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No. The only way of internally powering the S7 is with the supplied proprietary Li-Ion rechargeable battery. This is a sealed, non-serviceable unit that houses three 3.6v graphite-type Li-Ion cells. These give a very steady energy output until depletion at which point they very suddenly become flat. This means you can use all of the S7's features right up until the machine cuts out. With machines running off alkaline batteries, users can find things like audio, compact flash writing and the serial port can stop working long before the machine cuts out. Also there is no "Memory effect" with the Series 7's internal battery.
Nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal hydride cells that are recharged before the battery is completely depleted will charge, but the voltage will remain low (The cell, "Remembers" it's previous voltage). This leads to a very short battery life between charges and the more this is done to a cell, the worse the effect. Some users may mistake this for the batteries having reached the end of their life, however this is usually only a temporary effect and can easily be rectified by completely draining all power from the battery before fully charging. In cases where memory effect has greatly affected the battery, this may have to be repeated several times before the cell is restored to full working order.
The main battery is rated at lasting for up to 8½ hours constant use, however with screen brightness set to its lowest level and little or no use of peripheral devices, CF or power-hungry applications using sound or lots of colours you can expect to get over 10 hours from a single charge (with a new battery at least). Using a PC-card modem, IrDA, CF card etc, will affect battery life. Charging is done by powering the S7 off the mains adapter which is supplied with the machine and there is no memory effect on the cells. Full charging takes up to 3 hours whether the S7 is turned on or not, however the charging LED will cut out when the battery is charged to 70% capacity. This is because after a Li-Ion cell has reached it's maximum voltage, it in fact carries on charging for a short while after. This should be considered if you feel the battery in your S7 isn't lasting as long as it should.
Eventually over a long period of time just like any other battery, but if you run off mains power the battery will be kept constantly charged anyway. If you don't intend to use the battery or if you have a spare that you never use it's recommended that you give it a full charge every three months to help preserve it's overall life. This can be for up to 3 hours rather than until the charging LED goes off because this occurs at only 70% capacity.
Normal high-street retail outlets are very unlikely to stock them though bigger stores will almost certainly order them for you. Specialist mail order services such as Expansys are probably the best option, especially for users outside of the UK.
The Series 7 mains adapter is rated at 100-240v (50/60Hz), so it can be used throughout Europe, North America, Canada and Japan. It can also be used in any other country who's mains supply is within these ranges however as different countries often use different types of connector you may need to purchase a separate socket/travel adapter first.
No. The Series 7 and netBook use a 15.5V adapter rated at 1.5A. No other Psion mains adapter either designed for other EPOC devices or earlier SiBO machines match the required voltage and amperage. The power ratings of various Psion machines is as follows;
| Machine | Voltage | Amperage |
|---|---|---|
| Series 7/netBook | 15.5V | 1.5A |
| Series 5/5MX | 6.0V | 1.0A |
| Revo | 6.0V | 500mA |
| Series 3/3a/3s/3c/3mx | 9.0V | 250mA |
| Siena | 9.0V | 250mA |
It's a ferric core surrounding the power lead and us there to help filter out any emissions coming from the cable and prevent interfere with other devices. It doesn't really matter where on the cable it is located but in the middle or nearest to any other signal-carrying cables is probably best.
February 2000
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