How to: Replace the battery on a Palm Vx
Well, it’s been nearly one year since the last posting. In order to keep this website updated, current, and competitive against the other DIY websites providing esoteric and useless information, the time has come once more to hit the writing board.
Once upon a time, at the turn of the second millennium, anyone who’s anyone in the business world carried with them a contraption called a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). For the hoity-toity Executive, probability was high that they carried a Palm Vx – the flagship of the Palm PDA line-up. As is the nature of portable technology, its battery has a limited lifespan. In this posting, we will cover how one could go about replacing the battery of a Palm Vx in order to resurrect it of all its glory.
The following tools are highly recommended in the dis-assembly of the Palm Vx: A pair of heat-resistant gloves to protect the hands while handling the PDA ($3); A heat gun ($12); A new lithium-ion battery for the PDA ($6); Four clamps ($1); A lot of time on your hands (Priceless).
Firstly, use the heat gun and heat the outside perimeter of the PDA from the back side (the side without the LCD screen). Excessive direct heat could damage the plastic and LCD screen. Make sure you do not cook the front-face of the PDA.
The Palm Vx is held together with a bead of hot-melt adhesive along the outside edge of its form factor. When heat is applied, the adhesive will become viscous and workable; it is when it is in this gluey state that you would insert a sharp, flat metal object to pry the two halves of the magnesium casing apart.
A Close-up shot of the hot-melt adhesive location.
Remove the harness attached to the receiving port on the board and gingerly pull out the battery.
Replace the old battery with the new, and throw a tad bit of tack/two-sided tape on the battery to keep it from flopping around.
Place the back cover back onto the device and clamp down with beefy paper clips; but pad with a gasket to keep the metal surface from scratching against one another. I applied more heat upon replacement to reactivate the head-sensitive glue.
Voila! An ancient Palm Vx brought back to life.
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