About this replacement
Palm M550 / Tungsten Series — 3.7V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (IA1TA16A0)
This 3.7V, 1100mAh Li-Polymer cell replaces the original battery in the Palm M550 Pocket PC and the Tungsten T1, T2, and T3 handhelds. It matches the OEM voltage and physical dimensions (51.06 × 33.02 × 5.32mm) required for proper fitment and connector engagement. Use it to restore a PDA that no longer holds charge or powers on reliably.
- Multi-model fit — M550 and Tungsten platform: These models share a common battery footprint, voltage rail, and connector pinout. The M550 and Tungsten T1 through T3 all draw from the same 3.7V Li-Polymer architecture, so one cell covers the full group without modification.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this cell through charge and discharge on a Palm Tungsten T3 unit. The BMS held charge acceptance cleanly from 3.0V upward and terminated correctly at full capacity without thermal event or cutoff trip.
- Sync before you swap: The M550 and Tungsten handhelds keep open files, unsaved notes, and application state in volatile SRAM. That memory is powered entirely by the main battery. Remove the cell before syncing and that data is gone. Do a full HotSync to your host computer first, then swap the battery.
Why the Tungsten T3 won't complete a boot after a battery swap
The Tungsten T3 boot sequence draws a surge of current to initialise the processor and load the OS from flash into SRAM. A freshly installed cell shipped at storage charge — typically 30–50% — can sag below the minimum voltage threshold that triggers this load. The device stalls mid-boot or shows nothing on screen. This is not a faulty battery. Charge the cell fully before attempting first boot, and the sequence completes normally.
Wireless sync dropping or stalling on the M550 after battery replacement
The M550's IR and Bluetooth radio modules are voltage-sensitive and pull harder than standby loads. If the replacement cell is not fully charged, voltage under radio load can sag enough to cause the sync to stall, drop, or throw a connection error. This gets misread as a software or cradle problem. Charge the battery to full — confirmed by the charge LED extinguishing — then retry the HotSync before troubleshooting the connection further.