Rechargeable Lumity Life NOT holding its charge anymore

Hearing Aids
#1

I’ve had my rechargeable Lumity Life aids since September. Since I only ever got 10-12 hrs of use before the rechargeable would DIE, I bought an identical pair of rechargeable Lumity Life aids (in a diff color) to put on after Cinderella’s 12 hrs were up. This would often happen when traveling or putting in a long day. OFTEN!

I thought I’d game the system a bit, so for the last 3 mos, about half-way through the day, I’d just put in the other pair of aids. That meant I never lost power on any pair I was wearing … until yesterday! Now the older pair of these Life aids starts giving me a warning beep about 2-3 hours after use! When I check the battery level on my cell phone it says 70% but that can’t be, cuz I’m getting a beep in the LEFT aid (and that’s the one that dies on me).

Is it the case that as I don’t wear the battery down 100% it is not charging up 100% any more? Is it a problem with the charging station or my aid? Any thoughts are most welcome. I’ll try charging up the newer pair in the same charging station to test out one theory, otherwise I need to take the aids & charging station back to my audi to send in.

I hate being without the Life aids cuz I really do get a noticeable improvement in hearing, but at least I have Marvel BATTERY backups. We’ve all beaten the topic of battery vs rechargeable beyond death but here we are again! Newer aids NOT released with a battery option. For folks with cinderblock ears like mine, I need a solution to get through 14-16 hrs a day with EARS.

#2

Had the same thing happen. Turns out one of the hearing aids wasn’t pushed all the way into the charger and it didn’t charge properly. I think the wire of that hearing aids was sitting on top of the wire for the other hearing aid in the charger and it slowly shifted upwards during charging and the contacts disconnected. Now I’m careful when putting them into the charger and it hasn’t happened again.

Jordan

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#3

That could also be the case. I really try to SEAT these aids in the charger till they start winking. But even tho I did that last night with my older Lumity Life aids, I got the warning beep 2 hours into today. Much appreciate your input here and will try that charger again tonight with the other pair of Lumity aids.

#4

@1Bluejay: I resolved, for New Year’s, never, EVER to post on this subject again, unless at least two members post on the subject before me!

Solves that one!

[Changed my mind! Make that “two members including myself”]

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#5

I need my own planet populated by obsessive folks with cinderblock ears like ME.

Luckily I have rechargeables AND battery-operated aids, so I can play both sides of the fence. :upside_down_face:

#6

@1Bluejay: Are you still sold on the Lumify aids?

#7

Nothing against the Lumity per se. A great hearing aid! But rechargeable vs. disposable, that’s why I opted to buy disposable battery-powered Omnias instead of the Li-ion-powered Lumitys with a relatively shorter runtime, especially if streaming, until needing to be recharged. To maximize long-term Li-ion battery lifespan, I prefer to manage battery charge EV-like by staying between 80% and 20% SOC. That means that I only get to use 60% of the full charge range during the day before I need to recharge. To do that with the Lumitys, I was recharging 2 to 3 times a day (counting my initial charge for the day as I never let the HA’s sit overnight at 100% charge).

Also, I had the experience with ReSound Quattros that when I turned them in after three years for warranty "refurbishment, I got back replacement HA’s that didn’t have a brand-new battery capacity (didn’t check the Quattro warranty details but these days a lot of warranties only say that you will be issued a replacement with the same quality batteries as expected from your years of usage).

I also wanted a battery that would withstand the summer heat in Texas, sometimes over 110 deg F. Although ReSound and Phonak both say their Li-ion products can be used up to 104 deg F, I think from other sources, the Li-ion batteries will more rapidly degrade if used at anything up into the 90’s, for sure.

Perhaps @1Bluejay if you have two sets of Lumitys and you’re keeping your spare backup charged at 100% through the night and into the day until you need to switch, keeping that one set at 100% charge most of the night and day might be part of the reason for any deterioration you’re facing. If I were you, I’d rotate which set of Lumitys is the day’s backup just so both sets spend ~equal time at 100% charge awaiting their turn at secondary use later in the day.

