Phonak L90 sometimes red LED after charging - what does that mean?

Hearing Aids
#8

In the summer, the room with the dehumidifier gets very warm, probably >90F (a guess) overnight. Then I open it up in the morning, and don’t have to worry about my dust mite allergy. The room has foam sound-proofing for recording music.

I live in Florida, and choose not to use the AC. I work outdoors 2-5 days per week, and I find if you live in AC, you never get acclimated to the heat.

I thought the dehumidified room would help dry the aids.

Last night I moved the charger out of the dehumidified room, and they charged just fine. No red lights, and 100% in both ears.

If that is consistent, I’ll figure it was the heat, if not, look for something else.

All in all, I like the L90s better than my old OPNs, but I really prefer the old, replaceable batteries.

Recharging seems like a good idea, less cardboard/plastic/battery waste, but the trade-off is less dependability. Eventually the rechargeable battery will have to be replaced.

With the old batteries, I would change them twice a week, and never have a problem.

On the other hand, having the rechargeables in a sealed case means my aids are more water-resistant to perspiration and an occasional rain shower.

Next time, if they offer a choice, I’ll choose replaceable batteries.

#9

Are hearing aid batteries also subject to the cold? My dad used to store his in the fridge, but I’d always keep mine at room temp in a dry drawer.

BTW for those who “mothball” a pair of rechargeables, I was told by a Phonak rep yesterday that ONE WEEK is the optimal time for disuse. Beyond that, one risks the rechargeable aid flaking out, not waking up or perhaps not charging to full capacity.

So I will continue to swap my two pairs of rechargeable Lumity Life aids every other day TFN.

#10

One last thought: what about the wall socket they were plugged in to? If the charger is working as indicated by moving the unit outside of the hot room, perhaps it wasn’t drawing current when plugged in?

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#11

Add to that list:

  1. More bulky gear to travel with (charging base, power cord).
  2. Inconvenient to ever put aids in UV/sanitizer unit cuz whenever they come out of ears, one is anxious to CHARGE THEM UP.
  3. Safety issue if one is in a war zone, traveling overseas, camping, etc., and always needs a power source to recharge aids. I used to travel with a month’s supply of batteries when I wore my Marvel aids.
  4. Inconvenience of needing wall socket no matter where one is - hotel, relatives, etc. Charger is only good for 3 full charge-ups before it needs to be plugged in.
  5. Rechargeables have trouble-shooting issues: both aids AND charging base need to be checked if performance issues crop up.
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#12

Never, ever keep any batteries in the refrigerator. Remember how your car has a hard time starting in the cold? It’s because the battery is cold.

There was an urban myth going around years ago that got people to store batteries in the fridge.

So, should you? The answer from battery makers is a uniform and unequivocal.

“That’s a long-held myth, and the answer is no,” says Tom Van Voy of Panasonic Energy Corp. of America.

All the major brands recommend a clean, dry, room-temperature environment.

1Bluejay - I totally agree, but what can we do? Everyone has gone to recharge.

So far, not putting the aids/charger in the dehumidified studio has worked. No more red lights and partial charges. I’ll do it again tonight.

Bob

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#13

@kevels55 was in the mountains I believe with not so easy people (clients not colleagues) he worked with at his work.

His rechargeable Aids cut out due to the cold and he needed his charger to restart Aids but was not easily able to pop home to sort.

Since then, he’s wanted disposable batteries.

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#14

Not in the mountains Ruth, I was actually on the Black Isle, weather was around-8C or -10C, rechargeable Li-on batteries have a BMS (Battery Management System) and as such, they are designed to cut out around -1C, they will not reboot until placed back in the charging dock, once the BMS cuts in… Your body heat, will make the temperature variable. This happened twice to me, a couple of weeks apart, on both occasions I had 5 extremely challenging clients, whom had been sentenced by the courts to do Community Service, lone working, out in the sticks, and leaving me in a very vulnerable situation, fortunately they behaved, but it was slightly stressful… My first, and definitely my last experience of using rechargeable aids, even though I was past my trial date, Phonak swapped them out for the replaceable battery version, without a quibble, those Marvel 90’s still work perfectly well, I used them very recently for a couple of months, although they have an inherent fault of blowing 105db receivers, they only last about a year… Cheers Kev :wink:

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#15

Just had to Google where that was. :slight_smile:

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#16

Aye Ruth, if we step back in in history, it was called the Black Isle because it was once upon a time covered in trees, I lived on the Black Isle for many years, In Avoch (pronounced Awk) moved slightly north about 11 years ago, approximately 20 miles, I miss it, but tragedy struck, our boy was killed, a Scania lorry mechanic on a call-out (at midnight) he won the UK Scania apprentice of the year, in 2009, he was only 22 years old when he died, he hit Black Ice, then hit a tree head on, Keez mercifully died instantly… But, my wife couldn’t bare to look at his room door every day, he was such a larger than life character, so we moved… I can see the Black Isle from my living room window, it holds a lot of bitter-sweet memories for me, but most of these memories are full of joy & laughter… Cheers Kev :wink:

#17

Thanks for sharing Kev.

