Here’s a little hack for the AlphaSmart Dana that will both improve battery life and allow you to future-proof your Dana’s power needs in the event that AlphaSmart someday stops selling replacement battery packs.
AlphaSmart rates the life of Dana’s rechargeable battery pack at 25 hours, but users generally do not see that kind of life since the Dana’s battery pack gradually loses its charge when sitting. The actual run time varies widely, depending on how soon the device is used after being charged and how long the device sits between uses. A freshly charged Dana will still last far longer than a laptop computer, but the gap between the two will narrow the longer the devices have been sitting.
There are two reasons for Dana’s power drain. First, as an older Palm OS device, Dana needs a constant trickle of power to preserve the contents of RAM. The second reason is the nickel metal-hydride (NiMH) cells used in the Dana power pack. One of the disadvantages of NiMH batteries versus traditional alkaline cells is their slow self-discharge, which gets more pronounced as the cells age. The gradual self-discharge is probably responsible for more dead-battery surprises than the power needed to keep the RAM alive. Happy Dana users are frequent users and frequent re-chargers.
In the last few years, developments in battery technology have led to a new type of NiMH battery that has a miniscule rate of self-discharge. Manufacturers claim that these “Low Self-Discharge” (LSD) batteries retain 85% of their charge even after a year of storage. The LSD cells can be recharged 1000 times and are completely compatible with any charger or device that uses the older NiMH batteries, including the AlphaSmart Dana. As a bonus, the new NiMHs also have a larger capacity than the older cells used in the Dana battery pack. Dana’s cells are 1600 MaH, while LSD batteries are usually 2000 MaH. The larger capacity, combined with the almost non-existent self-discharge, make LSD NiMH cells the ideal choice for powering Dana.
Unfortunately, you can’t simply plug the new NiMH cells into Dana’s battery slot. The battery slot is wired for alkaline batteries, a feature that allows users to slap in a set of standard AAs when the rechargeable pack goes dead. The Dana does not correctly read the voltages of NiMH cells plugged into the battery compartment, nor would the device recharge cells through the compartment wiring. Instead, there is a separate power connector for the rechargeable battery pack. In order to use the new LSD cells, one needs to get them plugged into this separate power connector. One way to this would be to rebuild the battery pack with the new cells. A second way is to wire the alkaline battery compartment to the power connector used for rechargeable packs. I chose this second method, essentially turning my battery compartment into an open-door rechargeable battery pack that I can install new cells into whenever I like. Of course, I must be careful if I ever decide to put a set of alkaline cells in the rewired compartment. They’ll run the device fine, but it could be dangerous to plug in the charging cable while the compartment contains alkaline cells. Not a problem for me. Most of my gadgets are recharge only anyway. I’m used to it.
To re-wire the battery compartment, you’ll first need to take apart the Dana case so you can remove the motherboard. You can see the power connectors from the battery compartment, and the separate one that plugs into a rechargeable pack. What we’re going to do is clip the black compartment wires off of the board, and wire those connectors to the wires used for the rechargeable pack.
Closeup of the pre-snipped wires.
Here we are with the wires cut. You will also need to strip the plastic coating from the ends of all wires.
Next we have to wire the flat battery connector to the red recharge line. With the wire ends stripped of their plastic coating, you can twist the two together pretty easily. For the spring connector, I had to add some extra wire to the black line since it wasn’t long enough to reach the other end of the battery compartment. I took an extra length of wire, stripped the ends, and twisted it together with the short black wire. I twisted the spring connector onto the end of the longer black line.
To finish up, I covered the exposed sections of twisted wire with a bit of electrical tape. One must be careful not to use too much tape; it could thicken the wires to the point where they can interfere with the case halves fitting back together.
And here we are with the case put back together and the new cells in the regular battery compartment. The compartment now serves as a rechargeable battery back that can have its cells replaced anytime. Based on how well the LSD cells (Sony CycleEnergy) work, I do not think I’ll ever even need to rely on a spare set of alkaline cells. The battery life that I’m seeing with this hack is really quite incredible. I’ve let this Dana sit for three weeks at a time, and can come back to a system that still has a bit of juice remaining. No more dead battery surprises!
