PAGE 7 OF 9
NOVEMBER 2001
IM-261101-CWC-R0
Maintenance and General Care
The CardTool is not waterproof. Do not expose to rain or moisture
Do not drop the CardTool or subject it to strong impact.
Protect it from temperature extremes. Do not leave on the dashboard of a car on a hot day
and keep it away from heaters and other heat sources.
Do not store or use your CardTool in any location that is extremely dusty, damp or wet.
Ensure the magnetic heads are occasionally cleaned with commercially available magnetic
cleaning cards.
Clean exterior of case with a dry lint free cloth and do not use abrasive cleaning products.
Battery Life
The CardTool does not have its own battery but instead uses the main batteries of the Handspring
Visor. When the CardTool is installed in the Handspring Visor, it will draw current from the main
batteries and thus reduce the life of these batteries. This is true of all Springboard modules that do
not have their own internal batteries. Every effort has been made to reduce the power consumption
of the CardTool and this section should help users understand how the CardTool will change the
normal life expectancy of the Handspring Visor’s main batteries.
The CardTool has three power states. The most common state is a sleep state that the CardTool
enters whenever the CardTool application (e.g. CardDemo) is not active on the screen. In this mode,
the CardTool consumes approximately 0.25mA of current. This happens whenever a non-CardTool
application is running or the Handspring Visor is not powered-on. The next most common state is the
idle power state that occurs whenever the CardTool application is running (active on the LCD), but no
card is being swiped through the unit. In this mode, the unit consumes approximately 3mA of current.
The least common state is when a card is being swiped through the unit. During this brief period, the
power consumption is approximately 15mA.
To conserve batteries, it is suggested that:
When not planning to read a card, either power off the Handspring Visor or select another
application such as the address book, memo pad, etc. This will put the CardTool into its sleep
mode.
The Palm OS allows the buttons and certain icons in the graffiti area to be associated with any
installed application. This allows the device to be powered up and the CardTool launched by
just pushing one of the buttons on the face of the Visorup and the CardVisor launched instead
of powering up the Handspring Visor and then selecting the CardDemo icon from the main
screen in the event the Handspring Visor was not running the CardDemo when powered down
If not planning to use the Handspring Visor for an extended period of time, remove the
CardTool and/or the Handspring’s main batteries (if applicable). Informal testing has shown
that the normal 8 week alkaline battery life is shortened to approximately 3 weeks if this
suggestion is not applied.
