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[holly]

I know lots of folks here think Pleos and small children don't mix, but my 5-year-old loves the Pleo we "adopted" from Craigslist in December 08, and has been nothing but gentle with it. His little cousins love it , too, so when I saw a used Pleo on eBay recently I couldn't resist getting it ($71!!!!).
My question is, I'm not giving it to my niece and nephew until Christmas. Should I do anything special between now and then to maintain the battery? Keep it outside Pleo? Charge it periodically?

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Get it out once a month and use it in your pleo is probably the best option, but if it's been stored a long time already it may require a couple of charges and discharges to regain full use. Try it and see how it goes when you get it

[holly]

Thank you!

[holly]

I charged the new Pleo's battery, but he is sluggish, animated for a few seconds and then "frozen" and just making the initial "huh?" wakeup noise. Hopefully discharging/charging will get him back in shape. My son's Pleo is in the same basic state after a month or so of not playing with him. He falls asleep after a few minutes. Maybe time to invest in new batteries? They were awfully cute for the few seconds they were both awake, saying "hello!" (I think!) to each other and singing.

[fancyfont]

Hi Holly, It is great to have back-up batteries. I'm finding that when you use the batteries they work so much better then when they sit for long periods of time. Play with your dinos whenever you get a chance.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Holly just keep charging and discharging the battery as best you can, if the battery itself is fine and there is no damage you should notice some improvement over time

[holly]

Thank you again! Sorry if this is a dense question, but by discharging, do you mean, turn Pleo on and just let it go until the battery is totally dead? The situation I'm in now is that he will go for a minute, fall asleep and then stop. But if I turn him off and then on again, he does the same thing. Should I keep turning him on and off until he won't come on again, or just do it once, let him sit for an hour or so and then charge the battery again?
(I have a feeling that once I get the batteries back in shape, I will not be able to resist playing with both of them before Christmas! I might have to make a little shirt for the new one so his skin won't be worn out when I give him to my niece and nephew!)

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Yup, discharging means wear the battery out as best you can, turn him off and on for a while, I don't suggest doing it for an hour unless you want to damage your wrist But a good fifteen minutes or so would be good. Also when you charge the battery keep an eye on it, if it charges for less than 3 hours before turning green switch it off and back on and keep doing that until its had a good three hours or the light goes green instantly. Two of my three batteries require this treatment now, and one occassionally seems to not charge properly and causes the dino to do exactly what your dino is doing.