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10-19-2008, 04:39 PM | #1 |
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iLiad Battery Hacks: Part 2 -- 35 hours of battery life! A how-to guide.
UPDATED Jan 31, 2009 : Upgraded software to version 0.90 (iLiadPowerManagement-0_90.zip). Please read the changed description in Step 6.
Introduction With my iLiad out of warranty, I decided to take inspiration from Calviny's experiment and replace the original batteries with higher-capacity ones. The following is a rough guide to how I did it, with pictures. WARNING I have put other warnings in here, but I want to emphasize that doing this can potentially wreck your iLiad in many, many ways. Performing this mod will definitely void your warranty. Most important is to be VERY careful to prevent short-circuits. I strongly recommend putting a liberal helping of electrical tape on all exposed electrical contacts and circuit boards before putting the case back together. Also, be aware that the exposed edges of the silver plastic battery wrapper can be slightly conductive, so I recommend taping them too. Also, the batteries are thick and fit snugly in the case. If you force anything during reassembly you could easily break your screen. Make sure it fits, and don't press too hard! If you are very careful and take plenty of precautions, this can be an easy mod that greatly enhances your iLiad experience. But please, please be careful! This guide comes with no guarantee, and I take no responsibility if you break your iLiad while following it. Equipment To do this you will need to own and be able to use the following tools, at minimum:
Step 1: Open the case The iLiad's case is very easy to open:
Figure 1: The back of the iLiad. All 12 screws are indicated with arrows. Figure 2: The front half of the iLiad shell, containing the motherboard and the screen. Step 2: New Batteries The v1 iLiad's original batteries are two polymer lithium-ion batteries with a rated capacity of about 1100 mAh. (Contrary to what I said in my poem, the capacity is not printed on the outside as far as I can recall.) Calviny upgraded his iLiad with 1800 mAh cells, but I wanted to push the limit, so after some searching and measuring I picked out these:They're $15.95 each, or about $32 for two. Each battery is 84mm x 50mm x 6mm thick, the same size as Calviny's except 1.8mm thicker. It turns out that this is not a problem, because the iLiad case has about 1.8mm of extra space inside. These batteries fit pretty well: it's snug, but for me at least there wasn't any major trouble getting them to fit. Karel warned that fitting batteries too tightly might cause overheating or other problems, because lithium-ion batteries need to expand when charged. I haven't had any problems along those lines at all. There seems to be enough room at the battery edges to allow expansion. These particular batteries are also UL-listed, which means they should be resistant to explosion or catastrophic failure in the event that they are punctured or short-circuited. Before you install the batteries:
The batteries I received from BatterySpace.com were almost identical in charge, so this was no problem for me. Step 3: Case Modification The back half of the iLiad shell has plastic fins and posts that hold the original batteries in position and add structural integrity to the frame. You will need to remove them to make space for the new batteries, which will fit so snugly that they'll provide their own structural reinforcement. Each plastic fin can be removed pretty easily by scoring along the base of each side with a sharp knife, and then bending it over until it snaps off. The posts are harder to remove, but with care and patience you can cut them away. Notice that I only removed the edges of the screw posts at the lower left and right; you want to just make enough space for the battery and leave the screw hole alone. Figure 3a: Inside the iLiad's back case panel. Plastic bits that need to be removed are highlighted in red. Figure 3b: My modded case with all plastic bits removed and shaved flush to the surface. Step 4: Switch Batteries Here is where you put your soldering skills to the test.
Figure 4: New batteries soldered to the circuit board in the case. The circuit board is bent up to show the soldering points. Figure 5: Circuit board bent down into normal position, more electrical tape applied underneath. I also put another layer of electrical tape (not shown) across the top edge of the board and batteries. Step 5: Re-assemble the case Now you can put the case back together. I actually threw away the speaker at this point: it doesn't fit beside the new battery, and I never use it anyway. If you want to keep it I suppose you can shave down the other plastic bits and just move the speaker up a bit. You will have to re-plug the battery board into the main circuit board before putting the case halves together. If the battery board is not down far enough the plug will pop out when you put the case together, so be sure to fold it down and push down the batteries as well. Be careful and don't force anything. You don't want to break the screen. If it doesn't want to go, try to find what's in the way. Everything fits for me, so it should fit for you, but the first time it took me some fiddling to make everything sit just right. Once everything snaps into place, try turning it on to be sure the battery connection is good. If it turns on, go ahead and screw the case back together! Step 6: Replacement Software iLiadPowerManagement-0_90.zip For various reasons the iLiad does not always seem to recognize or adjust for a larger battery size, although it is (in principle) able to. The battery icon still goes to zero in 10-12 hours, and the powerMgr program will then automatically shut off the iLiad. To solve this problem I modified the original battery.o kernel module and powerMgr program to use battery voltage to monitor the battery status. There are some small differences, but this approach keeps most of the original iLiad functionality. This software should also support virtually any battery size. You can use it on the original iLiad as well, although you may not see any benefit from it. Warning 1 : It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you backup the original start.sh and powerMgr before installing this software. It is also recommended that you backup personal files and be prepared to reflash your iLiad if necessary. I take no responsibility if you brick your iLiad with this modification. I have tested it and it works for me, but it may not work for you. Warning 2 : This software will ONLY work with lithium-ion / lithium-polymer batteries. Do NOT attempt to replace your iLiad's batteries with any other kind. The above link contains the source code and binaries for the modified battery.o and powerMgr, as well as a modified start.sh startup script. More detailed information about the programs can be found in the README file. The binaries were compiled and tested for v2.11 iLiad software, but they should work for 2.12 as far as I know...? You will have to manually install the files as follows:
This is the setup I use on my iLiad, and it works fine. If you have any problems, let me know. Summary and Conclusion
The only drawback to this mod is the improvised software I had to add. My software is not as user-friendly and not as reliable as the iLiad's built-in battery hardware. However, if and when iRex releases the source codes for powerMgr and the battery kernel module, it should be easy to alter them so that the iLiad will work with and auto-detect almost any battery size. In my opinion, this is a very powerful mod that greatly extends the iLiad's capabilities, and I'm definitely glad I did it! Questions, comments, suggestions are welcome! Last edited by jharker; 01-31-2009 at 10:13 PM. Reason: Several edits adding warnings and updates, and editing language. |
10-19-2008, 07:42 PM | #2 |
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Congraduation!!
