C-860 & Ambicom Wifi Card, Why is it zapping my battery ??? Options

[pdahero]

A few months back I picked up an Ambicom WiFi card for my Zaurus. It works great - just plug it in and connect. I'm pretty sure it's this guy: http://www.ambicom.com/products/wave2net/wl1100c-cf.html

The problem is that it kills my battery - I can get about an hour of surf time before my battery goes yellow then I get the "connect to AC power" message. I'm on a pretty new battery too; I just got it this February and have only charged it about 5 times.

I can use AC power but I don't want to kill the battery prematurely. Is there some way to throttle the power consumption?

Thanks for any advice!

[MP2100]

A few months back I picked up an Ambicom WiFi card for my Zaurus.
<snip>
I can use AC power but I don't want to kill the battery prematurely. Is there some way to throttle the power consumption?

Thanks for any advice!

I use this card with my 860. My opinion is that the battery lasts pretty well, an hour or more. I guess it's just my expectation -- after using the Ambicom in my SL5500 (20 minutes of surfing).

2 suggestions:

-- Wifi draws a lot of juice from the battery, as you've noticed. I've noticed that if I disconnect from the network, the battery % rises. This must be because the high current draw of wifi drops the battery voltage. Once I disconnect, the milli-amps drop to normal, and the voltage rises. So taking a break now and then will extend your surfing time. If you require continuous surfing, yes, plug the 860 in from time-to-time.

-- You can throttle the power by slowing down the CPU. I'm using Cacko ROM. Depending on your ROM, here's how to reduce power consumption:
tap on the battery icon in the system tray,
tap on the Frequency tab (looks like a red stoplight),
tap on "power saving".

Allen