Battery Fire! Phonak Paradise Aid knackered!

I have size 13 battery zinc air for my older V90-SP aids and 675 zinc air for my P70-UP aids and put in Phonak hearing aid dryer for 6 hours. Measured the hearing aid case with temp laser probe and shows 110F. No issues.

Great, but battery breakdown doesn’t work like that - they get hot from the inside when the reaction starts running away. Making them hot from the outside probably just cooks off the available fuel and the Oxygen within the cell can only be replaced at a certain rate. If you want them to burn faster, you need to enlarge the holes. Please avoid this though as we don’t want to encourage cell/hearing aid damage.

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A update, I took my hearing aids back to Spec Savers ā€œUKā€ and they sent them back to Phonak. Phonak said the batteries most have leaked causing the burning or acid damage. Phonak gave me a brand new pair which is great. So as a warning to others make sure your batteries are in good condition before you put them in your aids.

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@TerryUK

Are your batteries rechargeable, or replaceable?

my Paradise P90R’s are rechargeable. Phonak replaced them after 3 years of use. The new hearing aids with built in batteries work much better; batteries last longer each day.

Hi Dave,

The batteries are replaceable size 13 I must of just had an unlucky pack! Phonak were clearly on the ball and had no problem giving me a new set.

I never really got on with the P90s anyway I found the sound shifted around far to much and was never great in most environments I’m now selling them on eBay.

I also have the Rechargeable P50’s and the difference in sound is massively better and I wear them often but my Oticon Xceeds although very big they are the best hearing aids I’ve ever had.

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There’s no ā€˜acid’ in the cells - that’s bogus. The chemistry is Zinc Oxide which defaults to a stable end product (think tin-sheeting). They can also rust if the battery shell gets exposed to saline.

Sounds like you had a bad cell runaway. This used to be less likely when mercury was used to inhibit the burn, but the cells had to be re-formulated because of the environmental risk when it leaches.

Other devices have alkaline batteries which can leak and cause issues.

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I have the very same P90s Terry. I feel that Autosense can overcomplicate, and with the 90s having about 6 different programmes it just switches around too much. About 3 of those categories are ā€œcomfortā€ or ā€œcalmā€, which turn off noises I want/need to hear, such as taps/fawcets running or gas burners being on (or in @DaveL 's case, traffic/industrial machinery). These issues can be programmed out (in Target), which I’m trying with a pair of L90 SPs, but even my M30s really have enough settings if programmed carefully. Autosense in the M30s is just: Calm situation and Speech in noise. I’ve removed the ā€œcalmā€ elements (noise reduction) and they now cover most situations. If I want calm or comfort, I just take them out!