I will try after you finish the software work. I just want to know how long it takes to charge the new batteries. |
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10-20-2008, 08:02 AM | #3 |
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I've always wanted to implement calvany's battery mod. But I lack the guts to open the back cover of iLiad. You really did something awesome.
Thanx for your detailed instructions, I might be more willing to implement it on my iLiad now. Last edited by ericshliao; 10-20-2008 at 08:04 AM. |
10-20-2008, 02:33 PM | #4 | |
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Thanks, all! Software is posted. Let me know what you think!
Quote:
The iLiad charges its batteries at about 500mA, and discharges at around 80-90 mA. So:
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10-20-2008, 02:43 PM | #5 |
fruminous edugeek
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How long do you expect the charge to take if the iLiad is not turned on? And is there any added risk to leaving it charging overnight (possibly overcharging) with this mod?
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10-20-2008, 03:02 PM | #6 | |
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Quote:
I have no idea whether the battery can or does charge faster with the iLiad off... I can't measure current draw with the iLiad off, so there's no way to know. As for overcharging, I'm as sure as I can be that it's not a problem. The charging process is hardware-controlled and seems to be voltage-limited. I have measured the battery voltage several times during charging/discharging, and it always charges to between 4.10-4.15V. (Max for Li-ion is 4.20.) It also slows down when the battery is almost full, and stops when the battery is totally full. Charge estimation is also hardware-controlled, but it is NOT voltage-based. This is why the iLiad's software can't deal with larger batteries. There's a way around it, but it's more clumsy and involves changing the battery kernel module. |
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10-21-2008, 11:30 AM | #7 |
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Excellent post. Added to the wiki and OpenIliad.
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Upgr...f_battery_life |
10-21-2008, 11:41 AM | #8 |
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Wow, Adam, that's excellent! Thanks for doing the work to move it over!
Last edited by jharker; 10-21-2008 at 11:55 AM. |
10-21-2008, 09:54 PM | #9 |
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I just did the experiment: it takes about 6 hours to charge while the iLiad is off. I didn't get an exact value, but from plugging it in to fully charged was no more than 6h18m.
Remember that with the current software you have to reset the battery count by turning on the iLiad while it's still plugged in for at least a minute. I added this info to guide above, and to the wiki page as well. |
10-22-2008, 12:54 AM | #10 |
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Amazing!
I wished I could program things like that.. hehe Are you planning on perhaps applying an update like this on another (preferably little cheaper) reader? (eg: Sony reader/hanlin/..?) Thanks for sharing! |
10-22-2008, 01:47 AM | #11 | |
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Quote:
Ofcourse that would take time. I think the majority of people generally don't read books for more that 2 to 3 hours a day. Some do, but most not. anyways, just a suggestion |
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10-22-2008, 09:41 AM | #12 | |
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Quote:
Honestly, I think that if all you're doing is turning a page a minute, it won't have a huge effect on battery life. I'm pretty sure you'd get at least 30 hours out of it... |
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10-22-2008, 10:43 AM | #13 |
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it probably is the touchscreen that uses lots of energy..
If there was a way to completely turn that one down, but then you'd be swapping the pen in and out all the time. You kind of need a button,that unless holding the tablet with the button pressed, the touchscreen would not be activated. A press button for quick touches, and it'd be awesome if you could click that button in a hold position for longer duration of time. I bet that way you'll be able to at least double the batterylife from what it is now! |
10-22-2008, 12:21 PM | #14 |
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Actually, there's a mechanical switch inside the iLiad that is pressed when the pen is in the holder. As far as I know, the touchscreen digitizer is turned on and off by this switch. So if the pen is in the holder there really isn't any power draw from the touchscreen.
Also, I think I remember doing a brief test that showed very little power drain by the touchscreen even when it was on... but I'm not sure about that. |
10-22-2008, 02:05 PM | #15 |
"Assume a can opener..."
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how are the power-saving features of the iLiad apart from in the iPDF viewer?
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