I know this to be true. Also, as an aside, I've done a lot of harm to
equipment over the years by trying too hard to be careful. For instance,
I'd remove and replace batteries very slowly and gingerly, as if I were
trying not to awaken a baby. Not good. Be gentle, sure, but get the job
over with with dispatch. Taking an exaggerated amount of time prolongs the
process and puts lots more strain on the contacts. Maybe none of the rest
of you have ever been guilty of this ultra-easy-does-it approach, but if you
have, I can't encourage you strongly enough to just bite the bullet and get
the thing done. I've dealt consistently through the years with skittish
animals like cats and ferrets which object to brisk, no-nonsense treatment,
so I expect my initial approach to electronics parallels this. If you
undertake battery changes in this manner, by all means reconsider your game
plan. I did, and the results have been much more positive in consequence.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Walt Smith" <walt@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 4:01 PM
Subject: [bookport] Re: batteries
The contacts are _not_ "fragile." I've done dozens and dozens of battery
changes in my BP and have had absolutely no problems and the contacts are as
good as new. There has been discussion in the past about possibly changing
the current flat metal contacts to spring-loaded ones, but any battery
contact can be damaged by improper or rough battery insertion.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Thurston" <thurston@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 4:47 PM
Subject: [bookport] batteries
Hello,
I have found the discussion about the battery contacts to be very disturbing.
I am in a retirement center and bought the bookport so to have a compact
device which is easy to operate. Up to this point, I have been very happy
with the bookport but am very disturbed to learn of the fragility of the
battery contacts.
It is too bad that an adapter could not have been provided which could
turn off the battery connection and let the adapter power the unit where
and when possible.
I have heard all the arguments against the use of adapters from several list members, but some of us have special needs and it seems like some accomidations could be made to help more sedintary users as well as those like me with arthritic fingers. Changing batteries could easily damage the contacts and require a long turn around time for the user as well as an expensive repair.
I know that there is nothing that can be done for my existing unit other than to be as careful as I can in changing batteries until a more user accessible unit can be developed.
I therefore respectfully request the APH development team to take such needs into account when designing the next model of the bookport.
Many thanks,
Ed,
