Let batteries sit a bit after removing tabs? Really?

So in that five minutes he missed the video?
:blush:

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In my Resound Linx3D BTEs, a size 13 battery lasts 4 days. I am curious as to what they would last in the Quattro.

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The time a battery lasts is determined by the battery type. Just ordered new HAs (Vida 8) from Costco (why is Costco so prominent on the forum?) and ordered the version with 13s to get longer life. The larger the battery the more power, i.e. longer life.

The same reason you just went…price.

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This result was not reproducible. It just isn’t worth the bother.

Yeah, I don’t think this is one of the big research questions out there. My take: It does take some time for zinc air batteries to come up to full voltage. Many of our current hearing aids, especially those that stream are pretty demanding of battery power. It makes some sense to give a new battery some time to come up to voltage before putting a demand on it. How long? I’d guess in the range of a minute or two. I don’t worry about it. I take the tabs off and try to engage in some quick task and then put them in.

My hearing aid battery compartments are not air tight. For this reason I just pop them in and go.

I seem to think that the theory here is that upon removing the tab, the chemistry happens without consumption.
Immediately consuming what power is there by the mere fact of inserting them would theoretically limit that chemistry.
But then, for a quarter maybe people don’t care if they lose a day of consumption. Or even not notice any real difference. YMMV :slight_smile:

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My Audi said to take the tab off the batteries and wait 5 minutes before powering up my aids.

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Kirkland Signature batteries instructions: “remove tab, wait one minute before inserting battery.” After reading several different posts on how long to wait, I usually wait five minutes.

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The issue isn’t whether the HA’s are air tight. The issue is that the chemical in the batteries is activated by air once you take off the tabs. It takes a few minutes for the chemical to be fully activated and reach maximum charge… If you begin to discharge the battery by putting it in the device immediately you aren’t getting the full benefit a fully charged battery and it may run down sooner that it otherwise would.

As an aside, all the talk about how many days this or that battery lasts is fairly meaningless. Different users need various levels of amplification and different HA’s perform different levels of signal processing. My hearing loss may be more severe that yours and require more boost from the device higher drain on the battery. That varies further by how many hours a day use wear the devices.I was told by a rep of Rayovac that modern batteries (312’s) are expected to last 90 hours in most HA’s. Hours is a much better measure of battery longevity than days.

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I get maybe 60 hours out of rayovac 312s but I do have full connectivity, and a severe hearing loss. I also do a good bit of streaming

Great explanation, thanks.

When l got the new Phonak Naida Paradise P70 UP aids, the user guide that came with the aid said to wait 2 minutes after removing the tap of the new 675 battery.

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I don’t think you can put the genie back in the bottle…

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I never even took my batteries out of my aids, just opened the battery doors and placed the aids in the dryer at night

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Yep, if you let the smoke out, you can put it back in.

I think the danger is overstated. This is more of an issue with larger lithium ion cells, not the smaller zinc air cells which usually pass through the intestinal tract without doing any damage. Batteries Cause Devastating Injuries
However, one shouldn’t tempt fate and it would be wise to keep away from children.

When I tried just removing the tab and inserting, it took about 15 seconds for the aids to power up. Since the general advice is to wait a minute, that’s what I do. I just wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t wait.

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I put them right in. It powers right up. I never wait. I probably lose a few hours of power a week per battery. By my reckoning that probably costs me about $5 a year. Worth it to not sitting around waiting to put my batteries in my hearing aid and move on.

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