Info on LG phenom express

don't know if there are any current or ex owners of this old CE2.1 machine on here, but I have just aquired one. Info on it is hard to come by, especially concerning how to crack open the case and how to replace both backup and main battery. Anyone who has any info, your help would be most appreciated.

Also i have located some batteries that appear to be the same voltage/size as the express's main batteries, would a difference in mAh cause any problems? or would the higher rating just deliver more juice?

I do not own the LG, but battery techonologies are quite independent of these devices.

Thing to note:

1. Chemical composite - older devices tend to be using ni-cad or ni-mh as these were more cost effective then. New ones use li-ion or li-poly.
2. AmH - This is how much juice the batt will provide. Theoreticall, a higher AmH will give longer life, *but* it does not increase linearly.

Together, these two factors are affected by the charging mechanism. Most Ni-cad and some ni-mh use brute charging. They usually come with either a timer circuit that cuts off the fill-charge and switch to float charge to maintain the batt at near-optimum level. Ni-cads has what is called "memory effect" which requires near-complete depletion of charge before recharing. Ni-mh has little or none of such effects and can be recharge at will.

Li-ion and li-poly are similar to ni-mh but has much higher charge density (ie more amh in same volume). But they usually come with their own distinct charging circuits. Charging with incorrect voltages or current may have short term (immediate damage) or long term effects (lower maximum charge).

When you replace the batt with a higher amh, the existing charging circuit may not have the right timing to completely fill it up, so you may not necessarily experience a higher mileage for your $$.

Replacing a ni-cad batt with ni-mh or li-ion can be risky as the charging cycle is rather different. Worst case, you may end up with short circuits or exploded batts (li-ion).

Granted, if the batts are just AA or AAA types ni-cad, you can almost always use a different nimh or li-ion AA or AAA without problem. Just bear in mind not to deplete the batts. The diff chemical composition tend to react differently to charge depletion.

Thanks for the reply Snappy.
voltage and size wise. the replacements iv'e had my eye on are the same as the originals, only the mAh is different. They are li-on. I'll have to get my soldering skills back to par though, LG solder everything in. If it all goes wrong, at least iv'e only wasted £20. People are selling them for a song, as neither LG nor molicel (original cell manufacturer) are offering replacements, nor have any support pages, the batteries have no info on them either. However, having one of my rare cunning days, I used web archive.org to look back at both sites as they were in the late ninties, and the info was there Just got to figure how to crack the case now. as it stands the old LG is currently senile, as soon as it leaves the mains, it forgets all data. So i'll have to unsolder the backup mem as well. All part of the fun of tinkering, and it's got to be better for my eyes than my Psion revo grey screen.

oh good! Let us know how it turns out ya?

Rich's www.diversinfo.com has a page on replacing batts but its for NECMobilePro780/790s ... maybe that might come in useful?

Talking about greyscale ... wonder if those older grayscale devices with white backlight uses lesser juice than the color type? TFT would naturally take more juice than DSTN given that each pixel has at least one more transistor running ...

This posting turned up on a search and I'm replying on the off chance that you can help me. I have an LG Phenom Ultra that I haven't used in a long time. I've done the resetting routine, etc., but I still get no screen. Last time I used it, it worked fine.

Do you have any idea what the problem is? I'd like to use this now rather than sell it for parts. Thanks for any help.

Khephren, are you still around? You may want to help out your fellow Phenom buddy!

I'm not familiar with the Phenom, but my gut feel is that its internal backup batt is flat.

Can you hear the device sound when you power it up. It should make the Windows CE startup sound.

If not then something is getting in the way completly. If you can could be a loose secreen connection, dead screen or perhaps the damaged backlight controller.

If you get a bright torch can you see an imageon the screen while it's on?

It seems that all of the LG Phenoms have screen problems, i suggest
Disassembling the screen and reseating all the connectors fixed it. The screen's casing is held together with two small screws just inboard of the hinges, and snap hooks around the edges. To access the screws, you first need to remove all the screws from the system base (including the ones hidden under the CompactFlash and RAM upgrade covers), then unsnap and remove the frame around the keyboard. You can then remove the screws from the screen frame and unsnap it. To access one of the touchscreen connectors, you'll need to remove the screws that hold the LCD frame into the case. The connectors have a brown locking lever that you flip up to release the cable.

The case is a little difficult to tear apart, just make sure you undo all of the screws you see and you have to fiddle with it, but it shouldn't be too bad. Good Luck

-Lund