My Calculator Collection - preparing them for sale

[Steve Simpkin]

I would think that NiCads that had been sitting around for 20+ year have most likely all gone bad. Never use the AC charger with any Woodstock or Spice models. Even with known good batteries the risk of damage is too great. All it takes is a momentary poor connection to damage the machine (especially Woodstock models). Use new flat top rechargeable batteries and charge them with an external charger.

While you can generally run the Classics on their AC chargers without batteries installed, you can't use the card readers or printers on models that have them without good batteries installed. The owner handbooks for the HP-65 and HP-67 say to always have (good) batteries installed when using the charger.

On the Pioneer and Charlemagne models, if they don't power up with new batteries try pressing on the bezel between the LCD and top row of keys while turning it on. Do the same if some of the keys don't work. The foam pressing the flat keyboard flex cable to the main PCB can harden over time causing keyboard issues. There are also other methods of troubleshooting Pioneer models that will not turn on.