Batteries And Power Requirements - Alphasmart 3000 User Manual

Batteries and Power Requirements

The AlphaSmart 3000 runs on three AA batteries of the same type
(alkaline, carbon, or rechargeable). The longest battery life will be
achieved with alkaline batteries. Good quality AA alkaline batteries will
power the AlphaSmart 3000 for 700+ hours. (When the AlphaSmart
3000 is turned off, no power from the batteries is used.)
One of the ways the AlphaSmart 3000 obtains such good battery life is
by entering a low power sleep mode that uses much less power when
nothing is being typed. When something is typed, the AlphaSmart 3000
wakes up, displays and saves the character, and then goes back to
sleep—all transparent to the user. If a user is a slow typist or pauses
while composing text, that user will get much longer battery life than a
user who types 120 WPM all the time. A very slow typist can get over
700 hours of use. The fastest typist with constant use will see 350 hours
or more of use. A "typical" user typing at 20 wpm constantly with no
breaks will get about 700 hours of use. (The battery life hours
mentioned above were measured using high quality alkaline batteries,
such as Duracell or Panasonic.)
Warning: If several AlphaSmart 3000s are stacked on top of each
other and if the one on top is offset by 1 inch to the front and 1/2
inch to the right, the rubber foot of the one on top may depress the
on/off key of the AlphaSmart 3000 on the bottom. Constant
depression of the on/off key by the rubber foot of the unit on top
will cause a small but constant battery power drain, even though
nothing is displayed on the screen. Solution: Stack your
AlphaSmart 3000s on edge or make sure they are stacked verti-
cally and not offset.
Note: When replacing batteries, all three batteries must be changed. If
one discharged AA battery is used with two new batteries, the user will
see a marked reduction in the battery life—4-5 hours will be common—
even though two out of the three are new batteries.
12 Hardware Installation and Maintenance