Costco apparently fixed my KS10 charge problem

Hearing Aids
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I’ve been having intermittent charging problems, so I started making notes. Here’s an excerpt:

9/12, 9:04pm: Easyline showed both aids @33% in charger, R flashed green, L flashed yellow.

9:06pm: Easyline 99% & 33%. Take R out of charger. Easyline showed 99%. Reset R aid back in charger Easyline R 55%.

9:20: L44%, R 61%, which shows both are charging. Later charge finished OK, both aids @ 100%.

9/16 and 9/17 similar problem except with L HA.

9/18 took aids & charger to Prescott, AZ Costco. Was told a firmware update will be available in a day or two. Left aids (temporarily using old KS7’s).

9/21 Costco calls – aids ready. They gave them back @100% charge and with new receivers (speakers).

I’ve now used the aids 3+ days with no problems. Hopefully the update fixed the problem.

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I posted that too soon. Last night I charged both aids to slightly over 80% per Easyline and the flashing green lights and then turned both off. This morning, when I plugged the charger, the L was flashing yellow and at only 21%, R at 84%. Resetting the L did not help. It is slowly charging but the problem was not fixed.

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Another update:
In the 17 days since I reported that problem, the charging has worked flawlessly.

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I never turn my KS10s off at night. I just put them in the charger. After two years or so, the right one will occasionally flash green when inserted in the charger. I just reinsert it until it flashes yellow.
Once, in the morning, one of them glowed red. I just put it back in the charger and it charged fine.
They keep working and I hope they last as long as I do.
Every morning, I switch from Automatic Premium to Clarity and reduce the volume to -1.

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Still another update: Going on 4 weeks now, the charging problem seems to be gone. The aids have been charging every time.

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I understand that your hearing aids are the same as my phonaks. There is a function to reset the battery charging. Hold down the button that powers your aids on & off for about 20-30 seconds, release, and place them in the charger. This resets the charging function to the factory default, which sometimes gets wonky.

I try to remember to do this once a month rather than waiting for a charging problem.

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I started having the charging problem after 2 years. I’ll set up the charging when I go to bed and sometimes in the middle of the night I’ll see the unit (usually the right ) still charging/blinking. Sometimes the light is blinking green and sometimes it’s solid red. I do a reset and usually when I wake up it’s OK. Not always. There are times it takes 2 1/2 hours to fully charge. No one seems to have THE answer. :-/

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Now I typically charge to ~80-85% before going to bed and then top off in the morning. Lately my charging problem has returned (example below). I called Costco & was told to do a hard reset but that didn’t seem to help. The problem occurs ~every other day. Here’s the most recent. (Worked OK last night.) Maybe another firmware update or back to the factory. Fortunately, I kept my old KS7’s as backups.

2/2 charge L/R to 88/85%, take out of charger L 59%, reset L back in charger to 83%. 2/3, 8am, charge same as at night.

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I was having a similar problem. I looked at the contact wires of the charger with a magnifying glass and found they were coated with a thin yellowish varnish that I assume was dried skin or hair oil. I scraped it off with an Exacto knife (with the power disconnected) and the problems went away. Since then I wipe down the contacts and body of the HAs with an alcohol swab before putting them in at night. My audi originally recommended this but I didn’t think it was worth it until the problems started.

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Another (hopefully last) update —
I tried cleaning contacts (in addition to my standard practice of rubbing the contacts on my pants) – no help.

I called Costco (in Prescott, AZ). The lady I talked to said my warranty will run out in May and she suggested I bring in the HA’s & charger for them to send back to manufacturer for repair. So I have an appt. Sat. to have my settings applied to my previous KS-7’s to use while I’m waiting for the KS-10’s to be returned.

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The HA’s were returned in less than a week. I got a new charger and probably new KS10 aids. So far, they work.
Unless the problem returns, this will conclude my KS10 adventure.

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I started having this issue this year after using the KS10s for three years. One of them will start having charging issues and may even go completely dead. Both times I have taken them to Costco and they have cleaned and “reset” them. Then they work for a while. I do not think this has to do with the charger or dirty contacts, but probably the battery/charging system is failing to work properly. A reset may restart the charging system, but I suspect the battery is probably aging and affecting charging performance. This time Costco offerered to repair under warranty and admitted there was a charging defect for the KS10s. Time for new HAs.

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Had my KS10’s serviced and batteries replaced last May while still under warranty.Fast forward 9 months and the right aid would not charge, left aid ok. Costco sent it for repair £120. I’m now getting around 20 hours of use from a full a charge.

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I wouldn’t turn down the replacement under warranty. Maybe you do need new HAs? But these as a backup would be sweet, esp if you get new HAs in the “repair”.

WH

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