Issue with Oticon SmartCharger

Hearing Aids
21

Seems crazy to have a charger so complicated it needs firmware.

22

All modern chargers have firmware. It has been that way for a number of years to provide the correct amount of power to the devices. There is a handshake between the devices needing charged and the chargers that set the voltage, current and wattage requirements. There isn’t a simple solution anymore. The hearing aids do the same thing. We live in the computer age

1 Like
23

My charger takes a microusb plug. I’d think it would just distribute the 5v power to the contacts on the HAs. Put the charger circuit in the HA and be done.

24

It still has a communication channel that does talk to the device. That is the nature of usb regardless if which version. I was in the electronics/software design, troubleshooting and QC for over 40 years. It is there and it works that way.

25

I don’t believe there is a handshake for ordinary (non-PD) USB charging. The charger is responsible for regulating how much power it delivers, and the device is responsible for regulating how much power it draws. Most USB car chargers don’t even have an active data pins, just +5V and ground.

26

Believe what you will, modern car chargers have microchips in them that determines the device requirements so the device and the charger doesn’t over heat or short out the devices or the car

1 Like
27

I do not mean to offend by questioning your knowledge, and I am by no means an expert, but I’m pretty sure that DCP (Dedicated Charging Port) chargers have the data pins shorted and provide 1.5A with no handshake. I’ve dissected such a charger myself.

28

Yes dedication chargers but there are very few of them being made anymore. That is why apple and even some of the other big thicket devices no longer ship chargers with there devices, customers use what they have or want to use. That means the chargers and the devices have to communicate with each other so there isn’t a fire, overheating or even and explosion. The companies can’t afford not the build in the protection, this world is lawsuit crazy. And jurors seem to willing to give away corporations money as freely as possible. If I was still working I could give you data sheets for the simplest things that show they have their own brains, and most of those brains aren’t much bigger than a head of at needle.

29

Just jumpin’ in to say my Smart Charger works fine with cable unplugged.
FYI, I accidentally inserted the rt in the left socket & visa versa, and left them in overnight.
They charged just fine.
It’s magnetic induction, so not polarity sensitive.

I think Oticon’s instructions are meant to keep ID 10 T’s like me from doing that, so as not to stress the receiver wires by forcing them into the well facing the wrong way.

2 Likes
30

The reversing of the aids is how I determined it was the smart charger and not the aids.

2 Likes
31

Is there a conspiracy theory in the making here?

1 Like
32

Oticon definitely doesn’t want people putting the aids in what Oticon sees as the wrong way. I have done and it worked okay. But I don’t really want to because I put my aids in my ears most mornings while it is still very dark. I go to bed and get up hours before my wife. I am a morning person she is a night owl.

1 Like
33

It buggers up the receiver wires, anyway, Chuck.

2 Likes
34

Yep only did a test to troubleshoot the problems

2 Likes
35

Maybe Oticon does not want their smart charger damaging the receiver wires when closing the cover during charging. Just to be careful. When the receiver’s mic is removed from the aids, they look just the same.

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36

They are just the same. The only difference between a “left” aid and a “right” aid is programming.

1 Like
37

It is to insure you don’t mess up the receiver wires and to prevent you from try to put them in the wrong ear. I am always getting dressed and putting my aids on in the dark so I don’t wake my wife.

1 Like
38

@cvkemp: (Not sure why you’re addressing this reply to me, Chuck)

40

Because everyone likes to rag on you spudster!!

All these issues were addressed back around post 28 in Feb.
Problem is peeps don’t start at the of the top of the thread.
like playing the bridge before the intro, eh?

2 Likes
41

10 days of usage and it was dead. I just send it to the Oticon dealers and the dealers send it to the Oticon office for a fee. The dealer loaned a standard charger to me. It is still not launched in Malaysia. I Hope Oticon replaces it with a new one.