Battery Mod For Sl-6000l Model, What do you electronics experts think? Options

[the_oak]

I have both a 6000L and C1000 Zaurus, and was checking the battery output with a multimeter. Both batteries seem to have the same 3.7 volt output. Both batteries have 3 contacts, and voltage between the outside contacts are the same. And there is no voltage between the middle contact and either side (probably the middle contact is for charging [?] the battery). So I was thinking about fabricating a battery case that fits the 6000's battery compartment (except it will stick out about a 1/4" from the back to accomodate the thicker battery in the C1000). Then I propose to make some copper or brass contacts that are soldered to wires and to contacts on the other end. Then put the EA-BL08 battery in this box, with the contacts polarity matched up properly, and see if the 6000 can use the C1000's battery.

If it can, then I will have a 2000 mAh battery in the 6000 instead of a 1500 mAh battery. Also EA-BL08 batteries can be purchased much more cheaply than EA-BL09s.

The only thing I am not sure about is that the EA-BL09 says it is lithium polymer at the top, and lithium ion at the bottom of the same battery. (Not sure how it can be both?) The EA-BL08 is just labeled lithium ion.

Those of you who know about electronics see any obvious flaws with this plan? This shouldn't blow up my Zaurus should it?

[the_oak]

I don't see any issues with it, unless you make some mistake like switching the contacts around, which may cause issues..

Another thing you may want to look at is fabricating your own battery (as long as you're making a new compartment anyway). I saw some at SparkFun that were 3.7v, 6000mAh and looked relatively small. Something like that may be fun (they were cheap, too, at 10 USD).

You may want to wait for a response from somebody who has a little better handle on things, though.

HTH

Do these batteries have the center contact?

The middle contact is the termistor sensor. If you don't care about temperature of your battery (you should care to prevent explosion in fire), you can replace it by resistor of a decent value. If you will ignore this pin, Zaurus will reject your battery.

Unless you plan case hacking as well, simpler solution would be improving kernel charging code (to allow charging force off: If running from external battery, there is low benefit to charge internal battery from) and then use external charger connector. You wil lose few % of energy and you should provide 5V.

Are you talking about the C1000 battery, or the one Capn_Fish mentions? I was hoping that the center contact in the C1000 battery has the same circuitry. Meaning no need for the resister. Just plug-n-play.