Dead Wiz Battery

[blueshift]

I've only had my Wiz since December and it seems that the battery is already dead. I'll recharge it and only get a half hour until it's dead.

I'll burn on the Wiz after a full charge and the battery charge indicator will only be at 3/4ths. I'll play it for a half hour and it'll be at 1/4th. Than leave it off and when I go to turn it on again the next day it'll be at 3/4ths, than awhile later it'll say "low battery, shutting down". Long story short I'll get about a half hour of play time out of a full charge.

This has happened the last 3 times I've tried to charge it. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

A friend of mine was saying he has the equipment to condition the battery by slow charging it and than rapid discharging. Would this work?

 

[paines]

I heard/read that you can charge up fully and put the battery in the deep-freeze over night (packed in a plastic bag) which shuold eliminate an accumulation effect. Same applies for notebook batteries. Maybe it helps. Good luck.

 

[blueshift]

When I charge my Wiz the charging light will be red when I first plug it in and for an hour and a half later. But, after that the charge light will be purple instead of red. Which is only supposed to come on when the unit is both on and it's charging at the same time.

If I wiggle the male end of the charging cable around enough the light will turn back to red. But, it'll only do that for so long until no amount of wiggling will make the light so back to red. I just left it plugged in for about 6 hours and the battery indicator won't go back 3/4ths.

I heard/read that you can charge up fully and put the battery in the deep-freeze over night (packed in a plastic bag) which shuold eliminate an accumulation effect. Same applies for notebook batteries. Maybe it helps. Good luck.

I did a quick Google search and the only thing I got about putting batteries in freezers is to extend their overall life expectancy when not in use. But, I also had a few people say that you should put them in the refrigerator and not the freezer. I'll wait until I get a few more responses.

 

[rabidpoobear]

I heard/read that you can charge up fully and put the battery in the deep-freeze over night (packed in a plastic bag) which shuold eliminate an accumulation effect. Same applies for notebook batteries. Maybe it helps. Good luck.

I did a quick Google search and the only thing I got about putting batteries in freezers is to extend their overall life expectancy when not in use. But, I also had a few people say that you should put them in the refrigerator and not the freezer. I'll wait until I get a few more responses.

You also shouldn't charge them to 100% if you're freezing them. 40-60% is much better. at 100% charge their max capacity decreases much faster.

 

[christo930]

When I charge my Wiz the charging light will be red when I first plug it in and for an hour and a half later. But, after that the charge light will be purple instead of red. Which is only supposed to come on when the unit is both on and it's charging at the same time.

If I wiggle the male end of the charging cable around enough the light will turn back to red. But, it'll only do that for so long until no amount of wiggling will make the light so back to red. I just left it plugged in for about 6 hours and the battery indicator won't go back 3/4ths.

I heard/read that you can charge up fully and put the battery in the deep-freeze over night (packed in a plastic bag) which shuold eliminate an accumulation effect. Same applies for notebook batteries. Maybe it helps. Good luck.

I did a quick Google search and the only thing I got about putting batteries in freezers is to extend their overall life expectancy when not in use. But, I also had a few people say that you should put them in the refrigerator and not the freezer. I'll wait until I get a few more responses.

If you just bought it in december, I'd say screw putting the battery in the fridge and return it. Even if it fixes the problem, do you want to take the chance that it will fail again in 6 months when it's no longer under return policy? If you can return it, I would.

 

[blueshift]

If you just bought it in december, I'd say screw putting the battery in the fridge and return it. Even if it fixes the problem, do you want to take the chance that it will fail again in 6 months when it's no longer under return policy? If you can return it, I would.

Yeah, but I ordered it from a guy in China. So I'd have to pay $30 to have it shipped back and who knows how long it would take for it to ever get back to me. I checked eBay for replacement batteries and the closest thing I found was this. Which wouldn't work because the Wiz battery has 3 metal connector things right on the battery and that has a wire going off of it.

 

[Hamburglar]

There's no place to order more Wiz batteries? Perhaps it's a "standard" rechargeable that's also used in a particular cell phone or something?

 

[mystique]

I know my BF sometimes uses a power supply on current limit mode to "restore" old battery packs that won't trickle charge anymore. Maybe you could try that. He told me to mention that you need to look at the amp hour rating and cut that by at least half for the current setting. Also don't leave it hooked up for a long time and constantly check to make sure it's not getting warm to the touch. Just do that for a short time and then put it back in the Wiz and charge it normally. He said that even though battery packs say they don't have a "memory" they do and sometimes you just need to "kick them in the butt" for a small amount of time to get them to charge up properly.

On searching I see you can order a new battery here: http://www.gp2x.de/shop/product_info.php/cPath/35/products_id/146
As well as many other things like the USB cable.

 

[blueshift]

Thanks for the information.

I know my BF sometimes uses a power supply on current limit mode to "restore" old battery packs that won't trickle charge anymore. Maybe you could try that. He told me to mention that you need to look at the amp hour rating and cut that by at least half for the current setting. Also don't leave it hooked up for a long time and constantly check to make sure it's not getting warm to the touch. Just do that for a short time and then put it back in the Wiz and charge it normally. He said that even though battery packs say they don't have a "memory" they do and sometimes you just need to "kick them in the butt" for a small amount of time to get them to charge up properly.