You’re pure genius! I bought a Dana off ebay, thinking the batteries wasn’t going to be an issue…but it was. See, I’m a reporter and I attend many political meetings and such. I can type just about as fast as most people talk. It got to me after a while how I wasn’t sure whether or not the remaining juice in my Dana was going to last through the next meeting – so I’d wind up tossing batteries that were still partially good. Your hack took a half-hour over the weekend, and it works like a charm! I’m so glad that I stumbled onto this. You could make good money fixing up Danas with this hack. I wonder why Dana didn’t sell their units like this to begin with. You rock!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this hack. It’s really easy, I could usw my old soldering gun, it was fixed in 20 minutes and it’s working really great.
Just did it and it works wonderfully!
Thanks
This is awesome! I bought a Dana a couple years back but never used it because I was so disappointed by the crappy battery it had and the fact that I’d lose everything. Seeing this got me to buy a new one though, and I’m so glad that I did. Thank-you for making the Dana a worthwhile and usable device for me!
Great hack. Works like magic. You’re right about the black tape… don’t use too much or the case has a hard time fitting back together.
Just finished up, and my Dana is working perfectly! Thank you so much for this idea!
One thing: I was able to hook it all up without removing the board, so, less work…
Love it!
I’ve just bought a Dana on ebay, and quite possibly the battery will be dead so this should be useful, thanks! Just one question, is the rechargeable Dana battery pack internal, or does it sit in the battery bay?
The pack sits in the battery bay. You’ll see that when you get your Dana. (If yours comes with the pack, that is.)
Thanks for stopping by!
Dear Vance Fry, I did the internal rewiring of one of my Danas, and the modified Dana did not charge the batteries! However, I tinkered so more and found that the installed NiMH batteries, which were new but unused for over a year, had some corrosion on the + polarity terminal. I cleaned them with sandpaper, and now it works. Big question is how long they will stay up … BTW, do the NiMH batteries have the “memory effect” defect that plagues the older Nickel-Cadmium rechargeables? In other words, is harm done by topping-off the charge on the set of NiMH batteries??
QUESTION: WHICH STYLUS FOR DANA? IIn my little “fleet” of ten Danas, some of them are missing the STYLUS. On Ebay, none of the replacement styluses are identified for Dana. My Palm Vx stylus and my Palm Tungsten E stylus fit loosely in the Dana’s slot for stylus. Which Palm-model would have the perfect fit stylus for Dana? Thanks, Stephen Buggie, Gallup NM June 11, 2011
You won’t harm the cells by topping them off. And if they wear out in a few years, buy a new set.
I don’t think any Palm styluses will fit in the Dana slot. I think they’re a custom job. You can buy a ten pack from Renlearn:
http://www.renlearn.com/store/storeitem.asp?item=ACCSTY10&id=3248&type=0&c=MP+73%3A24%3A5+1102%2F11%2F6
Are you saying that you can break an Alphasmart by putting rechargeable batteries in it? I’ve started having problems transferring data off mine and I recently put rechargeable batteries in there.
Addition: I’ve been using an Alphasmart 3000.
You won’t be able to break an AS3K with rechargeable batteries.
Thank you, this is great! I’ve just done this with my Dana.
I thought I’d share that instead of connecting to the battery case the wires (A) which are directly connected to the motherboard, I detached the wires (B) from batteries in the rechargeable pack that came with the Dana, and connected those wires (B) to the battery case, after cutting away the wires (C) originally attached to the battery case.
The battery wires (B) were kept connected to the motherboard wires (A) by the original power connector.
I might not even have had to take off the whole back cover doing it this way, just the battery compartment cover.
Hi,We tried this, but now the on/off switch does not seem to work. When I put the batteries in it came on and would not go off. Any suggestion?
You mention that you need to add a length of wire to make sure it can reach the other end of the battery compartment. I know very little about wiring, so is there a particular type or size of wire needed for this?
charburchak, I just used the pieces of wire that I cut off the motherboard that were originally wired for alkalines. The gauge is fine.
Well I finally received the alphasmart I ordered above (long story), and I’m ready to hack.
First, I’ll find out soon enough I suppose, but is the battery compartment ground connected to the battery pack ground? In that case, I think I can just cut out the positive “blanking plate” from a dead battery pack, and insert it into the battery compartment, and still leave everything connected? ie no surgery required to the AS itself.
Also, has anyone looked at adding backlighting, eg some LEDs around the display, or an electroluminescent panel behind etc?
I’m looking at installing ssh and a few similar things, I gather TuSSH supports alphasmart.