:sunflower:

I’m glad it hold happy memories as well.

My friend has just come back from visiting all the Islands. Her pictures are amazing.

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#18

Thank you Ruth, tis very much appreciated :heart:… Technically speaking, the Black Isle is a peninsula, although it is nearly surrounded by water, 2 rivers at its west end, almost cutting it off, The River Conon, and The River Beauly… Weirdly though, your emoji was Keez favourite flower, The Sunflower… :sunflower: Xx

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#19

My favourite flower as well.

:sunflower::honeybee::sunflower::honeybee::sunflower::honeybee::sunflower::honeybee::sunflower:

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#20

You may have just discovered the crux of it all! Hope that’s the final solution for your charging mysteries.

#21

OW. I can SO empathize. Last thing we want on the job (or really, ANY place) is for aids to go OFF on us. This is another clear example why Phonak (and others) need to keep making battery-operated aids an option for us.

If I had battery-operated Lumity Life aids, I’d need ONE pair (not TWO), and ONE Roger stick, not TWO. (yes others are happy to xfer licenses back and forth all day, but not me) I’d travel with slim packs of batteries and not a clunky charger that needs reliable power to plug in to.

I’d have a LOT more confidence away from home, not worrying when WWIII will begin and will I have any power anywhere to charge my lil’ ol’ aids up in the thick of things. It shouldn’t be like this.

#22

Well, I am just going to say that is extremely poignant, and took my breath away. You stay safe, and wife, too, as you are still here with us and sharing your insights and experiences.

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#23

Thank you @1Bluejay… :heart: Unfortunately, tragedy usually doesn’t come alone, fate, cause, and effect, will usually come into play… Keez girlfriend Ali died 10 weeks later, in his car! And, I gave her the car… The anguish & guilt I felt, was truthfully unimaginable, Ali had begged & pleaded for the car, it was a Skoda Fabia VRS, a souped up Derv, 197 BHP, and Ali was in that Fabia, probably just as much as Keez? They had been going out together for about 3 years, and Ali lived just as much in our house, as she was at home, she was essentially family… The value of the car wasn’t the issue, you don’t care about monetary things when someone passes, I was worried it might be too powerful, and so it proved… Basically Ali took a corner too quick, went into a skid in heavy rain, hit a deviation sign post, which the car ramped up, and hit a very large tree, hitting the tree, roof first, killing her instantly, and the young guy she was giving a lift too…It took many years, for me to come to terms with, I am acutely aware, I couldn’t honestly have refused Ali that car, it was her connection to Keez, but in hindsight, had I refused, she might not have spoken to me again, but she may have lived to tell the tale? My extreme apologies for the thread hijack…Kev x

#24

It isn’t yet game over for disposable batteries. The following is a listing from the hearing aid guide on this site. I filtered by severe hearing loss (to limit it to prescription aids) and by receiver-in-canal aids (to exclude BTE and custom aids, where rechargeables mostly haven’t made inroads yet):

https://www.hearingtracker.com/hearing-aids/compare/f/featured/all/*/all/all/all/severe/receiver-in-canal

It lists 16 product families, but one of them is Jabra Enhance Select which is OTC, so it’s really 15 product families. 11 families include disposable battery RIC models. The 4 that don’t are Phonak Lumity, Starkey Genesis AI, Signia Pure IX, and Signia Styletto AX.

So right now 11 of 15 RIC product families have disposable battery options. As for where we’re going, the greater sales of rechargeable aids certainly is reason to worry for those of us who don’t want them. But I recall a recent post by @1Bluejay, saying that a Phonak rep told her they’re going to re-introduce disposables, which I assume means in Lumity or the followup flagship line. Meanwhile, there are disposable battery choices out there, and giving up on them won’t help keep them around in the future. I’m glad to have just bought a pair of Oticon Reals powered by 312 batteries.

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Dear Phonak, your Lumity battery isn't good enough
What would you do in a storm with rechargeable hearing aids?!
Dear Phonak, your Lumity battery isn't good enough
#25

Sorry for your losses, kevels55.

Years ago I went to Scotland, all the way to the Outer Hebrides, beautiful country and I met some very nice people there.

Back on topic.

Another night out of the dehumidified room and they charged with no red lights. It’s looking like the temperature was the problem.

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#26

I have had some phonak recharging issues and have taken to switching the aids off prior to putting them in the charger. You can then see when they start charging (and confirm that you have inserted them properly).
Another vote for disposable batteries) :slight_smile:
Hth someone.

#27

Moving them out of the dehumidified (and hot) room solved the problem.

I don’t turn them off before putting them in the charger, they are supposed to do that automatically.

After all these years, it seems odd not to have to change batteries twice a week, however, I would still prefer disposable batteries. I know that eventually the capacity of these batteries will diminish, all rechargeable batteries do that. Plus with spare disposables being so easy to stash anywhere, there is security in knowing that a spare is in my pocket, on my keychain.