Problems with battery fitting and not fully charging

[Hitnrun]

Slowing coming back to the Pandora, I had my first batch replaced early with a PTOD.


The problem my unit have is, the battery doesn't seem to lock inside the battery compartment, I think I read somewhere that at some point the cases where made without a battery locking part, but not sure.


Anyway, when charging my battery never goes beyond 85% charge, and when it reaches ~20%, it shuts down saying it is getting out of battery.


I am pretty sure this is a battery contact problem, and I tried numerous ways to "fix" it, putting a coin inside the battery compartment, padding with some papers, but nothing solved it.


Several times I tried to search other threads for similar problems, it is something so obvious that I should have figured myself?


Thanks!

 

[huniper]

The battery does not lock inside the case, it should fit semi snugly. Mine wiggles around a little bit and I don't have any problems. I can even wiggle the battery around with the unit on and it does not shut off. (I wouldn't suggest doing this)


Good contact is critical but you don't need a huge contact area to transmit 3.7v and a couple hundred mA.


What firmware are you on? Some people on the forum have reported that in the newer firmwares on the 3.2 kernel that the charging is a little wonky.


Make sure you are on the latest hotfix SuperZaxxon B5a. Try booting up while holding the right trigger and choose boot kernel 2.6, then try charging the pandora for about 6-8 hours and see if that fixes your issue.

 

[TangentDelta]

Seems like a firmware/power setting issue. I'd fiddle around with the power settings first, then try re-flashing it to an older firmware.

 

[Hitnrun]

The battery does not lock inside the case, it should fit semi snugly. Mine wiggles around a little bit and I don't have any problems. I can even wiggle the battery around with the unit on and it does not shut off. (I wouldn't suggest doing this)


Good contact is critical but you don't need a huge contact area to transmit 3.7v and a couple hundred mA.


What firmware are you on? Some people on the forum have reported that in the newer firmwares on the 3.2 kernel that the charging is a little wonky.


Make sure you are on the latest hotfix SuperZaxxon B5a. Try booting up while holding the right trigger and choose boot kernel 2.6, then try charging the pandora for about 6-8 hours and see if that fixes your issue.

I am on the latest stable firmware (not the beta), but it was this way since I received it (more than a year ago). Does the kernel really makes a difference in this? It it stable to install the beta because of this issue?

 

[mcobit]

Install beta5a! It really is a good firmware and if you have issues, you can still get back to the old kernel.

 

[Hitnrun]

Ok, installed beta5a, which seems to be fine by the way, but it still don't get past 91%, When it reaches 91%, the charging light goes off, and it never goes past this.

 

[huniper]

Ok, installed beta5a, which seems to be fine by the way, but it still don't get past 91%, When it reaches 91%, the charging light goes off, and it never goes past this.

Have you tried charging in the 2.6 kernel?


Hold R when you turn on the Pandora and choose the 2.6 option on the menu that comes up. Then once it boots to the desktop let the Pandora charge for about 6 hours.


Another option is you can also buy a new battery from ithic.com if you're in the US or gp2x.de if you're in Europe.