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Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

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Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby jhdodd » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:36 am

Hi,
My notebook was turned off for a few weeks and now I can't charge the battery any more. When I plug in the adapter the orange light flashes for a few minutes (I just clocked it: 6 minutes this time) and then stops. There seems to be no charge whatsoever in the battery, i. e. without the mains adaptor there is no sign of life at all from the notebook.
Other than that, the notebook is fine - on mains power.
After reading these posts and the Hardware FAQ I tried the Reset procedure, but nothing seems to have changed. Does this mean I should change the battery or is there something else I could try before that?
Thanks for any help!
jhdodd
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby Tab88 » Sun May 10, 2009 10:58 pm

Hi,

I have the same problem. Have you sorted out the problem?

I have stripped down my pi1505 and resoldered the dc socket pins and also the battery pins incase of any dry joints.

It still won't charge.

I have now just bought a new charger and a new battery, which I'm still awaiting delivery.

Steve

Plymouth
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby Jasper80 » Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:12 am

Hi

Please can you tell me how you obtained instructions to solder the power connector, I cannot see how to disassemble to this point. Or just explain how to disassemble the pi1505.


Many thanks
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby TheRawGod » Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:56 am

Hi guys, as of yesterday I'm having the same problem, and as well with Pi1505.

Though in my case it happened a bit differently: my laptop worked overnight (internet activity), in powersave mode, with the lid closed (i.e. screen was shut off). When in the morning I opened the lid, I just felt how hot it the laptop in the area near to cooler / power input, but I didn't give it a big attention. In few minutes I felt a smell of smoke, the typical one produced by electronic equipment when it's dying. I instantly switched the laptop off and made it get cool for few hours. When I later turned it off --- it was working, cooler was working as well, the smell was almost gone but the battery won't charge anymore.

So the biggest dilemma for now now is if I should try fixing it myself by replacing some wires / parts that got dead or I should take it to service...
PS The laptop is almost 3 years old.
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby KitamuraComputers » Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:57 pm

You've all got dead batteries. My Li1818 is the same, it has gone through two batteries. I think they're Sony cells (Flaming Dell batteries, anyone?) so it doesn't surprise me. It isn't my laptop ruining the batteries, I've monitored the voltages on the charging rails.

I only have my battery connected when I'm not on mains, having it on mains seems to keep trickle charging, and overcharging and damaging it even though the charge light is off.

A battery is supposed to last at least 3 years under normal use. Yeah, right. Not with Sony.

Faulty batteries can stop laptops starting, the regulator chips inside can short the terminals, that's why you've had no power with the battery and mains. Replace your battery (with a genuine) one, you should be fine for a bit. Don't leave the battery on unneccessarily.
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby TheRawGod » Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:09 pm

KitamuraComputers wrote:You've all got dead batteries


Well, I'd argue that :roll: At least in my case. The smoke I saw was produced by laptop's power circuits or somewhere near to that, it wasn't the battery smoking. It could be that the battery caused some laptop's parts to burn, but I'm not sure. Left alone the fact that I cannot charge the battery I still can explore all it's parameters, I can even work on that battery without any problems. So I would rather think that something got wrong inside the laptop and probably that was related to overheating somehow.

So now I'm looking for a kind of a service manual for pi1505 which is obviously unavailable... :cry:
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby KitamuraComputers » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:11 pm

TheRawGod wrote:
KitamuraComputers wrote:You've all got dead batteries


Well, I'd argue that :roll: At least in my case. The smoke I saw was produced by laptop's power circuits or somewhere near to that, it wasn't the battery smoking. It could be that the battery caused some laptop's parts to burn, but I'm not sure. Left alone the fact that I cannot charge the battery I still can explore all it's parameters, I can even work on that battery without any problems. So I would rather think that something got wrong inside the laptop and probably that was related to overheating somehow.

So now I'm looking for a kind of a service manual for pi1505 which is obviously unavailable... :cry:


You're probably looking at a new motherboard, any component damage would be too expensive in labour to strip, re-flow/replace chips, test and rebuild the machine. And it certainly isn't a job for end users, the equipment costs a fortune. All the charging and VRM system is integral to the rest of the board. Service manuals are generally unavailable for some manufacturers. Your machine is built by Uniwill. I had to learn how to disassemble customer Fujitsu's myself, and Advent 7036/7039/7046'es there is just no literature available.
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby TheRawGod » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:21 pm

KitamuraComputers wrote:You're probably looking at a new motherboard, any component damage would be too expensive in labour to strip, re-flow/replace chips, test and rebuild the machine. And it certainly isn't a job for end users, the equipment costs a fortune. All the charging and VRM system is integral to the rest of the board. Service manuals are generally unavailable for some manufacturers. Your machine is built by Uniwill. I had to learn how to disassemble customer Fujitsu's myself, and Advent 7036/7039/7046'es there is just no literature available.


Yes, the more I search the closer I get to the idea that I'll just live without battery from now on :cry: Whilst I still would like to see myself the part that was actually smoking --- at least to know what was that.
With regards to unavailability of service manuals for FSC / Uniwill laptops you're completely right. There are very few available, for several models, not even close to Pi series. By the way people commenting those manuals say that Uniwill "assembly style" is quite unusual and puzzling :) Can't confirm that as I have nothing to compare it with, but trying to get to the part of the laptop I need from scratch didn't bring any good results. I'll keep trying though.
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Re: Amilo Pi1505 Battery won't charge

Postby KitamuraComputers » Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:17 pm

TheRawGod wrote:Yes, the more I search the closer I get to the idea that I'll just live without battery from now on :cry: Whilst I still would like to see myself the part that was actually smoking --- at least to know what was that.
With regards to unavailability of service manuals for FSC / Uniwill laptops you're completely right. There are very few available, for several models, not even close to Pi series. By the way people commenting those manuals say that Uniwill "assembly style" is quite unusual and puzzling :) Can't confirm that as I have nothing to compare it with, but trying to get to the part of the laptop I need from scratch didn't bring any good results. I'll keep trying though.


My 1818 comes apart from underneath upwards, rather than from the top downwards, they are quite strange. The thing i like the most is the big service cover, where all major components are (CPU, CMOS battery & 1 of the RAM sticks). I think this is the same with the Pi series. There's tons of screws on the Li 1818, and then the bottom cover is clipped on all round the edges, you've got to be careful not to ruin the clips, or slip and gouge something (especially yourself :shock:)
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