Archos Recorder - Battery empty - too early? (SOLVED)

[chris]

My recorder shuts down way too early. Even after loading the hole night it runs only about 1h+
Battery management says >50% at this time. Battery capacity is set correctly to 2600mAh.

I observe this since some weeks (and daily builds) now.

Anyone else with a similar problem?

[GodEater]

Which build ? What are you using the player to do ?

Have you tried going back to a build earlier than when you first observed this to confirm it's definitely a problem in software, and not simply that your battery is no longer well ?

[chris]

Topic has been moved from Archos. So it's a Jukebox Recorder 20 with a 60G Fujitsu (?) HD.
Happens since some weeks with different builds. Last update was yesterday evening (flashed).
The device played MP3's this morning for about one hour something then shuts down. Saying battery is empty. After turning on again I entered the debug menu and saw the battery level rising from 20% up to 82% within half a minute. Not playing at this time.

Maybe one or more battery cells are damaged (check this later) or even worse the player?

Christian

[Llorean]

When we ask "which build" we mean "please check the revision number." This is a lot more useful than just giving us a vague time.

If you can try the older build you had before and compare battery life it would be helpful, but it sorta sounds like a battery/hardware problem.

[pixelma]

Battery capacity is set correctly to 2600mAh.

I read from this that you use those high capacity cells? Those are prone to develop very high self-discharge after a quite short time and (in my experience) also fail relatively early.

Did you try with an old build as suggested? Or did you try charging the batteries in an external charger (ideally one that can also give info about battery "health") or tried them in a different device, maybe a camera)?

[chris]

When we ask "which build" we mean "please check the revision number." This is a lot more useful than just giving us a vague time.

That why I write that it happens with different builds - Past and present. Now I use r17989M-080708 Juli 9 2008

If you can try the older build you had before and compare battery life it would be helpful, but it sorta sounds like a battery/hardware problem.

I don't have the old builds anymore.

Quote from: chris on July 08, 2008, 03:03:46 pm
Battery capacity is set correctly to 2600mAh.

I read from this that you use those high capacity cells? Those are prone to develop very high self-discharge after a quite short time and (in my experience) also fail relatively early.

Hm, could be the reason. I don't know exactly how old they are.

Did you try with an old build as suggested?

See above.

Or did you try charging the batteries in an external charger (ideally one that can also give info about battery "health") or tried them in a different device, maybe a camera)?

Not jet. I'm not happy changeing them. You know the Archos mechanics? ;-)

Christian

[cool_walking_]

I don't have the old builds anymore.

You can download some old builds here - click the "old" link under your player.

[chris]

Now I have changed the batteries to newer one's with only 1600mAh capacity. They work fine for more than 5 hours now and Info says still 3+ hours left.
Seems that pixelma is right saying hi-cap cells tend to die relatively early :-(

I think the internal resistance of the cells is increased due to my obsrevation that the voltage is droping fast when HD is active and rising quickly to almost full when the HD stops.

It looks that I have to invest in new cells - no SW issue.

Case closed :-)

Thank you for your support.
Christian

[pixelma]

It looks that I have to invest in new cells - no SW issue.

Maybe you could look into the "new generation" cells (see wikipedia entry). They don't have such a very high capacity but still good enough and don't suffer from this high self-discharge which is why they are sold pre-charged. The only reason why I didn't want to recommend these is that I have no personal experience with them yet and just know of one person using this kind of cells successfully in an Archos Recorder and different people who use them in their camera.