Of course the big limitation is WEP only 802.11b, but I also have an old palm bluetooth SD card, and my aim is to experiment using the AS as an “intelligent keyboard” that you can also take with you. In the simplest case it could be a “KVM” type keyboard with hosts listed and selectable on the touchscreen, for example.
Jack
I bought this Alphasmart Dana Wireless off eBay and decided to hack it to accept three rechargeable AA batteries, per your directions.
But when I opened the unit up, I saw that there was ample space for one more AA battery. Strangely enough, there’s even a plastic slot at the end that can accept the springy “negative” battery terminal after the latter has been removed from its original position.
Any worries about “frying” the circuit were quickly dispelled when I realized that four rechargeable AA batts, at 1.2v apiece, would only deliver 4.8v of juice –whereas the Dana happily accepts 5v via its inbuilt USB ports. And, in any case, the output of the Dana’s factory-issued charger is a surprising 7.5v!
Pictured here ( http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6418696231_c3d0a16e4e_b.jpg ) is my own mod, based on yours but with the “negative” terminal moved to the end slot. Note that the original plastic slot has been melted away and filed down to allow the fourth AA battery to easily slide in and out of place.
Hi, TJ Dimacali.
What has been your experience with 4 batteries instead of 3? Does it go longer between charges than the original mod? And for the life of the device itself, I wonder if this is actual something that should be done anyways, as the NiMh at 1.2v are putting out 3.6v instead of 4.5 with the alks. 4.8v seems closer.
“seems closer”…sorry for the obvious 😉
Okay, did a mod with 3 AAs one one Dana and 4AAs on another. The backlight is noticeably brighter on the mod with 4AAs in a moderately dark room. It’s not dingy anymore.
Hi, Pete!
Sorry for the very late reply; I haven’t been checking here of late 😛
I seem to have problems charging the Dana un 4AAs. Long story short, plugging the device in (via USB or direct charging adapter) doesn’t fully charge the batteries —the charging light suddenly goes green, indicating a full charge even though the batteries are still weak.
My guess is that the Dana senses the higher output of the 4 AA’s but still thinks that there are just 3AAs in there, so the charging cycle gets stopped before the 4AAs get fully topped up.
Does anybody have any ideas how to fix this? Theoretically, maybe a resistor or a reverse-biased diode can be put in place to make the “load” look like 3 AAs again?
Thanks, TJ….good info!
I charge the batteries with a dedicated battery charger, and switch out an extra set of freshly charged Eneloops while plugged into a USB charger so I don’t lose data during the switch. So far I’m digging the 4AA setup, though on the Alphasmart flickr forum there was some concern voiced over what kind of stress this may be placing on the device. So far so good, though (3 weeks).
Another thought on the battery charging situation, TJ. Did you leave it to charge for a while and check the voltage indicator that you can bring up on the Dana screen? I wonder if it was still charging even though the green light was showing.
I guess it’s a bit of a moot point though, as it’s better to charge the batteries with a dedicated charger that will be charging the battery at a lower mha rate than the Dana will (healthier for the batteries).
Hi Pete!
I actually left it to charge overnight, but as soon as I unplugged it it would die on me
Even though the green “fully charged” light was on.
I got a Dana from eBay and was disappointed with the battery life, so I ordered a replacement battery pack from alphasmart.com. I’m _pretty sure_ that the new battery pack is LSD nimh, because the battery life is _really_ good. I haven’t asked them yet, but anyone who wants better battery life, better than the maybe 72 hours standby, 3 hours work that I was experiencing, to get the new battery pack from them direct.
I just got a Dana for my 7 year-old son to use because of writing problems. I’m interested in the battery hack because I’m cheap, so I bought the Dana used on eBay and the factory pack is predictably worn out, and (because I’m cheap) I’m resistant to spending an additional $15+S&H on the battery pack… I’m also lazy, so swapping in rechargeable AAs is not attractive.
Question for Vance: Did you tone out the black wire from the battery pack relative to the negative terminal in the battery compartment? From your pictures it looks like they might both be connected to the ground plane of the board, and this would make sense from a design standpoint.
[for non-technical readers: 1) “Tone out” means to test for electrical continuity, often aided by an multimeter that sounds a tone when low resistance is measured. 2) The negative terminal is the one with the spring. 3) If they are connected, there would be no need to cut the wire and splice it.]
