Jornada Meltdown

I stumbled upon my last remaining H/PC's for the first time in a very long time a couple of weeks back. I've not really used CE for a decade if I'm honest. I think most of you knew that anyway. My 4 remaining devices: My beloved CE 2.0 320lx, a MC12 with CE 1.0, a Jornada 690 and a Jornada 720.


The 320lx and the MC12 are easy enough to fire up; just throw in some AA's. Simple.

The Jornada's I didn't have AC adapters for as these were scrape rebuild devices from back in the day. The 690's CF card ejection slot doesn't work for example.

The 320lx has its own case, so it was safe. The other three have sat in a vertical pile for all this time: MC12 on top, then the Jornada 720 and the Jornada 690 on the bottom.

Guess what! All of the Jornada device feet have lost chemical integrity and have melted down. The pads on the battery packs have quite literally transitioned into liquid. The 720 and the 690 were stuck together and made a most satisfying slook noise when I pulled them apart.

The black ooze is a cross between glue and ink. Get it on your hands or a screw driver and it's almost impossible to get it off again, not without de-layering your fingers anyway.

I've managed to get most of it off now, but the marks are everywhere.

I also discovered that the house phone uses the correct DC jack type and 0.5a, although it only provides 6.5v instead of the desired 12v. After about 2 hours on charge, the 720 has actually booted showing 10% battery. So there is hope yet.

Beware the ooze!







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I actually thought you were still using them.....the last actual windows ce device i have in the house is a post pocket pet i think it was called??? i bought off of stingraze years ago... Edit: I take that back, I sold that to a collector a while back...Forgot about it...However i do have a bricked ubisurfer on the shelf over there with a couple other bricked or extremely old laptops.

Edited by thcrw739 2019-06-24 11:56 PM

Yes, I recently noticed the same black goo on one of my Jornada720's...fortunately it didn't get on my clothing...it is like tar. Evidently the rubber polymer decomposes or self destructs after many years...all 4 "feet" at the same time. I used alcohol I think...or acetone diluted (full strength acetone might ruin the plastic case though so be careful.) and managed to get it off after scooping out most of it.

Some months ago a large electronic keyboard of the same vintage with similar feet permanently stained the fabric on my sofa and carpet...before I discovered the cause. Do you think this might be some type of delayed "Chernobyl Effect"!!!???

I think I remember seeing those "tar" on the back of my Sony laptop (I think) made in the early 00's.

Indeed!

I scooped most of it out with a watchmakers screwdriver and kitchen towel dealt with the rest. I could give it a once over with 99% isopropyl I suppose for good measure and see if it gets the smudge marks off.

I left the 720 on 6.5v until 11:30 last night. I just opened it up - it having sat all night - and the battery is on 15%. Clearly it isn't ideal. It is good enough for a few minutes of nostalgia. I'll sit it back on 6.5v now and give it until the end of the day.

I had forgotten how much lighter the 720 is compared to the 690.

It's 3pm now and I just checked the 720. The charge is still exactly where I started at 9am! I think standby consumption must be drawing at an (near) equal rate from the battery than the 6.5v is pushing into it. That or the battery and/or the charge circuit aren't sure what to do with themselves after all these years.

That's your punishment for abandoning CE, C:Amie. I hope you've learned your lesson.

Unfortunately, it is all a matter of utility and function now.

It is 10pm and the charge metre in control panel still has not moved. I yanked the battery and AC, hard reset it but left it off. I'll see if anything changes overnight with it in that state.

I didn't get around to getting the isopropyl out yet!

Nope! Having been on 6.5v until 2pm, the battery is lower now than it was yesterday. The issue is that the 720 won't stay off. As soon as there is enough load in it, it boots and then the battery falls into a stalemate with the AC adapter

Oh well! I tried.

C:Amie,
You realize you are asking for the impossible underpowering your J720 with 6+volts. The battery pack contains 2 x 18650 lithium cells which when fully charged each are rated at 4 volts and when fully discharged 3.2 volts. Thus, you need more than 8 volts to charge them, and given charging circuit losses, at least 10 volts for full charge...which is why a 12 volt charger is optimal. Your 6 volt charger must be putting out more than 6.4 volts to get any charging at all ( 3.2 volts x 2)...either that or you have just discovered a new until-now-unknown cosmic energy source...(a sort of J720 perpetual motion machine derivative).

Be careful, you just might suck "the Ethers" dry...then who knows what might happen (Chernobyl "2"?, aka "Jornobyl"

Edited by joval 2019-06-26 3:58 PM

Like I said, it's a 6.5v output on the AC adapter, so yes, I realised that.

It worked the first time because in its 10 year dead state the device couldn't turn on, so it got 15% charge in it before I turned it on. Now that the battery has some load in it, I am unable to repeat the experiment as it auto-boots.

Oh, yes...I see that now 6.5 volts...circuit losses must be very low to get 15% charge on a 0.1 voltage difference.

Well, Hell, there goes my Jornobyl theory...perhaps the universe is safe afterall...just maybe...

I must have got lucky then. A round of applause please for Panasonic phone charges ladies and gentlemen.

You do remember their old slogan, right? "Just slightly ahead of our time."

I would venture a guess that it is an "unregulated" power supply and probably outputs 9 volts with no load, 6.5 volts with its designed load. You can check with a voltmeter (plugged into the wall mains power but not to any load). They are, usually, just a basic transformer without any voltage regulator circuitry, usually you can tell just by looking at them and they are heavier for their size. Either that, or the Gods are smiling on you once again. Take that bow, kind sir.