Battery Drains When The Player is Not On?!?!

[covertrussian]

So I left the player off in my car over night once, the next day the battery was almost dead! I figured it was fairly cold outside, thats why...

Yesterday I left it overnight again, it was in a parking garage with temps in the 60's inside the garage. I turn on the player and it is showing no bars and is almost dead!

Whats going on here!?!

[CrowdAds]

[digitalq]

Hate to say it, but it sounds like your battery is going bad. I happens from time to time with Li-Ion batteries, and I would imagine Li-Poly too. I'm pretty sure that the Pilot has very near, if not completely zero power drain when it is powered down.
All batteries exhibit some small amount of storage drain, most notably Ni-Mh batteries, which can lose as much as 1 to 2% of total charge per day. But Li-Ion has very little. I'd look into warranty resolution, if possible, or start looking for a replacement battery.

[covertrussian]

Darn it

I got it New-Used off eBay... It was brand new, just the box has been opened.

Well I might find an As-Is pilot and play around with it

[SmopuiM]

I hate to say this too, but that happened because you used a RAZR charger to charge your player.

I noticed a less battery life if i use my moto charger, so i stoped using it.

Saludos.

[digitalq]

That sounds suspicious to me and is probably coincidental. Since there are different types of Razrs, different types of chargers and different types of computers out there, you are adrift in a sea of possibilities if you are going to evaluate the quality of the charge from dozens of different devices with nearly the same specifications. (~5v at ~500ma) Besides we aren't talking about battery life in this instance. This is an issue of drastically reduced shelf life (player OFF, no standby mode that we know of)

Mind you, I am not saying you are lying or even wrong for your situation. The Razor chargers offer 550ma of current and would provide a somewhat faster and less complete charge than the average laptop (anywhere from 300 to 500ma, despite the USB spec) I'm just pointing out how drastically different your situation is.

[SmopuiM]

Hello.

But what could happened if i did not stoped using that charger?, maybe this.

Saludos.

[digitalq]

Whatever accessories you use are entirely up to you. After 18 months to two years of regular use, all Li Ion batteries will experience a reduction in capacity, often significant enough to warrant replacement. Due to safety restrictions on Li Ion technology, it is more likely that the number of cycles will be the deciding factor than anything else. The battery is fed by the charging circuit in the player, and the power source (charger) can only affect it's charge rate in a minor way. Similarly, charge rate is going to have little effect on the overall usable life of the battery.

The techniques I've seen repeated by several sources for the best care of a Lithium Ion battery are to keep it out of temperature extremes, as in, not leaving on the dashboard of your car in the summer, keeping the player in a pocket when outdoors in the cold, and so forth. When it's convenient to charge the battery, go ahead and charge it. If it's down one bar and you aren't going to use it, or you are near a power source, go ahead and charge the player. Deeply discharging a Li Ion battery is NOT beneficial and ensures the loss of one or more of the finite number of charge cycles in the useful life of the battery. I'm not saying it's damaging, just that you experience a longer overall life if you keep the battery around 70% charged or better. Sometimes you need to use it up all the way and that's fine, it just works out better if you don't do it every time.

The only way I can think of that a power supply could negatively affect the overall battery life is if it were substantially over or under voltage, like 3 or less volts or 7 or more volts. This would mean it would also damage your RAZR phone too, since it's charging circuit is designed around the same specs as the Pilot's. Current isn't really an issue, since if available current is too low, the charge cycle won't even start and it cannot be too high since it is "drawn" by the device and the device will only take the current it needs. (Voltage is the "push" of a power supply, and current is the "pull" of a device or circuit)

I just thought of something that covertrussian can try (are you still reading this far?) If you charge the Pilot up and then remove the battery, see if it self discharges over time. This could be a problem with power/charging circuits in the Pilot itself and not a battery issue at all.

L8r

[dhartsoc]

digitalq,

I think your information on li-ion batteries is spot-on based on my own understanding. There is a lot of contradictory information on batteries that can be difficult to sort through. Li-ion have a self-discharge rate of several percent per day as far as I can remember. This doesn't explain the complaint in this thread, which is almost certainly a bad battery.

I have not bought a charger yet. Is there a consensus on the best choice for a charger? I know the RAZR chargers are mentioned most often. Does Belkin make a charger kit for AC and car that will work with the Pilot?

Dana

[covertrussian]

I've noticed when I use any chargers, it would say it has completed charging, I then unplug then replug and it keep on charging for about 5 more min.

Now I've been using the player for a week now, and it's still at full battery, I think the cold makes the battery drain!

[SmopuiM]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

I've noticed when I use any chargers, it would say it has completed charging, I then unplug then replug and it keep on charging for about 5 more min.

Now I've been using the player for a week now, and it's still at full battery, I think the cold makes the battery drain!

Yes, low temperatures kills all batteries, such laptops cellphones ETC.

Now i have an issue, my pilot doesnt charge no matter if its pluged into the USB 10 hours, it gets warm as hell (if its with the battery facing the desktop, cooling issue?), since i live in mexico, can someone tell me if i i get my pilot replaced the same day at the bestbuy?, or i need to drop the pmp there for a week or two?, or if i get a money return (In the ticket says 30 days after the purchase, i have passed that date )

Thanks


Saludos.

[digitalq]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

I've noticed when I use any chargers, it would say it has completed charging, I then unplug then replug and it keep on charging for about 5 more min.

Now I've been using the player for a week now, and it's still at full battery, I think the cold makes the battery drain!

Certainly the charging circuit needs a few minutes to realize the battery is fully charged. There is a necessary delay on the feedback of the charging circuit so when the battery is fully charged we don't start charging again every second and possibly damage the battery.

So it would seem that the cold is what affected your battery life? If so, then good news. Or perhaps it was a glitch or a bad file?

Anyway, good luck with your player!

[covertrussian]

It looks like cold weather! hahaha

I've been using it and keeping it in the house and it would last me a week.