Polaroid Pola-Pack battery chemistry

Google for "Polaroid Polapulse Battery" and you'll find plenty of photos and references. The P80 and P100 are 6V at 250ma-hr and Zinc-Manganese dioxide. The P500 are 6V at 1400ma-hr and Lithium-Manganese dioxide. Note that they can be recharged successfully a few times.

Still available for sale:

what do they read with say 1Kohm over them ?

Just because the voltage hasn't dropped much, doesn't mean the cell hasn't deteriorated. It might have lost a lot of its capacity.

Thanks for the update.

My understanding was that they were originally carbon-zinc. They were designed and made by Ray-O-Vac, but when they turned out to be unreliable, failing unexpectedly (I had one fail when I left the camera in a warm -- but not hot -- car), Polaroid redesigned and manufactured them itself. Polaroid gave away a cheap AM/FM radio powered by the battery in a discarded film pack, to take advantage of what would otherwise have been wasted energy.

It's unfortunate there are no standardized rechargeable battery packs for portable devices. This might have been doable when they were powered by AA and C cells, but modern devices are so small, and the battery is so tightly mechanically integrated, it isn't possible.

I recently replaced the battery in my Palm T3 PDA, after seven years of service. I was surprised at how easy it was to do; I expected a fuss-fest.

There's a reason why nobody standardizes on battery packs. Battery packs are a major profit center. It's the razor blade model. Give away the razors, and sell lots of blades. For example, Motorola makes it policy of requiring a new battery, microphone, antenna, charger, and other accessories with every new model handheld radio and cell phone. Even models that are very similar, have intentional lumps and holes to make the previous generation of accessories incompatible. Same with some HP LaserJet cartridges.

There's some hope with the ITU standardizing on the microUSB battery charger connector for portable devices:

which are slowly being "embraced", which is doublespeak for being shoved down the manufacturers throats by various regulatory agencies.

Way back in the early 1990's, there was some effort to standardize on a single laptop battery. Mallory and others invented a ten C cell package that just slid into the side of the laptop. It was popular for a short while, until laptops shrank below the size where it would fit. Nice try.

You can still get LaserJet series-4 cartridges with no problem.

Oddly, companies /neglect/ to take advantage of profits they could make on batteries. Palm no longer provides parts or service for the Tungsten T3 -- which is illegal. Had they charged (no pun intended) $50 to replace the battery, I would have sent the T3 to them. I replaced it myself for $6. If it lasts two or three years -- and batteries are still available -- I'll be happy.

"Unless and until" some "ultimate" battery technology is developed, it's unlikely there will ever be a universal battery system (or systems).

It's also the plumbing model. Ever replace a rubber washer or bad valve seat in a leaky faucet?

WAY near the top of _my_ pet peeve list.

Jonesy

How so?

Jeff

There are Federal laws that oblige companies to stock service parts for three to ten years after a product is discontinued. These laws appear to have been weakened, but it also seems the Federal government doesn't really care. I had a case where a company couldn't supply parts for a current-production product, and I had to threaten that I would go to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Tungsten T3 is still manufacturerd, though not, apparently, sold by Palm. Palm is legally obliged to provide parts for it, but refuses to. Even if it weren't manufactured, it has been less than 10 years since it was discontinued, and Palm is obligated to provide electrical/electronic parts.

Those laws probably do not say anything about pricing, do they? What good is forcing compliance if they would say "Fine...How many batteries do you want? They're $1000 each?"

In the two cases where I forced companies to provide service or service parts, they complied at a reasonable price.

Manufacturers (or importers) often gouge on the price of service parts. But if they have the parts, they're not going to charge such a huge price that the item won't sell at all.

In one case where I complained about the cost of a replacement headphone cable (about 60% of the retail price of the complete headphone!), the manufacturer was so upset by the ridiculousness of the price that they simply sent me the cable for free (without my asking)! It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

the rectangular lead acid batteries that were almost standard in video cameras was nice, while that lasted. I seem to recall some computer used those too.