My calculator batteries are out.

  • Context: Calculators 
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    Batteries Calculator
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around issues related to graphing calculator batteries, including their lifespan, potential malfunctions, and personal experiences with calculators. Participants share anecdotes about battery life, failures, and the impact of these issues on their work and studies.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses concern about their calculator not turning on and worries about losing programs, suggesting a possible battery issue.
  • Another participant humorously claims that batteries are designed to stop working on a specific date, implying a lighthearted take on the situation.
  • Several participants share their experiences with battery life, noting that their TI-89 calculators typically last about six months with daily use.
  • One participant mentions that their calculators often malfunction, describing various issues such as random shutdowns and screen problems.
  • Another participant suggests that the rapid battery drain could be due to excessive gaming on the calculator, referencing specific games.
  • Some participants discuss alternative models of calculators that do not require batteries, although they note the lack of gaming capabilities in those models.
  • A participant recounts a frustrating experience of losing programs after a RAM clear, expressing a sense of loss over their work.
  • Another participant encourages the use of a USB cable for transferring programs, asking about the types of programs created.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the reasons for battery failure or the best practices for maintaining calculators. Multiple competing views and personal anecdotes remain present throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific models and their battery life, but there is no agreement on the reliability of calculators or the reasons behind their failures. The discussion includes anecdotal evidence and personal experiences that may not apply universally.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in graphing calculators, their maintenance, and personal experiences with technology in educational settings may find this discussion relevant.

Mk
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How long does your graphing calculator's batteries last? I think somebody might have switched mine. The calculator won't turn on. Does that mean my backup battery is out? I sure hope I didn't lose all the programs I programmed. That would suck. Well, more than suck. :cry: HOW CAN THERE BE A GOD?!
 
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Didn't anyone tell you? All batteries are designed to stop working on March 9. It's like a little battery holiday to help them recover from their stressful lives. They'll get back to work tomorrow.

- Warren
 
Awww man! You could have told me that before I replaced my mouse batteries. :biggrin:
 
Well, it turned on for about 10 seconds, I checked my memory and everything is still there. I better go get new batteries. I can't believe somebody stole my batteries when I wasn't looking yesterday. It was probably Kevin...

Overnight, it went from full'a juice to no juice.

This morning I bought that Cranapple juice, by OceanSpray. Its good! I like it!
 
hahaha, cranapple juice is super yummy.

i don't think my calc batteries have ever died. right now i don't have a calc though at all. for some reason, graphing calculators spontaneous combust around me... well, not really, but they may as well, i can't keep one for more than a few months before something goes wrong with it. i have one that turns on, and then goes off randomly, and never comes on again. another that goes on, works for a few problems, then starts speaking jibberish and the screen flashes. I've had others that randomly go black. some that get the dumb lines going across the screen. guh..
 
The batteries for my TI-89 last about 6 months and I use it every day. Yep, yours dying overnight would require serious gaming of some sort. Hours straight. Maybe even the entire day playing games like Phoenix that you downloaded from ticalc.org. Mk, you bad kid... playing Phoenix and Space Dimensia during your lectures.

That reminds me of all those annoying kids in my high school who used to ask me if I had any games for my calculator. Of course, these were the kids who used their $150 calculators for the sole purpose of playing Tetris during math class as opposed to actually doing math! Sorry if I seem to have some hostility, but that did get very annoying! I hope you weren't one of those people, Mk...!
 
Maybe you put them in backwards?
 
The batteries for my TI-89 last about 6 months and I use it every day. Yep, yours dying overnight would require serious gaming of some sort. Hours straight. Maybe even the entire day playing games like Phoenix that you downloaded from ticalc.org. Mk, you bad kid... playing Phoenix and Space Dimensia during your lectures.
Naw, I don't have any games :( Well, I have puzzpack that came included but I never play it. I think somebody yesterday, when I wasn't looking, switched out their batteries for new ones. I'm sure of it.

Space Dimensia? Somebody forget about space? :-p

That reminds me of all those annoying kids in my high school who used to ask me if I had any games for my calculator. Of course, these were the kids who used their $150 calculators for the sole purpose of playing Tetris during math class as opposed to actually doing math! Sorry if I seem to have some hostility, but that did get very annoying! I hope you weren't one of those people, Mk...!
I feel your pain.
 
Mk said:
How long does your graphing calculator's batteries last? I think somebody might have switched mine. The calculator won't turn on. Does that mean my backup battery is out? I sure hope I didn't lose all the programs I programmed. That would suck. Well, more than suck. :cry: HOW CAN THERE BE A GOD?!
You should buy a Post 1460 Versalog or a Pickett N4-ES Vector Hyperbolic Dual Base Speed Rule or a Faber Castell 83/N Novo Duplex. The batteries never die on any of those models. (Of course, the down side is that none of the three have any games you can play)
 
  • #10
Gale said:
i don't think my calc batteries have ever died. right now i don't have a calc though at all. for some reason, graphing calculators spontaneous combust around me... well, not really, but they may as well, i can't keep one for more than a few months before something goes wrong with it. i have one that turns on, and then goes off randomly, and never comes on again. another that goes on, works for a few problems, then starts speaking jibberish and the screen flashes. I've had others that randomly go black. some that get the dumb lines going across the screen. guh..
Yeah, my calculator batteries never died either, the calculators just stopped turning on for some unknown reason. :rolleyes:
 
  • #11
Ti-83 lasts about three semesters

Ti-89 lasts about one full semester
 
  • #12
BobG said:
You should buy a Post 1460 Versalog or a Pickett N4-ES Vector Hyperbolic Dual Base Speed Rule or a Faber Castell 83/N Novo Duplex. The batteries never die on any of those models. (Of course, the down side is that none of the three have any games you can play)
:smile: :smile: Lol, you and your slide rules.. Are those the real names?

Star Wars:
Hans Solo: Pickett N4-ES Vector Hyperbolic Dual Base Speed warp drive online.
Chewbacca: RRrrrrrraaaaaa!
 
Last edited:
  • #13
Mk said:
Space Dimensia? Somebody forget about space? :-p
Let's try "Space Dementia" :smile:
 
  • #14
moose said:
Ti-83 lasts about three semesters

Ti-89 lasts about one full semester
I like the 89 so much more that I gladly run through batteries faster. Pretty print is quite a feature.
 
  • #15
I should mod my calc to have an iPod shuffle integrated. :biggrin: That would be SOOOOO awesome!
 
  • #16
Nooooooooooooo My Calculator!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO It must have been fate, it was meant to happen. I put new batteries in, and everything worked.

But my friend crashed it today or something :frown: Never happened before. He said he pushed trace, and he gave it to me to fix it. :frown: It was stuck. So, I took one battery out and turned it back on.

TI RAM CLEARED

I checked my programs and sure enough, all my programs but the archived area-under-a-curve, and molarity programs were all gone. All my hand-written programs, hours of typing onto the damn calculator on the little tiny keyboard (I am waiting for my usb cord), all gone!

Well... I am reminded of If, Rudyard Kipling.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
...
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Well I was just fine :/ I still am, but I lost all my work.
 
  • #17
That's a shame! You should definitely get a USB cable. What types of programs have you made?
 

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