Ondio Rec FM: batteries wear off immediately

[Enzo]

hello all,

Don't know if this question is appropriate in this thread, but here goes:

I have my Ondio Recorder happilly working with the latest rockbox version.
Two days ago, it worn my batteries without even having it turned on!

This happened with my first Ondio, which was replaced by the one that is having the same problem, but that was three years ago!

I placed the batteries (rechargeable, as always, and never had any problem), all fully and equally charged.
Then after one or two days (without using it at all, and making sure that it is turned off), the Ondio doens't startup, and after measuring the batteries, I can see that the third one from the left is almost dried up!

I've recharged the batteries, and repeated the process, leaving the third one out and putting #4 in it's place.

One note: I haven't changed anyting in the past months.

Now, this could be a battery issue (I hope!), I haven't had a chance to test with other batteries...
As the previous Ondio had this issue, even with alcaline batteries, I fear the worse
Does anyone know if this is *normal*, or if this might be some weird behaviour coming from my Ondio?
If so, can this be fixed? I would hate to part from my Ondio for such a stupid problem, I'm willing to leave one battery out when not using the Ondio, but that's hardly practical...

TIA!

enzo

[hwneumann]

I don't think this comes from your ONDIO. All three cells are in line and are treated by the ONDIO as a whole thing. So if one of he three cells is empty and the others are good, I think the weakest one has ended its life...

There is a quite similar effect at the AJBs: 4 cells in line, and while charging in the AJB they are treated as a whole, too. The same current goes through all cells. In an ideal case (which is not possible in reality) all cells are charged the same and are full at the same time. But as this is impossible, there is always one cell, which is the weakest. Therefore, it is charged with too high current and too fast. The consequence is, that this cell next time is even a bit weaker because of this treatment than before. In most cases the end of the story is that only one cell dies, while the rest is still rather good.

Are you charging your batteries in a row (very old charger)?