StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I got my TI-89 Titanium about a year ago. It saw limited use last year as I was too novice to use it. This semester however it had been seeing very heavy daily use. Frequently the calculator has been pressed to do complex integrals or do curves which often takes many seconds to compute. Given that the calculator is running on same set of batteries it came with from the shop it leaves me worried. I have seen no indication yet that the batteries are weakening but I have a dreadful feeling they might suddenly go kaput in middle of a midterm exam. I know it is very unlikely but I would still like some opinions by experienced users here on how long their TI batteries lasted to comfort my paranoid mind.

I used a simpler TI-83 almost daily for six years and only needed to swap the batteries once. Granted, that was mostly simple calculations; I suspect a more sophisticated model like the 89 won't last as long.

Can't you just bring spare batteries? It takes AA's, right?

Here's a PDF that also talks about the Ti-89 battery issue, hope it's helpful.

I haven't used the Ti-89 but I've used several other models and generally the display starts to dim hours before the batteries die, so try to keep an eye out for that.

With my Ti-83 it threw up a warning that batteries were low and I should change them soon, data loss may occur blah blah, but it was good for the rest of class (and I think a couple of days after that since I kept forgetting to change them when I got home). Unless something's different on the 89, it shouldn't just die in the middle of doing something, and I would imagine that it would have enough battery power left to make it through an exam.


If you're really worried about it dying in the middle of an exam, though, just change the batteries before the exam. Problem solved.