Regarding the discussion of modding the battery compartment to accommodate 4 cells: I can shed some light on this (I am an EE):
As TJ and Pete pointed out, the nominal voltage from 3 alkaline ‘AA’ cells is 4.5 VDC, while the nominal from 3 NiMH is 3.6 VDC, so adding a fourth cell and raising the voltage to 4.8 VDC isn’t very far from the alkaline cell voltage. The two questions raised were: “Why doesn’t it charge fully anymore?” and “Is this safe?”
Charging: the built-in charge controller is most likely comparing the combined voltage of the battery pack to a reference level and stops charging when the voltage exceeds that reference. When you put in a fourth battery, it is still trying to charge to the same reference level, but instead of bringing three cells up to 1.2 VDC each, it is bringing four cells up to 0.9 VDC each, which is a very low charge on the charge profile of a NiMH cell, so you would have very little operating life. You can check for this by charging until the green light comes on, and then using a voltmeter to test the voltage across the stack (expect no more that little above 3.6) or across each cell (expect 0.9). If you measure a significantly higher voltage, see the next possibility. This threshold voltage might be set by a pair of resistors connected to the charge controller, or the charge controller IC might have them “built in”.
A more sophisticated charge controller will use the rate of current flow to determine when the cells are fully charged. If they have used such a controller, the batteries may charge up higher, but eventually the charging must slow and stop because the charging voltage being supplied is limited (to protect the 3.6 VDC cells and/or because the voltage supplied by USB is 5 VDC, so it is hard to deliver a charging voltage above about 4.8 VDC.)
As far as safe operating voltage, the alkaline cells normally start out at 4.5 VDC plus a little extra. The NiMH start at 3.6+. It’s likely that the digital circuits on the board run at 3.3 VDC. There are two ways to get from the higher battery voltage to a lower voltage: 1) Pass the current through a variable resistor to drop the voltage down to what is required (dissipating some energy as heat); or 2) Use a switching circuit called a Buck Converter to adjust the voltage without dissipating so much energy as heat.
We generally don’t use the #1 method in battery-powered devices because it wastes energy (making heat instead of pushing bits). If this was used, it would make more heat dropping the higher voltage, which could stress things.
The #2 method can actually be implemented as a “Buck/Boost” converter that can still work (boosting the voltage) when the batteries are below the circuit voltage. This allows you to maximize your run-time for a given battery. I would expect they are using this approach. I would expect that the converter part is rated for a maximum voltage of 5.5 VDC, so even at 4.8 VDC you might still have an adequate safety margin. Or it might be a 5.0 VDC max, in which case you are pushing your luck. In any case, it probably runs less efficiently at the higher voltage, so it’s getting slightly warmer, but it’s probably okay.
All that being said, I think that instead of shoehorning a fourth AA into the compartment, you would do better to get one of those pocket-sized Li-Ion battery packs with USB receptacles on them that can charge phones/iPods/etc. and just recharge your Dana off that when you need a mid-day boost. I picked up a tiny one at Walmart for $15 that has about as much stored energy as a AA NiMH. There are bigger ones that could recharge your Dana a couple of times on one charge. And since they are universal, you can use them to boost other gadgets too.
Best of luck,
-Mike
I’ve just successfully completed this hack, thanks for your advice!
Just a couple of things to add.
Firstly, I checked with a multimeter, and the negative spring from the battery compartment is indeed continuous with the negative wire that feeds the battery pack, so there’s no need to resolder the negative side at all. I took the old wires from the dead battery pack, snipped off the long negative one, and soldered the positive one onto the positive terminal in the battery enclosure. To make the soldering easier, you can lift out the terminal itself from the plastic casing using a small pair of pliers. The old positive wire (used to feed voltage from alkaline cells) I desoldered from both the terminal and the main board (no need to remove the main board doing it this way) to stop it getting in the way or shorting anything.
Strangely, although it tested fine with the case apart, when I put it back together I found the “Palm Powered” splash screen appearing and disappearing in a loop. I thought I must have shorted something when I put the case back together, or that my solder joint was dry, but on further investigation, all it required was a hard reset to get it going again. Maybe I accidentally pressed the reset button while the batteries were out and that created some strangeness … not sure. Restored from my backup, and all good now.
