I was contacted by a Costco employee today who tells me that the KS10s don’t have a charging issue, but that the KS charger is the fault (not the hearing aids themselves). Has anyone here in the group fixed their KS10 charging issues by using the chargers intended for use with the Phonak Paradise?
Thanks,
Abram
I had similar battery charge issues with my ks10 hearing aids. I purchased those ks10s to replace my Phonak Marvels. When the battery issues with the ks10 first surfaced I started using my Phonak charger, but I had similar charging issues using that charger as well as the Costco product.
I eventually took my ks10’s back to Costco for service but I did not give them my charger. They came back about a week later and have performed flawlessly in both the Costco charger and the phonak charger for the past 6 weeks or so. The obvious conclusion is that the charging issues along with the battery life issues had nothing to do with the charger that was used and that the charging and battery issues were exclusively contained inside the hearing aids themselves.
FWIW, I bought KS10’s in May 2021 including the Costco charger. 2-3 times one of the aids (and once both) did not charge properly but upon removing & re-inserting them they charged. Likely the problem was poor electrical contact.
Note, because I’ve read that the life of Li-ion batteries is reduced if they are left in a charger for several hours, I typically turn off the aids, put in my Perfect Lux dryer to bake for 1/2 hr. then put them in charger but do not plug it in until early morning.
Since I’m retired, I don’t need the aids early but if I did I’d put a timer on the charger.
The heat of the dryer might not be good for your aids. Depending on the OEM for a Li-ion-powered device, you’ll usually finding the manufacturer say that the battery will retain its lifetime capacity best at temperatures below 95 deg F to 105 deg F or so, depending on the product.
I got a dryer that normally offers heat, dessicant, and UV-treatment but I had the OEM actually custom-deactivate the heating for my rechargeable Quattros (I since decided to punt that whole bit).
HA’s are considered relatively “disposable” but folks are a lot more concerned about getting maximum life span out of batteries in EVs, where the battery may be 1/3 the cost of the entire car, e.g., $20K for the battery alone. So, there’s tons of literature on what kills EV battery lifespan. Here’s a blog review that I thought was very good - it says that high-temperature and fast-charging are the greatest enemies of Li nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries in EVs. Total miles driven or the physical age of the battery have much less effect (other reviews say average depth-of-discharge is an important parameter, too). The same sort of physics applies to smartphone batteries and rechargeable HA batteries, too. New Data Shows Heat & Fast-Charging Responsible For More Battery Degradation Than Age Or Mileage - CleanTechnica
Did your battery life increase? How many hours total in a day do they last, including a couple hours of Bluetooth streaming?
I don’t have charging issues if I wiggle the aids to get a good connection. However, I only get no more than 15 hours of use before going below 20%.
KS10s are water resistant. From the manual:
These hearing aids are water resistant and not waterproof. They
are designed to withstand normal activities and occasional
accidental exposure to extreme conditions. Never immerse your
hearing aid in water! These hearing aids are not specifically
designed for extended periods of water submersion on a
continual basis, that is worn in activities such as swimming or
bathing.
For this reason I would not think a dryer is needed. And if it may actually damage the battery, I would suggest discontinuing the usage.
Yes, my battery life increased from about 15 hours a day which included about 3 hours of television to about 18 hours. I don’t get the low battery signals anymore that I had been getting frequently before I had service on the hearing aids to correct the charging problems.