Re: Startac Piggyback battery?

I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath to know how this
turned out, so:

I've just bought a genuine Motorola branded desktop charger (eBay UK,
£5). I put my generic piggyback battery in it and, voila, it charged. It
still beeps and says Invalid Battery when installed on the Startac - but
it works.

But a word of warning about my previous desktop charger, non-branded,
has the serial number 98323-0091835 on the base. A while ago this
charger went wrong - the plug the phone fits onto pushed down through
the base body(!).

I dis-assembled the charger and welded the plug back in place with a
soldering iron, and also took the opportunity to look around the
innards.

There was a reason piggy back batteries wouldn't charge - the four
terminals for p/b batteries were not wired into the circuit. BUT (and
this is the point of this) the four p/b terminals were actually just
prongs off one piece of stamped metal - they were all electrically
connected together and served a purely decorative function. Of course,
had I had a partially charged piggy back battery and inserted it into
this charger I could have enjoyed a fairly spectacular short circuit.

Just a word of warning to any owners of the increasingly collectable
Startac phones.

Jay <jayfromca@earthlink.net> wrote:

> I remember having the same problem with a generic battery years ago when I
> used to use a Startac. It looks for a Motorola battery and gives the error
> message if it finds a generic one. You have to remember, there were
> different versions of the Startac...CDMA, TDMA etc and perhaps they didn't
> ALL do this...so the battery may actually work on one version (not sure).
>
>
>
> "Michael Dines" <michaeldines@NO_SPICED_HAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
> message
> news:1fw0ojb.1yzq2k11ht711mN@213-48-145-37.cro.cvx.blueyonder.co.uk...
> > I gathered as much. But is there _any_ way to use these batteries? I
> > assume the original manufacturer (and a Google search tells me Ora
> > Electronics are quite large, have supplied Motorola brand stuff)
> > wouldn't make lots of these things if they didn't work.
> >
> > David Spera <spera@sgi.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Unless it is a Motorola battery you may have this problem. It is
> > > Motorola's was
> > > to force you to buy one of their batteries.
> > >
> > > Michael Dines wrote:
> > >
> > > >I wonder if anyone on this group can help me.
> > > >
> > > >I have a Motorola Startac 130, which works fine. I just bought a
> > > >'piggyback' auxiliary battery from Electro Mavin in California
> > > >(www.mavin.com), only $10 so, if it works, a bargain. I'm in England so
> > > >returns, if necessary, are going to be inconvenient.
> > > >
> > > >The problem is: when I try and charge the Aux battery by attaching it
> to
> > > >the phone, I get an 'Invalid Battery' message, if I put the battery
> into
> > > >the desktop charger on its own, no lights come on.
> > > >
> > > >The battery itself is not a branded Motorola one, but is manufactured
> by
> > > >'Ora Electronics'.
> > > >
> > > >I have contacted Electro Mavin about this and was told that, according
> > > >to a friend of the respondent, the Startac has to be set-up to
> recognise
> > > >the Aux battery. I've looked through all the menus, and the manual, but
> > > >can find no way of doing this.
> > > >
> > > >Could anyone tell me how to get this Piggyback Auxiliary Battery to
> work
> > > >with my Startac 130?
> > > >
> > > >tia
> > > >
> > > >
> >