I’m not sure whether anyone’s tested it, but I’m not completely sure that putting alkalines in having done this mod would work properly. When the Dana is getting power through the battery pack connector, it expects the lower voltage of the NiMH cells. So the same cells that were reading as 8% charged before I did the mod were reading as 90% charged after the mod. If you put in alkalines, the Dana would be seeing a dramatically higher voltage than it ever expected to see from NiMH cells. It might cope fine (although the battery meter might give misleading results), but it might not. I’m not that anxious to find out that I’m going to try it at this point.
Cheers,
Dan.
Great additions, Dan! Thanks for the tips!
Mike, thanks for stopping by and sharing your suggestions!
With the flat batter connecter and spring connecter, when you remove the plastic from the ends of the wires so you can twist with the others, you don’t actually remove the connectors, right? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I’m not exactly familiar with hacks like these.
Right, Ariel, you don’t remove the connectors. Those are needed to interface with the batteries in the compartment.
I’ve had my Dana since early ’05, and have been mostly very pleased with it (though I paid a mint for it new at the time).
I’m not that happy with the battery life anymore, though it’s still adequate, believe it or not. So, I’m considering your hack, Vance. One possibly-idiotic question I have is whether the new NiMH AA batteries are rechargeable using the old Dana recharger cord, or must I take the batteries out and charge them externally in a battery charger? I don’t see that specified in your detailed write-up. Thanks.:)
Don, this hack turns the battery compartment onto a recharger for any aa rechargeable cells, so yes, you can use the regular USB cord or wall adapter. Good luck!
Thanks much for the reply, Vance. I’ll try the hack soon and report back here. It sounds like a winner. It would be great if the battery power lasted longer. I have always found the dormant discharge especially annoying.
I have written a 320,000-word book on my Dana, and I have a couple of hundred thou to go, depending, so this will help.
Hi, Vance. I performed your rewiring trick last night, and the Dana seems to work like a charm (so far). Thanks a lot!
I should point out for those considering doing this that, if you are, like me, not terribly technically adept, this hack is not a snap. And if you have big hands like me, it’s like performing delicate brain surgery. Everything inside the Dana is tiny, and the screws that hold the machine together are miniscule and of the infuriating Philips (star-shaped) variety, which means they strip easily. I’m considering replacing them with far superior Robertsons, though I don’t anticipate having to take the Dana apart again in the future.
If I might presume to add one tip: As to the extra wiring required to extend the black wire to the spring connector, I just cut the black wire off the old, obsolete Dana battery pack and used that. However, it’s not long enough to go all the way to the end of the battery compartment, through the end, and back again, so I just sliced a small divet in top of the black plastic of the battery compartment and placed the wire atop it and through to the anode plate. Another option is drilling a small hole, but this was easier.
Question to Vance: I put electrical tape onto to two separate pieces of black wire that I twisted together, but I did NOT put any tape where the wires attached to the two ends of the battery compartment (the male and female metal plates, one with a spring, one without). It was simply too small an area for me to be able to reach. Do you foresee this as a problem, such as a fire hazard? I imagine the only potentiality is an electrocution hazard. If one has the charger plugged in and the battery compartment open, and one touches one of the metal ends… But who would do that?
Hi!
I just read your blog dealing with Dana battery and/or akku`s.
Pretty reasonable and feasable too..
But; Couldn`t you “make” an accustack somehow, and simply plug in
those new stacked accus?
I recently bought a Dana and tried loose rechargeables in the battery compartment, which ended in disappointment when I soon learned that the Dana had a dedicated, hard-wired (rather than software or firmware-controlled and manually-switchable) power monitoring circuit.
My hunch was that I could simply swap out a few wires and get sane and accurate battery monitoring, rather than early, frequent and chronic low battery warnings — both apocalyptic and distracting. I greatly appreciate the work the OP and others have done on this blog to confirm my hunch and openly share what they’ve learned about keeping this great little device working ALAP.
The battery modification to the Dana is actually much simpler than the above post and comments make it out to be. Since the rechargeable and alkaline batteries share the same negative terminal, you don’t need to touch those, and don’t need any extra wire length. So, basically it involves merely severing the positive alkaline connection and replacing it with the rechargeable connection. No need to remove or even directly touch the motherboard (esp. with a soldering iron!).
Here are the specific steps I took:
1. Backup any writing you’ve done to an SD card!
2. Remove the back cover, batteries and any SD cards (so you’re working with the bare unit)
3. Gently, but firmly work the positive compartment terminal on the right out of its slot with a pair of needle-nosed pliars (so you don’t harm the motherboard connection with sudden tension). Make note of which way it goes in the slot.
