New Microsoft Tech Makes Battery Changes a Breeze
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From: larwe on 3 Jul 2010 13:57 On Jul 3, 1:12 pm, Paul Carpenter <p...(a)pcserviceselectronics.co.uk> wrote: > Considering the amount of battery operated equipment where I have had > to clean or re-bend the contacts to make it work, this looks like a > scheme with VERY flimsy mechanical mounting. I think you need to look a bit closer. The contacts are mechanically one-piece with no tangs sticking out. The spring force is provided by the leads. What isn't shown in the pictures - and I ASSUME this to be true - is that once the lead hits the PCB it goes through a right angle and is either soldered to a significant length of meaty PCB trace, or clamped to a contact area by the screws that keep the housing together. The Wii controller uses a very similar mechanism (among other devices of course), minus the polarity-agnosticism, and it seems very robust. Passes all our tests anyway.
From: Don McKenzie on 3 Jul 2010 15:24 Rod Speed wrote: > Don McKenzie wrote: >> Just wonder how tested against little children and preying fingers they are. > > Just how many children do you know with preying fingers ? > >> Did Micro$oft test them to the nth degree like they did with Vista? >> :-) > > Likely better than your proof reading. 6 moths ago I couldn't speel Injuneer, now I is one! :-) Cheers Don... -- Don McKenzie Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email Web Camera Page: http://www.dontronics.com/webcam No More Damn Spam: http://www.dontronics.com/spam These products will reduce in price by 5% every month: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/minus-5-every-month.html
From: Andrew Smallshaw on 3 Jul 2010 17:22 On 2010-07-02, larwe <zwsdotcom(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Exactly... we use the same general 3D shape to provide battery reverse > polarity protection all the time, it's silly we never thought to do > this. So obvious once you see it! No I can see why people never thought to do it - it depends on the batteries themselves having the proprietrary ends. If you were sat there considering a housign for a particular battery this would not occur to you since it is not applicable. I suspect this is actually going to incovenience people in the long run. Instead of spending a few seconds getting the batteries the right way round they are goign to have to stock twice as many batteries - existing types and the ones with the new terminals. Most consumers have got it into their heads that the flat end of the battery goes to the spring so it is not that big a deal. That leads me to a final observation - just how much play is permissable with those contacts? A sprung contact permits fairly wide tolerances in battery housings and still make a good connection. Less than perfect mouldings (or simply the battery not being full inserted) look like they could cause non-contact or worse, short the battery. -- Andrew Smallshaw andrews(a)sdf.lonestar.org
From: SG1 on 3 Jul 2010 17:22 "Don McKenzie" <5V(a)2.5A> wrote in message news:897ce6Fje0U1(a)mid.individual.net... > Tim Wescott wrote: >> On 07/02/2010 02:55 PM, Don McKenzie wrote: >>> New Microsoft Tech Makes Battery Changes a Breeze >>> >>> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365995,00.asp >>> >>> On Thursday, Microsoft announced a technology called InstaLoad, which >>> will allow you to insert a battery into electronic devices any way you >>> please. >>> >>> The InstaLoad technology will be licensed on a royalty-free basis, >>> Microsoft said. Duracell was named as a partner for the technology, as >>> well as several manaufacturers of electronic devices, including >>> ClearSound's hearing aids, NovaTac's LED flashlights, and Black >>> Diamond's headlamps for mountaineering. >> >> It doesn't quite meet the "not obvious" criteria -- it makes you wonder >> why Microsoft is even bothering with a patent. > > Just wonder how tested against little children and preying fingers they > are. > > Did Micro$oft test them to the nth degree like they did with Vista? :-) > > Cheers Don... Don it was tested as well as ME, only I think if you apply that to a human. I am in worse shape. > > > > > > > -- > Don McKenzie > > Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap > E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email > Web Camera Page: http://www.dontronics.com/webcam > No More Damn Spam: http://www.dontronics.com/spam > > These products will reduce in price by 5% every month: > http://www.dontronics-shop.com/minus-5-every-month.html
From: Joe Pfeiffer on 3 Jul 2010 17:45
Andrew Smallshaw <andrews(a)sdf.lonestar.org> writes: > On 2010-07-02, larwe <zwsdotcom(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Exactly... we use the same general 3D shape to provide battery reverse >> polarity protection all the time, it's silly we never thought to do >> this. So obvious once you see it! > > No I can see why people never thought to do it - it depends on the > batteries themselves having the proprietrary ends. If you were > sat there considering a housign for a particular battery this would > not occur to you since it is not applicable. From a brief read, this doesn't look like proprietary ends. It seems to just depend on the standard geometry of normal cylindrical batteries. -- As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously. (Benjamin Franklin) |