Battery Life

[jislizard]

I have noticed a sudden drop in my battery life.

Details of the set up to follow but the story so far;

I never timed the battery life of my GP2x until it started dying on me but I used to change the batteries every couple of days and it only got moderate use testing out the emulators during tea and lunch breaks. 2 or 3 hours at the most but that was only the early firmware.

Now I am getting 15 minutes out of fully charged batteries and I am using the new firmware.

Any ideas as to what could cause this drop, maybe a short circuit? Is there an option in the set up that is maybe powering the tv-out or something like that?

To add insult to the low battery life I am using a power supply unit that delivers 3v 1.5amp of regulated power and every now and then the screen whites out and the GP2X reboots, I can't force this to happen by wiggling the connectors so I think it is something internal.


The Details;

I have 3 sets of Energiser2500mAh 1.2V NiMH batteries and 2 sets of RGB 2100mAh 1.2V NiMH.

All are under a year old and have been charged and completely discharged several times. They take 15 hours to charge.

I have 2 chargers, both have timers on them, both are under a year old

They all work fine in the GBA and my Digital Cameras for a long time after they stop working in the GP2X. I know the GBA only draws about 350mA so they should last longer but I still get 5 hours play .

 

[EvilDragon]

Hm, did you accideantally use the gp2x with both batteries in and an AC Adaptor connected?

 

[jislizard]

Hm, did you accideantally use the gp2x with both batteries in and an AC Adaptor connected?

I wouldn't say 'accidently', maybe 'uninformativly' or 'unawaridly'. If any of them are real words. Guess I missed that part in the instructions, I will go back and read it again.

Is it DEAD dead? or just mortaly wounded?

 

[ste_167]

Is that something that is likely to damage it? I thought it just cut off the batteries when an adaptor is plugged in

 

[reaper79]

Is that something that is likely to damage it? I thought it just cut off the batteries when an adaptor is plugged in

Hehehe, proper electronic devices are supposed to, but I don't know about the GP2X. Most gadgets have reverse polarity protection, but GP32 owners know about that flaw. :rolleyes:

 

[reiboul]

Hm, did you accideantally use the gp2x with both batteries in and an AC Adaptor connected?

err... is there some problems in doing that?

I do sometimes so, and don't have any problems for now :huh:

 

[iignotus]

Hm, did you accideantally use the gp2x with both batteries in and an AC Adaptor connected?

Sometimes, that's the only way my GP2X would turn on with a wallwart. Batteries and plug in, turn it on, then take the batteries out.

And my GP2X still gets more than 4 hours per charge of 2.5ah AAs.

Powering a GP2X is very strange sometimes... :blink:

 

[jislizard]

So plugging it in with batteries installed will either kill the GP2X. have no effect or be the only way to get it to boot.

Interesting but is it permanently damaged?

Can it be repaired?