4. Desolder the black alkaline positive wire from the terminal. Set the loose terminal aside
5. Cut or desolder the ends of the rechargeable battery wires from the proprietary battery pack connector. I cut them right at the point where they disappeared into the plastic and still had plenty of length to work with.
6. Confirm that the red wire is indeed the positive wire, and the black wire is the negative wire.
7. Strip about 1/4 inch of shielding off the red (positive) wire, and solder it back to the now-loose positive terminal.
8. Replace the terminal back in its litle slot, the way you found it, with gentle but firm pressure. Neither the positive nor negative terminals were completely flush with the top of the plastic slot.
That’s about it! The rest is cleanup.
9. CLEANUP: Make sure the red wire gets threaded through the little compartments and does not rest on top of the plastic separators, otherwise the case won’t close fully. Similarly, tuck the black negative rechargeable wire into another compartment out of the way of the motherboard. Lastly, cap the black positive alkaline terminal with a bit of electrical tape and tuck it away into another little plastic compartment.
10. Before replacing the back, put some batteries in and confirm that the unit operates and reads the battery voltage correctly. Then make sure all wires are still tucked safely away, blow any dust or debris off the unit and carefully replace the back and screws. Enjoy power monitoring sanity!
After doing so, my Dana read my rechargeable 2000mAh Eneloops correctly at 100% battery charge, ~4.2 volts (1.4-1.45 volts per battery). I don’t think it’s a good idea to modify the battery compartment to accept a fourth battery, because that would put total battery voltage at 5.6-5.7 volts, which I think might either exceed the Dana’s rated power handling capacity or at least come a little close for comfort for normal operation (acording to other comments on this forum). Plus, I expect pretty dang long battery life as it stands, probably close to 80 hrs between two sets of rechargeables. I have a hrd time complaining about that. Lastly, I presume that alkalines will still work just fine, with a slightly higher starting voltage (closer to 4.5 volts), but will appear to have a faster power drain (what is the mAh rating of alkalines, anyway?).
NOTE: You can check the system’s power details by pressing CMD-i (or selecting “info” from the menu) on the App launcher home screen. Then select “version” and press function-i, and press “battery” to view the charging state numbers. Mine reads 94% @ 4.02 volts after a few hours of use. I composed this post on the Dana. Est. about 50 hrs of battery life, maybe more.
Thanks for this hack! I picked up a new Dana to complement my Neo (I sometimes like to write in the dark, and the Neo isn’t terribly well suited to that, but the Dana works great in the dark!) and this was my first move. I was going to paint the bottom panel anyway, so I figured while I had it open I would do the modification. I soldered the necessary wires together, covered them with electrical tape for good measure, tucked them where they belonged, and loaded up some Eneloop batteries. Success! I’m very pleased with the results!
I do have one question, though: I’m working with a used device (obviously, at this point) and as such I didn’t get an AC adapter. I’m aware I can charge on a PC or using an external battery pack (thanks for that reminder, btw) but I don’t know what voltage the USB-to-AC adapter should be, if I opt to grab one of my many extras sitting around and try to charge the Dana with it. Can someone read off the amperage/voltage of the official Dana AC adapter and post it here, please? I’d hate to give it too much (or too little) juice.
“You will need to connect Dana to the AC adapter for four hours or the
computer for eight hours to get a full charge. Use the AC adapter that
comes with Dana, or one that meets the following specification: Input: AC
120v 60Hz 9W Output: DC 7.5V 500 mA. A fully charged Dana should run
for over 25 hours. ”
Source: https://www.hcps.org/departments/instructionalsupport/specialeducation/Instructional/TIPSSoftwareSites/usersguides/Dana%20User's%20Guide.pdf
I did it! It works! I’ve never done anything like this before! :DDD
I don’t have a soldering iron (nor would I trust myself to use one) so I just stripped the wires with a pair of scissors and then twisted the metal together. To connect the black wires (since it’s not long enough) I used several bread ties I had lying around.
…should I be scared? Is this going to continue working in the long term? Also, I didn’t have any electrical tape to wrap around the areas where I twisted the wires together. Is that going to be an issue?
Hello, arriving late to the party I’m afraid… well, I just bought an old second hand Dana wireless, and I spend a few days messing with it.
