "memory effect" and will be as good as new, or 95% as good as new. Then, recharge the battery until it is fully charged (when it becomes especially warm).
The memory effect works this way: It causes the battery to discharge rapidly, even though there is a small load. The memory effect causes the battery to have a "shallow discharge curve", they say.
Lithium Ion and Nickel Metal Hydride batteries do not have memory effect. However, they also get old faster if they are constantly charged.
This is reliable information. I was an electronics designer in past years, and I have talked to an RCA battery engineer about the exact parameters of NiCad memory effect.
NiCd Memory effect is a myth -- don't overcharge (Score:3, Informative)
Short form:
Long (and accurate) from ARRL:
http://www2.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/119470.pdf
** At least not for ones on earth -- there is a real memory effect for slow charging and discharging NiCds in orbit. But unless you phone is in a satellite in orbit this won't be a issue
Solution: Don't put the phone back in the cradle until it needs a charge.
ALWAY keep a regular (loop powered) phone in your local loop. You can always pick up with it when you battery is dead oer when power is out (and the base is dead).
And Radio Shack carries a lot of cordless phone batteries (I had the same problem with a VTech 900Mhx cordless -- now on its third battery).
GE cordless w/ built in head set (Score:1)
I have one of these phones. They ship with two detachable batteries. I always have one battery in the charger and the phone on someplace else in my apartment. When the battery pack has a low amount of charge while I'm using it, the phone will start beeping and I then find the fully charged battery and swap them out. This can be done with a minor interruption in the phone call. But it doesn't disconnect the person I'm talking to, so as soon as I attach the fresh battery, I can start talking again. I bought it at a Sam's Club store for about $30.
Ni-Cd memory a MYTH (Score:3, Interesting)
This FAQ explains the whole thing.
The REAL thing to watch out for is completely discharging a pack. The first cell that goes dead will be driven in reverse by the other cells. That's bad news, and it kills that cell.
Apparently NiMH batteries are even MORE sensitive to this than the NiCd batteries.
So, charge your phone often. Don't let it run all the way down.
Re:Ni-Cd memory a MYTH (Score:2)
The reverse polarity problem is complete different from the memory effect problem, but both exist.
Re:Ni-Cd memory a MYTH (Score:2)
He points out that memory effect is hard to reproduce, and it's seen on spacecraft with fixed discharge cycles. He even points out that a bigger problem is reversing a cell during a deep discharge.
Yes, the memory effect is real, but will the average person run into it frequently? No. The average user will kill the battery pack through deep discharge way before a memory effect can be noticed. Show me a dead battery pack, and I bet it was severely overcharged, charged when it was too hot, or had cells driven in reverse because of a deep discharge.
VTech (Score:1)
All four phones make it half a block to the mail box, all three levels of the town house. Each hand set has it's own charger base. Two people can use the phone at the same time, and no interference. Worth the money.
There are two other bases available, plain jane, and one with a built in digital answering machine.
Re:VTech (Score:1)
Note that although it's advertised as "2.4GHz!!!!!!!" it, like most phones in that price range, is analog, not DSS. If you want a good analog 2.4GHz phone, though, get GE's $50 phone or a higher model in that series (the highest-end one has a speakerphone and answering machine). However, make sure to get the one with the Caller ID display and the volume controls on the side, even if you don't use Caller ID, because the phones in that series are a bit better designed. Among other things, it has much better volume range on the handset. You can get it at Office Depot, Target, or wherever; it's black and shiny blue.
Don't throw them away! (Score:2)
Siemens Gigaset (Score:3, Informative)
I bought 3 4200 handsets and a 4215 basestation/answering machine a few months ago (first US shipment) and have loved them. We did replace the shipped batteries with Lithium ones but friends with the same phone didn't and they've never had problems either.
We constantly leave our phones floating around the house and they last for a few days before running down. In conversation I've never had one run down except once when it really was on it's last mAmps - it beeped to warn & I just walked over to another extension and switched to it.
Other nice features are a great shape for the hand (the older series was flat like old TV remotes and uncomfortable to hold after awhile), reasonable controls & menus, the ability synch phone books from handset to handset, can PA from room to room and also PA incoming messages being left on the answering machine.
One big win in our case was individual handsets can be set to dial a specified extension or outside number if the sound volume exceeds some number. We use that if we have guests coming in to visit when we're out of town. Their voices trigger the call to us and we can welcome them, give them a rundown of the house.
Oh, and the phones can be set to dial in response to a spoken name. Really it's the same as speed dial but is useful for the non-techie members of the household. It'll also announce out the name of a caller who is set up this way and recognized via Caller ID. We've 4 or 5 numbers set up for that and it's worked out well.
Only thing I could still wish for would be a USB link for doing that first entry of phone numbers.
Re:Siemens Gigaset (Score:1)
Here in europe (Well, atleast in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France) we have the Gigaset 4170 ISDN (Or the 3070 ISDN) which you can connect to your PC with a USB cable and edit the phonebook, set up ring allocation, surf, etc
It's extremely handy, especially when you're too lazy to type in all the phone-numbers and names by hand on a tiny handset, and rather feel like synchronizing it with outlook instead!
Check out RAM Batteries (Score:3, Informative)
* Longer Operating Time
* Environmentaly Friendly(contains no hazardous toxic substances)
* Longer Shelf Life (minimal Self Discharge)
* Ready For Use when purchased
* No Memory Effect
* Lower Cost
* Better Cell Capacity
These batteries are currently available in four brands- PURE ENERGY(Canada), RENEWAL (manufactured in the United States by Rayovac Corporation), ALCAVA (manufactured in Korea by Young Poong) and GRANDCELL (manufactured in Malaysia by Grand Battery Technologies).
Two Phones (Score:1)
Why not just fix it? (Score:1)
Alternatively... (Score:2)
Back to the matter at hand though, a more elegant solution would be to carry a spare charged battery wouldn't it? There are several companies that make dedicated mobile battery chargers that use conventional batteries for "emergency use". Here's one [web-success.net] and several more [google.com]. The best solution I found for me though was a USB cable to phone power charger. I almost never go far without my laptop, and it's a snip to plug in a USB cable and power your phone up while you type/frag/whatever. Of course, it's a tradeoff against your laptop battery, but hey, you probably have the mains adapter for that in the carry case, right?
Batteries going dead while making a call (Score:1)
Does anyone know the explaination for why this left my line hanging? It doesn't happen when the phone goes dead during a conversation, only when it is connecting.
Siemens Phones and Camera Batteries (Score:2)