DELL Axim X50 & X50v Type-C Upgraded Battery MOD

This is a simple hardware MOD for Dell axim X50 and X50v, the advantages are the extended battery life, 220% of the original, and the addition of charging with type-C connector to the device.

I hate proprietary connectors and small batteries lol.

These two models (50/50v) share the same battery compartment and the same battery, the cost of this mod is sacrificing an original battery, if you have one that is no longer good you can safely use it, we are only interested in its BMS and not the cell, preserving the BMS is important because it guarantees compatibility with the device, without the new battery it would not be recognized.

the mod is reversible and allows it to be removed and reinstalled an original battery with original battery converter again without problems.

These features bring more versatility to this old-fashioned but incredible device, with a battery that lasts for days and fast Type-C charging making it a great tool for taking notes on the fly, gaming, and retro computing on the go.

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Provided without any responsability or warranty by Simone Spezzigu

Please note that disassembling batteries and working with lithium are dangerous practices, I take no responsibility for any damage that may result from incorrect handling of batteries and wiring, this project is provided as is, and is proof that it can be done safely, do not do it if you are not sure of what you are doing, take care and respect for electronics, stay curious and have fun.

https://spezzigu.duckdns.org/

> design‑thinking --iterate

1. 1x old original battery
2. Any resin 3D printer
3. tough resin or "ABS like", standard resin may be good but untested
4. 2x 1200mAh Li-Po Battery (34x45x6mm or smaller are mandatory),
5. 1x type-C BMS charging circuit TP4056
6. 1x resin printed cover file provided
7. wires and a soldering station
8. double sided tape / UV glue

The first thing to do is to peel off the battery, you need to free it from the sticker that wraps it to be able to get to the BMS, you need to be careful not to puncture the battery and prevent fires, the process is quite simple and takes about 5-10 minutes to get to the BMS, detach the two battery terminals from the BMS right at the point where they attach to the BMS and no longer above there is a small plastic square that must be removed, just cut further down and leave it attached to the cell, this small square is a fuse that protects the old battery from overcurrent during charging, the battery is of an old technology with a charging current of just 200mAh, much lower than those with which we will charge the new battery pack through Type-C. At this point you can already tin the BMS terminals to facilitate the subsequent soldering of the cables

The wiring must all be done in parallel, basically you have to connect all the B+ together on one line and all the B- on another line, keep the cables short to save space in the case

The cover must be printed at 45 degrees, for optimal support and to preserve the aesthetics of the exterior, I designed it respecting the existing closing mechanism and making it optimized for printing, inside it has a snapfit attachment for the type C module

Set in place the two cells together, with double-sided tape, insert the charging circuit into the appropriate snapfit housing and fix it in place with UV glue

First of all make sure with a multimeter that the correct voltage of the cells comes out of the BMS contacts, between 3.4V and 4.2V, if you connected the battery backwards the voltage will be 0V it is likely that you have destroyed the BMS by doing so, if everything is ok let's proceed, this is a delicate moment because with some tests you must make sure that the BMS of the old battery is fixed to the new cells in the correct position so as to touch the gold contacts on the axim well, do not worry, it is difficult to reverse the direction of the BMS during assembly because the only way in which the BMS can touch the contacts on the device is with the correct positioning, fortunately. after a few tests and with the addition of thickness and rubber you will be able to obtain a perfect fitting, do not be discouraged you are almost there. Close the lid and secure it with the lock, if everything went well the axim will turn on

Obviously from OEM no external battery charging is planned, the axim simply does not perceive the charge, by charging the cell from the type C connector you will see that magically the charge percentage will increase, the MOD battery is fully charged when the charge light of its charging circuit is blue or green, it depends on the model, do not trust the charge percentage read by the axim is unstable during charging.

Charging from its main proprietary port is still possible, without problems, in that case the process is recognized and monitored correctly by the WM OS, charging from its original port will be very slow 10-15 hours, because it is limited to 150-200 mAh of current, while with the Type-C we can charge AXIM in about 2 hours and make its battery last for days