I don't really have the technology to do any of that. Although my one friend who used to be into electric RC cars does. He looked at the battery and said that all of his equipment is for charging batteries that have two prongs on them while the Wiz battery had three. I think the third prong is just for transmitting information about the battery (like charge levels) or something like that though.

On searching I see you can order a new battery here: http://www.gp2x.de/shop/product_info.php/cPath/35/products_id/146
As well as many other things like the USB cable.

In dollars that price averages out to $24 not including shipping and including 19% VAT. Do Americans have to pay VAT tax on items ordered from Germany?

 

[mystique]

The third lead is most likely a sense lead that feeds through a resistor. It's used to let the device know when the battery is charged so it can shift into a low trickle charge mode. If you get it wrong and try to charge through the sense lead you will burn out the resistor and render that pack useless. (Info from BF). I don't know which leads are what. Unlike sales tax in the US I believe the VAT is fixed and part of the price no matter to who or where it's sold.

 

[blueshift]

I talked to a guy who knows a lot about batteries and he said that once a LiPo won't charge fully theirs nothing you can do to fix them. I'm still looking around to see if I can find a replacement battery and not get beaten by how much that German website wants for one. It'll end up being over $50 by the time you factor in S&H.

 

[mystique]

We are supposed to pick up a 4100maH Lipo battery Tuesday from Batteries Plus that has been modified to fit in the Wiz. With the modifications we were told the battery would be $41 plus sales tax. They needed our old battery to make it work.

BTW the middle lead on the battery is the sense lead.

They said the same thing. Once a Lipo goes bad it's most likely going to stay bad as there is most likely a chemical leak or cross contamination between layers.

 

[blueshift]

We are supposed to pick up a 4100maH Lipo battery Tuesday from Batteries Plus that has been modified to fit in the Wiz. With the modifications we were told the battery would be $41 plus sales tax. They needed our old battery to make it work.

I went to their website and once I saw the logo I remembered there is one only a few miles away from my house. I'll see if they're open tomorrow and stop by.

The default 2000mAh battery lasts me about 5 hours. So one that's over 2x as powerful should last in the range of 10 hours.

Can you charge the new battery the same way you did the old one? Just plug the charger into the Wiz and let it sit?

 

[mystique]

I imagine they needed the old battery for it's case and are sending it to someone who's just going to put a new Lipo cell pack inside of it. So yes I would think it would still charge in the same way but just take longer.

 

[blueshift]

I just went to one Batteries Plus and the guy said that he couldn't do anything. I called another one and they said that while they do rebuild cells they don't rebuild anything lithium based.

 

[mystique]

I just went to one Batteries Plus and the guy said that he couldn't do anything. I called another one and they said that while they do rebuild cells they don't rebuild anything lithium based.

I guess it depends on the store. I picked ours up today and it works fine so far. It was even pre-charged to near full. It is in the old case with a new sticker added from the person who rebuilt it. They must be independently owned franchises instead of corporate owned.

I pulled it back out to look at the sticker .. it say's Tech JM (handwritten initials) Warranty Expires 6/2010 (date handwritten) and it also has another silver sticker wrapped around the outside that says "Warranty Void if Seal is Broken". If you or anyone wants I can take a picture.

 

[senquack]

I'd be really interested in hearing how much runtime you are getting with the new one once you find out.

 

[mystique]

I'd be really interested in hearing how much runtime you are getting with the new one once you find out.

I was told to cycle the battery so I unplugged it from the USB and turned it on first thing this morning and had it play an xvid over and over on full brightness (I didn't want to burn the screen with a stationary image). It lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes on it's first cycle. Recharging now. I know $41 plus tax was alot of money considering you can buy a whole new one for $149 but I'm happy with the "new" battery.

It might be a good side business for someone to get in on here. I'm sure they could find that generic 4100maH Lipo pack and do the same thing for people and possibly cheaper if they bought in bulk. It's a super shame the battery pack for the Wiz is not available in the US anywhere. I know I would have paid to just buy the same 2000maH pack from GP2X store etc if it was available.

 

[Seph817]

Hey Mystique, you don't have a model number for the new one, do you? I have a Batteries Plus near here and I'd love to have this done when it's time for a new battery. Thanks for any help.

 

[blueshift]

I pulled it back out to look at the sticker .. it say's Tech JM (handwritten initials)

I Google'd "Tech JM" but found nothing.

Could you give the the address and phone number of the Batteries Plus you went to? According to your profile your in Indiana. I'd like to call them up and see if I could arrange something where I could mail them my battery, have them replace the LiPo cells, and have it mailed back to me. Which they probably won't do, but it's worth a shot.

Ordering a new battery from an overseas country is very expensive when you consider S&H costs and I'd rather get something superior custom built in America than have to order the standard battery from Germany. But the fact that you got over 9.5 hours on a single charge is what I'm really excited about. My Wiz would truly be a portable console if I got that kind of battery life.