After reading numerous reports on the same issue , I will most like send my right HA back for replacement of the internal battery. It’s out of warranty so I expect a charge.
Just a follow up these hearing aids are probably about seven years old and they performed very well other than changing to a different style of ear mold style last year,
when I plug it in at night I get usually 4 LED lights. sometime none, the the LED light on the amplifier usually blinks, indicating charging and after a while, it’s a steady light indicating fully charged, which obviously is not the case
I usually charge it in the afternoon because if I don’t, I’ll start to get the low battery warning around 7 o’clock at night and it will completely shut down around nine
John
Is this the original battery… never been replaced before? If so you did really well to get it out to the 7-year mark. Though slowly improving, lithium ion batteries have a shorter expected lifespan than this; most people will need to replace their lithium ion batteries (not just in aids, but for most devices) every three to five years. My Quattros are approaching the 6-year mark; both my aids had one battery replacement under warranty, and my right aid is limping into the end of my day, sometimes dying just before I’m ready for bed.
Please post back when you find out what they quote you for this out-of-warranty service, because I’m curious. It may or may not be cost effective to service the unit vs. replacing it with a newer model.
As you may know already but didn’t indicate in your post, they don’t actually remove and replace internal batteries on Quattros. The rechargeable battery is baked into the circuitry and cannot be independently replaced. (For some aid manufacturers/models, there is a swappable rechargeable battery inside, though it still typically requires sending the aid in for service, but Quattros don’t have any battery that can be pried out.) With Quattros needing new batteries, the entire main unit inside the case must be replaced. I expect that at some point ReSound will say: we have no more replacement Quattro main units available at any price, rendering aids that need battery replacement obsolete. (OEM manufacturer part availability for hearing aids can begin to disappear within the 6-10 year range.)
Oh if you just hang on to rechargeable LIon batteries without replacing them, the time before they need to recharge just gets shorter and shorter. Eventually they may not hold a charge.
All this is a significant disadvantage to rechargeable hearing aids, if you want to keep using aids for a long time. Replaceable battery aids, the battery dies, the user swaps it out and keeps going. Not so with rechargeables. Unfortunately the new AI aids coming out really need powerful rechargeable batteries to use for example AI noise reduction. You don’t get that feature if you have replaceable button-battery aids.
I don’t know if this is an issue with HA batteries, they are so small. But my old laptop (2010) which still worked ok up until an couple months ago, except for being slow and unable to be updated, decided to have the battery expand so much it pushed the trackpad up and out. I took it to disposal before it lit a fire or something.
WH
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Yes, original internal battery, left side is doing fine, I use St. Luke’s HB in Boise. Yes, it will be interesting to see what options my Audi gives me. I will update most likely next week when I hear from them.
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I’ve never heard of a hearing aid rechargeable battery beginning to expand like that–it does help that they are small–but I’ve certainly heard of laptop and lawn equipment batteries doing that. You did the prudent thing getting that laptop battery out of your house, because swelling batteries can be a warning sign of an impending fire that is difficult to extinguish. This is a reason we are told to never check any lithium ion battery in an airplane luggage hold. If a LIon battery were to catch fire in checked baggage, it could bring the jet down. Passenger airline crews have devices on board to contain an overheating LIon battery in the cabin.
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