Just in case anyone is interested: cause I’m from Spain, my main concern was to to change the keyboard layout and be able to write in my own language using “ñ”, “á”, “ç” and so on, pressing the keys in place they are supposed to be in a localized spanish keyboard. Using some old hacks I found, I managed to edit the layout and now I can write perfectly in my own language. I don’t know anyone who managed to get that (in part cause this device was apparently never sold in Spain), so if anyone is interested, just mail me at incom2 on gmail.
Ok, so about this hack. I just closed my Dana after soldering the wires as explained. I don’t removed the mainboard cause the lenght of the wires was enough for me to cut and solder. Also I have read that negative wire is common for alkalines and for battery pack, but I wanted to do properly and desoldered the alkaline wires and soldered + and the – from the battery connector. I think I will write here again in a day or two to explain my experience but for now, it works flawlessly so thanks you very much.
Best regards from Spain and excuse my english typos!
Here are some considerations when deciding on this hack:
If you were to drop or bump the Dana there is a chance there would be interruption of current from the batteries. I don’t know how short an interval this system can handle before losing memory, this may not be an issue for those diligent ones who back up daily, but for the rest of us it could be an issue.
The battery pack has an advantage in that the weakest point is the black connector, which seems fairly sturdy.
For my use of the Dana I feel it’s not worth the risk. Of course these thoughts came AFTER I’d done the hack!
I just checked ebay and 3 Eneloop 2000maH AA batteries with tabs are around $17.50 delivered. Barely cheaper than what I paid for the unit.
There are tons of tabbed AA batteries on ebay you could use to build a new battery pack, but they’re not giving away the higher capacity ones. Also, the Eneloops I’ve used through the years have been real performers so a few bucks more might be worth it.
On the other hand, this is more work, maybe I could just be careful with it?
If resetting won’t be an issue for you then also keep a couple more things in mind:
You only need to cut the red wire that goes to the battery pack and replace the wire going to the (+) battery terminal. 2 snips. I cut exposed ends off the black wire going to the positive terminal from the motherboard and rolled it into a crevice for future possible use.
Short version-it’s a 1 wire mod that only requires removing the back cover and swapping the wire going to the positive battery plate in the battery compartment.
If you’re going to dispose of your battery pack you could leave the 2 halves of the black connector intact and use the short red wire that is attached to the OEM pack.
When putting new batteries in be sure to charge them all first and use a VOM to verify that they have the same resting voltage. Since these will be used in series if you put in batteries with different initial voltages you will have imbalanced charging, this leads to early failure.
Ultimate fail-proof would be DIY battery pack that bypasses the black connector and is soldered to the equipment. No chance of power interruption.
Vance, thanks for hosting this cool Dana hack and posting your uses of this cool device!
I’ve been using Palm devices to keep track of things at work for 17 years or so and found out about these when investigating other devices that run Palm OS. Didn’t think there’d be much on the web about them, was happy to see this site.
momentary lapses in power aren’t an issue, Robert. The dana has a capacitor backup. You can change batteries safely without losing stored info. I backup my databases regularly.
Speaking of which, I found a hack for the cardbkup program. Using FileZ I uncopy-protect it, and then I can use the scheduling function of the shareware program! I have no ethical qualms with doing this since it’s abandonware and there’s no way to attain the “full” version anyway! I say “full” in “quotes” because this is actually the full version, with a few simple hacks to make it seem not.
First, he puts the annoying shareware reminders up. I ignore ’em. Second, if you try to enable scheduled backups, when you press “save” it reminds you it’s shareware and you don’t have access to this feature. Well, that’s a clever lie. As it turns out, the “save” button is not a “save” button, but an “erase” button! That’s right, when you press “save” in CardBkup scheduling, it erases the changes you made and returns you to the main menu. Well, the changes you make are actually saved WHEN YOU MAKE THEM. So just make the schedules you want, then exit back to the home screen without using the deliberately-mislabeled “save” button. Then go back into the program and verify: your scheduled changes should be saved. I tested it to see if it was a fluke or just the UIX without the actually underlying functionality, but it’s all there! So now I have very fast and flexible automatic backups. And you can have them, too
I prefer Cardbkup over UniCMD’s backup function. It’s incremental and very fast and flexible in comparison. I do additional automatic backups with UniCMD as well, just not as frequently.