EW Microrecorder Battery Issues?

[ContestID67[_2_]]

Has anyone had any issues with the battery life on an EW
Microrecorder? We have one for club use and it lived most of the
winter not being charged. The first real use of the spring and the
pilot reported only 15 mins of recording time (he swore that he
charged it overnight. I charged it and tested again and got 60 mins
(by driving around with it). I am going to charge it again and then
test again. I'll report results but thought I would ask the
collective. The battery is Ni-Mh which shouldn't have a memory issue.

Thanks, John DeRosa

[M C]

It is not unusual to have to do several charge/discharge cycles to get
NI-Mh batteries back to full capacity.

Mike


At 00:05 06 May 2009, ContestID67 wrote:
>Has anyone had any issues with the battery life on an EW
>Microrecorder? We have one for club use and it lived most of the
>winter not being charged. The first real use of the spring and the
>pilot reported only 15 mins of recording time (he swore that he
>charged it overnight. I charged it and tested again and got 60 mins
>(by driving around with it). I am going to charge it again and then
>test again. I'll report results but thought I would ask the
>collective. The battery is Ni-Mh which shouldn't have a memory issue.
>
>Thanks, John DeRosa
>

[Paul Remde]

Hi John,

I have just updated my EW microRecorder web page with some new "Tips". You
can see them here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/ew.htm

One of the tips is in regard to battery level indication errors. I have
copied the tips below.

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
_________________________________

Logging Interval When Sending Data to a PDA
When using an EW microRecorder with a PDA, EW recommends in the manual that
the logging interval be set to 1 second. That way it will send both GPS
altitude and pressure altitude to the PDA every second.

Battery Level Indication
I have received quite a few complaints from customers stating that the
battery does not last very long in flight. I am convinced that this is
mainly due to the fact that the EW incorrectly reports that the battery is
full immediately after you take it off the charger - even if it is not
nearly fully charged. So please don't believe the 4 red blinks that
indicate that the battery is full - at least not just after having the unit
on the charger. The correct way to use the red light to ascertain the
battery voltage is to turn the unit on for about 15 minutes, then press the
ON button and watch the blinking lights. The other misconception is the
amount of time required for a full charge. To charge the unit fully using a
USB cable connected to a PC is about 12 to 24 hours. The issue is that
people charge the unit for 2 hours and then immediately press the power
button to check the battery voltage. They then think the battery is full
and go fly. The unit then quits working after only an hour or 2. So.....
Be sure to charge the unit for 12 to 24 hours. Then turn the unit on for
about 15 minutes before checking the battery voltage.

Resetting the Unit
From time to time I get calls from customers with units that have locked-up
and won't turn off. That is easy to fix. Simply obtain an Ethernet cable
(RJ45) and strip back and twist together the brown and brown/white wires.
Then put the cable into the unit for 1 second. The unit will turn off.
Then turn it on using the on button and it should work fine.

Power-Up Without SD Installed
If the unit doesn't turn on because an SD card is not installed, or it does
not recognize the SD card, keep pressing the power button and it will
power-up in about 5 to 10 seconds - ignoring the SD card.

Declaration Format
The EW microRecorder manual is not very clear on the format for coordinates
in task declarations. Below is an example declaration that was created by
SeeYou Mobile:

Description: Declaration
Take Off LatLong: 0000000N00000000E TAKE OFF
Start LatLon: 4428531N09300979W Stanton MN
TP LatLon: 4419481N09318650W Faribault
TP LatLon: 4405767N09309170W 100kmTP-SYN-FBL
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
TP LatLon: 0000000N00000000E TURN POINT
Finish LatLon: 4428531N09300979W Stanton MN
Land LatLon: 0000000N00000000E LAND

The coordinates are in DDMMmmm format for latitude and DDDMMmmm format for
longitude. Where DD or DDD = Degrees, MM=Minutes, mmm = decimal minutes. For
example, the Start LatLon: is 44 degrees, 28.531 minutes N, 093 degrees,
00.979 minutes W.
_________________________________________________
"ContestID67" > wrote in message
...
> Has anyone had any issues with the battery life on an EW
> Microrecorder? We have one for club use and it lived most of the
> winter not being charged. The first real use of the spring and the
> pilot reported only 15 mins of recording time (he swore that he
> charged it overnight. I charged it and tested again and got 60 mins
> (by driving around with it). I am going to charge it again and then
> test again. I'll report results but thought I would ask the
> collective. The battery is Ni-Mh which shouldn't have a memory issue.
>
> Thanks, John DeRosa

[ContestID67[_2_]]

Paul,

As always you help the soaring community by being willing to share
knowledge on your web site that you glean from various sources and
your experiences.

The comment that the battery must be charged for 12-24 hours is a
revelation. I assume that this charging is via USB. This starts to
make sense as I believe that the charging current available from
typical USB sources (often a computer) is limited on purpose, thus the
long charge times. I get the feeling from comments from EW that
charging via the "ethernet" RJ-45 connector/cable to a 12Vdc source is
much quicker. Have you experimented in this area?

Your comment about waiting 15 mins to determine if the battery is
fully charged (4 blinks) is echoed by EW themselves.

NOTE: A short "ethernet" RJ-45 connector/cable is supplied with each
EW. Powering the EW from this port has the advantage of the unit
immediately powering up so you do not forget to turn it on during your
pre-flight.

[Paul Remde]

Hi John,

Thanks for the nice note. You also provide some very helpful resources for
gliders on your web site!

In regard to charging using the USB port vs. a 12v wall charger - EW
recommends using the USB cable connected to a PC because the microRecorder
then does not log a flight during charging. When connected to a 12V wall
charger it may log a flight depending on the settings in the EW-USER.TXT
file. I have heard of a customer that had it on a 12V charger for weeks and
the result was an extremely long flight log file. However, the unit will
probably charge more quickly using a 12V wall charger. The one that I sell
is a $9.95 500 mA unit. It seems to work fine, but I haven't tested how
long it takes to get a full charge.

I usually charge mine using my PC and a USB cable - for about 24 hours.

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

"ContestID67" > wrote in message
...
> Paul,
>
> As always you help the soaring community by being willing to share
> knowledge on your web site that you glean from various sources and
> your experiences.
>
> The comment that the battery must be charged for 12-24 hours is a
> revelation. I assume that this charging is via USB. This starts to
> make sense as I believe that the charging current available from
> typical USB sources (often a computer) is limited on purpose, thus the
> long charge times. I get the feeling from comments from EW that
> charging via the "ethernet" RJ-45 connector/cable to a 12Vdc source is
> much quicker. Have you experimented in this area?
>
> Your comment about waiting 15 mins to determine if the battery is
> fully charged (4 blinks) is echoed by EW themselves.
>
> NOTE: A short "ethernet" RJ-45 connector/cable is supplied with each
> EW. Powering the EW from this port has the advantage of the unit
> immediately powering up so you do not forget to turn it on during your
> pre-flight.

[Wojciech Scigala]

U¿ytkownik Paul Remde napisa³:

> Logging Interval When Sending Data to a PDA
> When using an EW microRecorder with a PDA, EW recommends in the manual
> that the logging interval be set to 1 second. That way it will send
> both GPS altitude and pressure altitude to the PDA every second.
You should add a reminder, that using 1-second update rate without
external power causes a significantly high power consumption (ie. short
running time on internal battery), as the receiver is not entering
"power-save" mode.

It is covered in the manual, and minimum update rate recommended there
is 5 seconds.

--
Wojtu¶.net