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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: Re: Archos JBR 20GB / new rechargeable batteries questionsRe: Archos JBR 20GB / new rechargeable batteries questions
From: Manuel Dejonghe <manuel_at_dejonghe.de>
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 16:20:04 +0200 yes, sounds like a grilled charging chip. Good luck unsoldering it. ~lImbus On 5/30/06, Nick von Korff <nickvk_at_itouch.com.au> wrote: > Hi all, > > I know this is off-topic, i.e. not related to rockbox specifically, but I am > really struggling to resurrect my old Archos Jukebox Recorder and am not > sure where to go for help. > > My main question is: > > I've replaced my Archos JBR 20GB batteries with some new high capacity (2500 > mAh) Energizer Ni-MH batteries. They work fine to power the unit (I charged > them in an external charger before putting the new batteries in), but the > batteries do not charge up in the JBR, so they just drain away until the > unit is unuseable. Are you able to charge high capacity batteries in the > player itself, or do you have to charge them externally, i.e. does the > player put out enough power to charge higher capacity batteries internally? > It would kind of defeat the purpose if this is the case, as it's a pain to > get the batteries in and out. > > If you can't charge just any rechargeble batteries in the player, do I need > to get a specific type of battery? I noticed that the output > voltage/amperage on the external charger (5v, 1.6 Amps) is vastly different > to the voltage/amperage that the AC adaptor of the Archos puts out (9v, 0.6 > Amps). > > Secondly, I've seen some posts saying that you can fry the charging chip > (part number MC34063AD, I believe). Perhaps this has gone on my player, > causing the unit not to charge the batteries. If anyone out there knows of a > simple test that I can do to prove whether this chip is blown or not, I'd be > keen to know. I wouldn't call myself an electronics expert by any stretch of > the imagination, but I can follow instructions, use a multimeter and > soldering iron if required, I'm just not sure what to look for in this > situation. > > The reason I am trying to 'resurrect' my player, in case anyone is > wondering, is that I leant it to someone from work for use as a removable > USB hard drive some time ago, and 2 things happened to it on that fateful > day that most likely caused its death: > > 1. I didn't have the original charger with me and it really needed some > juice, so a generic power supply with the correct voltage/amperage and > interchangeable tips was purchased for use with the player. The positive and > negative tips were on the wrong way round at first. When it was plugged in, > nothing happened, so I immediately unplugged it. I could smell that fried > electronics smell coming from the player, but no visible smoke. I switched > the polarity of the tip and plugged it in, and it worked! I was pleasantly > surprised. > > 2. It was dropped from a decent height (roughly 2 meters up) by one of the > idiot techs a short while later. > > To cut a long story short, it was pretty much dead after that, making really > strange noises from the harddrive on startup and reporting some sort of > hex-dump to screen. I managed to get my work to replace the player for me, > seeing as it was killed while being used for work purposes, so I got an > iRiver H340 instead, which is great. > > I've now replaced the hard drive of the JBR with another 20GB laptop hard > drive I had lying around and I've replaced the rechargeable batteries with > some high-capacity ones (2500 mAh NiMH Energizers). I charged the batteries > in an external charger and put them in. The player came to life with a full > charge. I felt that pride that doctor Frankenstein must have felt when his > monster came to life!! > > I figured that was it, I'd got it working again. Wrong. I copied up all my > music onto it while running off batteries, as I wanted to see what the new > high-capacity batteries could do. They held up well, and I had around 40% > left by the time all my music had finished copying up. > > BUT!! When I try to charge the batteries in the player, by plugging in the > original AC adaptor, it doesn't do anything. The battery level stays the > same as it was before I put it on charge, even though the screen on the unit > says its charging. I changed the Battery Capacity menu option in RockBox, as > I thought this may have something to do with it, but I have since learned > that this figure is only used to calculate remaining battery life etc. > > If anyone has any input on this situation, that would be great. I really > don't want to bin that player, as it is such a good unit. > > Thanks and regards, > > Nick v K. > > > > Received on 2006-05-30 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |