03-16-2022, 12:16 AM
Contec RS01 battery life
Are any Contec RS01 users experiencing poor battery life?
I got my RS01* near the beginning of the year, and I was able to record at least two nights on a full charge. Now after a fresh charge, it will not record a full 9 hours.
The size 403040 LiPo battery is labelled 430mAh, which seems consistent with the capacity of similar cells advertised online. At room temperature on my desk, I observed the device shut off while recording when the voltage at the battery connector reached 3.28V. Later, I observed the device begin charging in constant-current (CC) mode at ~230mA, then ramp down below 30mA as the voltage went from 4.16 to 4.20V in ~constant-voltage (CV) mode. I think the cutoff voltage and these charging parameters are reasonable for this battery.
I think the issue is a matter of battery health, rather than some increased power demand. The CC portion of the charge lasts around two minutes, while the following CV portion is roughly an hour. In total, the device seems to draw only roughly 100 mAh before the green light comes on.
The speed of this battery deterioration is the mystery. My suspicion is that some unnoticed corner-case may badly mistreat the battery, such as:
A) Draining the battery too low. At around 3.28V, the device may actually crash, which may plausibly result in a continued sizeable current drain lasting until next charge, boot, insufficient voltage, or intervention by a battery protection circuit. If so, it would be advisable not to run the device longer than it has charge for, and to boot/charge the device soon if it ever shuts off unintentionally.
B) A (possibly sporadic) charging fault may occur, such as an excessive CC rate, CV level or failure to terminate CV. I have only measured the last two charges of my weak battery, and the cheap USB power meter I used does not have the resolution to detect under 30mA. If anyone else has a RS01 and a USB power meter, please monitor the behavior and report back!
* I started an earlier thread about malware discovered on my device. It's possible that the device was not new, but I don't think any strong conclusions could be drawn. Even if the device was not brand new, the battery deterioration in 3 months doesn't seem reasonable.
I got my RS01* near the beginning of the year, and I was able to record at least two nights on a full charge. Now after a fresh charge, it will not record a full 9 hours.
The size 403040 LiPo battery is labelled 430mAh, which seems consistent with the capacity of similar cells advertised online. At room temperature on my desk, I observed the device shut off while recording when the voltage at the battery connector reached 3.28V. Later, I observed the device begin charging in constant-current (CC) mode at ~230mA, then ramp down below 30mA as the voltage went from 4.16 to 4.20V in ~constant-voltage (CV) mode. I think the cutoff voltage and these charging parameters are reasonable for this battery.
I think the issue is a matter of battery health, rather than some increased power demand. The CC portion of the charge lasts around two minutes, while the following CV portion is roughly an hour. In total, the device seems to draw only roughly 100 mAh before the green light comes on.
The speed of this battery deterioration is the mystery. My suspicion is that some unnoticed corner-case may badly mistreat the battery, such as:
A) Draining the battery too low. At around 3.28V, the device may actually crash, which may plausibly result in a continued sizeable current drain lasting until next charge, boot, insufficient voltage, or intervention by a battery protection circuit. If so, it would be advisable not to run the device longer than it has charge for, and to boot/charge the device soon if it ever shuts off unintentionally.
B) A (possibly sporadic) charging fault may occur, such as an excessive CC rate, CV level or failure to terminate CV. I have only measured the last two charges of my weak battery, and the cheap USB power meter I used does not have the resolution to detect under 30mA. If anyone else has a RS01 and a USB power meter, please monitor the behavior and report back!
* I started an earlier thread about malware discovered on my device. It's possible that the device was not new, but I don't think any strong conclusions could be drawn. Even if the device was not brand new, the battery deterioration in 3 months doesn't seem reasonable.
