One can only surmise that the only reason to incorporate all the ports into the pack are to charge more for replacement. Rant off.
Yes, I agree
I did find these people and I am about to send them one http://www.batteryrevival.com/trimble.html
please post as to how this goes with the battery re-cell.
My own line of thinking, as I was just looking at it trying to figure out how to take it apart. It is not really designed for that either. I wanted to do my own re-cell, but, the design makes it hard. Finding someone that does it for what I think is reasonable, made me post it
Consider the value of easily replaced comms connectors -
We old geezers remember the days of the Trimble TSC1 data collector - that was before Bluetooth so the data collectors were always connected to cables in the field.
Problems with the 7-pin Size 0 port receptacles were all too common, either from bent/jammed pins (those pins were only 0.5 mm diameter) or wear that reached the point where the receptacles would no longer hold the plugs and the cables would disconnect/fall out all by themselves.
The only Trimble-approved repair required replacement of the entire flex-board assembly, and depending on the parts price at the time that repair could cost well over $2,000. Seems like quite a bit to replace a receptacle.
Also, the data collector had to go to the shop, so add in the downtime and general hassle that comes with being without the equipment for however long it took for shipping and repair. Even if the dealer provided a rental or loaner unit, there was still be a certain amount of disruption.
With the appropriate desoldering and soldering equipment it was possible to replace just the receptacle, which reduced the cost of repair quite a bit. But the job still required complete disassembly of the TSC1 and much handling of the rather fragile flex-board assembly. As with open-heart surgery, there was always a real chance of losing the "patient" on the operating table. I guess I was lucky and never lost one during the procedure, but it was always an anxious moment waiting to see if the TSC1 would boot up again after reassembly.
The communications components in the TSC2's PowerBoot battery assembly cost nickels or dimes to produce and add to the package, but if those same components were built into the main data collector they would cost hundreds of dollars to repair.
Hope this helps.
GB
(This is almost a verbatim repeat of my 14 December 2011 response to a similar complaint.)
