Battery Not Charging

[second exodous]

I just upgraded my Pandora last night, used it a little with 1.53 firmware and it seemed to charge fine, but when I upgraded to 1.74 it doesn't seem to charge. It charges while the screen is on and then it seems to quit after that. I have two of them so I was going to try to use the others battery but I can't find it. I haven't had them on for 3 years, do I need a new battery?

 

[levi]

Try shutting down the unit (take it off the charger, then use the start menu to shut down), then removing the battery for a good few minutes (not sure how long is strictly necessary for the battery controller chip to power down and reset). It may be that that chip thinks the battery is fully charged already, and won't recharge it any further.

 

[second exodous]

I swear I responded to this but I guess I never did. Anyway, over a year ago I tried that but it would get to 98% and then stop charging and then just drain from there, even if the power was plugged in. The only way to get it to 100% is have the wifi on while it is charging and THEN put it to sleep or turn it off or whatever. I think this might be a hardware problem for me since no one else seems to have this problem.

Anyway, I found this trick out because I was downloading something on my Pandora while leaving it plugged in.

 

[levi]

Hmm, check 'dmesg' after it's stopped charging, and see if there are any temperature warnings in there. Downloading things on wifi might help because it'll slow charging by drawing power at the same time I guess.

 

[blimpsgo180]

Does the unit charge while off? You said it doesn't charge while on?

The only way I can charge my Pandora is low-power mode. With the unit plugged in, turned on, and battery out, flip the power switch quickly. The screen should turn off and the power LED should dim. THEN put the battery in and it should charge.

Worth a shot. Hasn't failed me yet.

 

[second exodous]

No, it only charges while on. I don't have quite the problem you have blimpsgo180. I'll check with dmesg when I get the chance.

I took the batter out the other day though to see if it runs without the battery in it and i think the battery might be puffing up, not sure, I'll take some photos when, once again, get around to it. I have always had trouble closing the battery door, it always seemed tight, but it seems tighter now. Not sure if it is in my head though. I might get a new battery while there is still stock. I might ask ED if he thinks they will still be in stock when the Pyra ships, maybe I'll get both at the same time.

I'm actually impressed it still works though, I think every phone that is this old had the battery go out and not hold a charge anymore after just 5 years. It would be great if something is just wrong with my battery though and all I need is a new one.

 

[levi]

No Pandora should be able to charge when off - inserting the power cord causes them to boot fully up. In fact, no device that has a li-po battery can charge when off - just phones have a special boot mode where they just display a battery charging and shut down when power is removed. They need to be on a bit to control how the battery charges - you can't just limit the charge and hope with lipo like you could with nihm and older types, otherwise things tend to get a bit hot and ignited rather quickly.

By the way, inserting the battery to a powered unit is officially not recommended practice if I recall correctly. Something about the charge controller getting confused, and leading to the aforementioned hot scenario, but at the end of the day it's your pandora and your house, so I can't stop you doing it. I'd just caution against recommending anyone else do it, personally.

 

[second exodous]

Ok, good to know. I swear when I first got my Pandora it charged while off, but that was a long time ago. Right now I'm just using it plugged in because I think my battery might be a bit puffed up. I finally got around to taking a picture of it:

I couldn't really get a good angle on it that shows how it might be puffed up. The middle, on the 'd', seems stuck down to the battery but the cover and each side seems like it might be a little puffed up. When put in my Pandora the lid is difficult to shut, it always was a little more difficult to shut but now it seems a little more difficult. Do you think my batter is bad or were the first batteries just like this?

 

[levi]

It's possible - the batteries are getting quite old now. I can't be sure there's any expansion in that photo though. The top should be relatively flat though, which you should be able to test by pressing it upside down against a hard surface and seeing if you can wobble it. The underside seems to have a PCB or something bound to the end exposing the battery contacts, so that's not meant to be completely flat.