BL-5C Nokia battery information NA, why?

[Laszlo KREKACS]

Hi!

Maybe the wiki is a bit disambiguous, but none of the replacement battery works
in freerunner.

That said, the battery in freerunner has a "Coulomb counter", which is
required by the freerunner.
All the other battery does not contain a coulumb counter (nokia bl-5c,
6c, etc),
therefore freerunner CAN NOT charge it. And CANT display the remaining
capacity.

The only way to use this batteries atm, is you charge the battery
EXTERNALLY (via an another nokia phone or external charger), then you
put into the freerunner and use it.
However you will not have any indication about the remaining capacity.

If I understand correctly this is only a SOFTWARE LIMITATION.
That said, if somebody write a correct driver it can be charged this
type of batteries too. The problem with it, is the exact specification of
the battery is not available, and if you charge incorrectly it can even
explode.

So writing a correct driver requires many trial-and-error, and the possibility
to destroy the battery and the freerunner too.
Because you need to estimate how much you already charged the battery
(the coulomb counter says exactly how many charges it took), and the
remaining battery indicator would be just an approximation.
(like the 3-4 bar on the mobile phone)

It is just a speculation, but imho writing this driver is not as
difficult as it seems
at the first look. If somebody spy how the nokia phone charges its
battery, we could replicate the
process. We should simply monitor the voltage and the current of the battery.
Needs some simple circuit(couple of wires and a soldering iron, and
proper multimeter).
And based on this knowledge, somebody could create a driver.
It is not impossible after all.

However should take some precaution, because it can explode/or getting
overheated,
but not impossible.

And there are some economic sense. The nokia battery costs 6EUR here, while the
freerunner's costs 25EUR plus postal service (30EUR).

I simply took back to the shop where I bought my battery. I buyed a
car charger instead.;)

Correct me if Im wrong.

Best regards,
 Laszlo