RetroTechCollection

Psion Revo Plus General Maintenance

Preventive maintenance for the Psion Revo Plus (and the Diamond Mako).

A Revo beside an Ericsson MC218. The Revo Plus is externally identical to the Revo; the differences are 16 MB of RAM, a larger battery, and a battery that stays plugged in.

The Revo Plus is a Revo, so the whole of Psion Revo General Maintenance applies — the charging rules, the case microswitch, the backup routes, the screen and the case. This page records the differences.

What is different

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Revo → Revo Plus[1]
Change Maintenance consequence
16 MB RAM instead of 8 MB More headroom, no maintenance implication
Larger battery Longer charge time. If you replace the cells with the stock capacity for a Plus rather than a Revo, work the recalibration charge out accordingly
Loose-battery problem fixed You do not need to glue the connector on a Plus. On an original Revo that is a standing recommendation; here it is not

That third row is the practically useful one. On an original Revo, an intermittent death or a refusal to charge is very often the battery connector working loose — a failure mode Psion corrected on the Plus.[1] So on a Plus, that symptom points at the cells or the charging circuit rather than at the connector, and you should not waste time chasing a mechanical fault the machine does not have.

The charging rules still apply

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Unchanged from the Revo, and worth repeating because they are unusual:[1]

  • Do not put the machine on charge when the battery is already above about 80 %. The charge termination senses a thermal change around that level; missing it can and does lead to overcharging. This caution applies to both Revo models.
  • NiMH cells only.
  • The red charging light turns off at around 84 %, not 100 %.
  • After a cell replacement and hard reset, charge uninterrupted from 0 % to 100 % so the hardware recalibrates, preferably with the machine off, ignoring the meter during that charge.

Batteries

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Still two internal NiMH AAA cells soldered to a connector and sealed under the nameplate — larger capacity than the Revo's, but no more user-replaceable.[1]

The replacement procedure is identical and is on Psion Revo Battery Replacement, which covers the Revo, the Revo Plus and the Diamond Mako together.[2]

One thing does not change: the rear case microswitch that wakes and sleeps the machine is just as easily broken when refitting the battery bay.[2]

Diamond Mako

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The Diamond Mako is a Revo Plus rebadged by SONICblue for the United States and Canada.[1] Everything on this page applies to it.

Capacitors

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Not a recap candidate. Same reasoning as the Revo.

Preventive maintenance checklist

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  1. Back up through the dock or IrDA.
  2. Let the battery run down before charging, and let the charge complete.
  3. Do not leave it on charge above 80 %.
  4. If the runtime has collapsed, plan a cell replacement — remembering the Plus's larger stock capacity when calculating the recalibration charge.
  5. Check the rear case microswitch still wakes and sleeps the machine.
  6. Clean the IrDA window, the serial connector and the dock contacts.
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Psion Revo", Wikipedia. Source for the Revo Plus's RAM and battery differences, the fix for the loose-battery problem, the Diamond Mako rebadge, and the charging behaviour shared by both models.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 David Savery, "Psion Revo/Diamond Mako Disassembly & Battery Replacement", R3UK, 2004. Source for the disassembly and battery replacement procedure covering all three machines, and the case microswitch caution.


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