Skeye Pad SL

Well, I may be regressing, but I just got one in the mail today. What a nifty little machine. I played with it a while. Battery is shot in the thing so right now I have it in a zillion pieces spread across the table.

Going to go to Radio Shack tomorrow and see if I can find a 7.4V LION cell for it that will fit in the battery area. Can't exceed 130mm x 68mm x 10mm in size...but I bet I can find some battery from a remote controlled car that will fit in there or something.

Then it will be time to flash the thing to CE.NET 4.2.

More info to follow as I discover it...

I had to retire my skeye.pad due to a dead battery. Maybe if this works I can bring it out of retirement.

Well I searched and searched to find a battery that I wanted for the Skeye Pad. I even contacted Skeye…and this is what they replied:

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I’m so sorry but we don’t sell any Ericsson devices. We sell only our own devices named skeye.pad SL or skeye.pad XSL.

Kind regards
Ines Espig

Skeye Partner Support Center GmbH
Dipl.-Ing. Ines Espig +49 34298 64369
+49 34298 64372 Fax
Am Schenkberg 10 www.skeye-spsc.com
04349 Leipzig I.Espig@skeye-spsc.com
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Well I didn’t think they did or would help any, and probably wanted too much money anyways. Plus, on the newer Skeye Pads they sell, they have a user replaceable battery…not the wired in one that came with the Ericsson Skeye Pad.

Well I found a lot of LION batteries that would fit into the device…and the price was about $25-$35 each on those that had the capacity I want…too much money.

So I decided that I am going to mod the case a little on mine. First I’m going to cut a square hole in the back of the thing where the existing battery resides…maybe just a rectangular opening about 1cm smaller on all sides so I can cover the hole later with a cover and screw it in.

Then I’m going to mount a holder inside…one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270898559680?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trks...

I’ve already ordered it from China.

Then I just need to get a couple 18650 cells and put in it. BTW, in case you didn’t know, they come in two flavors these days. Those that are straight 18650 batteries, and those that have built in overcharge/discharge cell protection. Here are the ones I have also ordered:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pcs-New-UltraFire-18650-4000mAh-3-6-4-2V-L...

And here is the same battery without protection:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-2Pcs-18650-4000mAh-3-7V-UltraFire-Lithi...

Anyways, the original battery is a 7.4V LION (2 large flat cells of (4) 3.7v each wired in series-parallel configuration) rated at 3600mAh…with these new Ultrafires, I should get even better than original use out of them…plus, more importantly, they will be very simple to change in the future.

When I make my mod cuts and get the stuff in, I'll post a picture...

Also here is a picture of the existing battery with the protective heat-shrink plastic removed...





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battery.jpg (105KB - 1 downloads)

Time for next steps in my battery endeavor...here is what I've done now...pretty simple really...

























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well as much I understand and have read about Li-Ion battery capacity, then there isnt cell bigger than 2800 mAh. All bigger numbers are hoax...

Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough. I have a bunch of 2800mAh and smaller cells...when I get these I'll see if there is any difference...

Certainly easy enough to benchmark their capacity...

EDIT: After Tõnna's post I started reading about the tons of fakes out there...figures I'd be the dummy who fell for it..well they were cheap enough, so I won't be out much.

I've got some Panasonic 2800mAh I pulled from HP laptop battery packs that are brand new...so at least I have something to compare the Ultrafires to when I get them...

Which means that if I only have 2800mAh of capacity, then I'll end up with less than the original lion cell that came in this thing...however, I have several external 18650 battery chargers, some 2 and 4 cell ones, and being able to change the batteries has got to be a plus for convenience over the built in thingies...

Rich, I'm enjoying following your build (not that you need any encouragement ).

Thanks Hmascience...now I need to take the thing apart again and mount the antenna for the wifi card. I'm using a Symbol LA-412T-1100-1C. When inserted it fills the pcmcia slot but absolutely nothing protrudes...completely hidden so to speak.





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wificard.jpg (214KB - 3 downloads)

Is that the same unit that you and a few others were putting in the MP900's as a very low profile Wifi card? Nifty either way.

Na...it's another very similar...

Okay...found the perfect back cover for my battery mod. A project box that measures 125mm long and 80mm wide. I'll just take half of the box, drill the holes all the way through, and then place it over my opening, mark my holes, drill some smaller pilot holes, and then run in some self tapping screws.

Each half is 1 1/2cm thick, and that is all the extra area I should need. Wonder if I should paint it black or blue or if that would just rub off...any ideas anyone?





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projectbox.jpg (63KB - 3 downloads)

What kind of plastic? This stuff might work: http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion_for_plastic/ .

Hmmm, chip resistant after 7 days...sounds just like what I need..guess I drive down to Lowes store and see if they have some of that stuff...I got the little square I cut out of the back, so I'll match something up with it...but I'll probably just get black...still it would be cool to have a "Red Pepper" Skeye Pad...

Alrighty, a new question: Anyone ever performed the custom OS upgrade to CE.NET 4.2 using Cmonex's rom version? If so, do you remember how you did it?

I've had a devil of a time trying to Activesync the thing. It is simple using Irda, but serial was a complete mess. I finally tore apart my car carrier and pulled the thing apart. Then using an old serial printer cable which I haven't used since the '80s, I cut off the end and wired the thing to the connector directly.

I had tried to sync through the car carrier every which way possible and never made any progress. Well, I was finally able to sync the thing using the USB -> Serial adapter -> silly Skeye connector. I'm not sure I can duplicate it again, but it did sync and I was able to view the Skeye Pad folders on my desktop like it should.


So then I ran the OS upgrade and got an error that I had to close Activesync...which I did...but the upgrade just hung waiting for a connection...which I don't understand since I had one for Activesync, it should have recognized the Com4: of my USB connector... It kinda tells me it is waiting for a signal from the Skeye Pad to perform the upgrade, but no matter what I do, the Skeye Pad never sends one...

I'm really at a loss...so if anyone has ever performed the upgrade...tell me how you did it.





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skeyecable.jpg (199KB - 3 downloads)

BTW, I used Scholbert's guide to wire the thing...here it is slightly modified to be a little more explanitive...thanks Scholbergt!





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connector.jpg (96KB - 6 downloads)