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#8

Egad ! Zeus! If they had told me it would only have been 5 short months, had I waited, and I could have had a set of genuine Oticon brand More1 hearing aids that used disposable batteries, and not those pesky rechargeables! Gadzooks!

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#9

Just to clarify, on the after-warranty lifetime of rechargeable batteries, it wasn’t the ReSound Quattro batteries that I didn’t like. They were great. With my EV-like management of SOC (between 20% and 80%), the batteries in my original ReSound right HA were almost as good as new after three years use, not exposing them to the hottest Texas summer days outdoors for any prolonged length of time. It was the refurbishment replacement policy of ReSound at the end of the warranty period in not giving me refurbished HA’s with batteries like new that made me decide to switch to disposables. During the warranty period, though, every replacement that I did get had a battery like new, with one exception. Maybe ReSound just got tired of giving me like new replacements?

#10

@1Bluejay
Are you by any chance using Android 12 on your cell?
There is an known issue with it keeping the BT communicating (and using power) even when not streaming.

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#11

YES, I’m still very much sold on that Lumity Life line about “better speech comprehension”! So much so that I overlook the bulkier size of these “beans” that are the result of Phonak’s attempt at “water-proofing”.

In fact, even as I’m leery of rechargeable aids, I now know that I have to KEEP these Lumity Life aids due to that 10-12% extra sliver of comprehension! It sounds goofy! But I actually DO detect a noticeable difference in many situations: hubs is halfway upstairs, back turned to me and asks something unrelated to anything and I understand him (even without a context). Or neighbor is across the street about 40’ away, chatting with me - and without our shouting, we can carry on a lively conversation. Or I’m in a doctor’s office and all staff is masked up. Gal with back turned to me asks about my app’t schedule. These are the tiny - but very critical “miracles” I’ve wanted for decades of wearing aids. There are even a handful of times when I’ll hear something in a movie that hubs doesn’t catch. MIRACOLO!

The other benefit to the Lumity Life aids over my Phonak Marvels is that I rarely - if ever - have to manually change a program. That’s not to say they’re perfect. In WIND, these Life aids dampen down so low I can barely hear someone right next to me. But I don’t have to put them into the other programs I’d be using on my Marvels.

In sum: Lumity Life aids are still NOT perfect, but they are significantly better than my Marvels so that I’ll be keeping them.

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#12

YES. I have a Samsung Flip-4 phone and it has Android 12. However, I may have zeroed in on the problem: the charger!

Last night I put my NEWER Life aids into the problematic charger. This morning, after a full night of charging, the aids were both flashing ORANGE when I took them out. I’ll see how long they last, but I’m guessing within an hour or so, I’ll get the warning beep.

I put the OLDER Life aids into the charger that had been working. When I lifted the lid, both aids were blinking GREEN, so I’m assuming they’re charged up. If the aids I’m wearing now go down shortly, I’ll put those older Life aids in and see how many hours I get.

I know. I know. Just KICK ME. Put duct tape on my fingers! Stop me from pecking the obvious here: rechargeable aids are problematic compared to battery ones. Now I have two things to trouble-shoot every time this happens: is it my AIDS? Or is it the CHARGER.

Back in the day of my Marvels, I’d get a bum battery every now and then, and about every 3 yrs the speakers would die on the aids, but it seemed more straightforward for me to diagnose.

#13

I have Lumity 90 Life too.
Have you tried resetting the bad charger by pushing a pin into the reset button on the bottom?

I’m a bit suspicious of your low battery life, I get about 16 hours per charge and that’s only until the first warning chime so I could probably push to 17/18 if I had to. I stream a lot and am almost always connected to my phone. Target shows an average of 15.6 hours per day.

Is there anything that you think might be draining your battery so much?

The only thing that I’ve noticed that seems to overly drain the battery is listening to audio books on Audible which seems to burn way more power than movies, radio or music, very strange.

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#14

Phonak recommends to switch Bluetooth off due to approx. 30% faster battery drain until you update to Android 13, wherein the problem is solved.

See here:
https://product-support.phonak.com/s/article/High-battery-drain-on-Hearing-Instruments-paired-with-Android-12L-12-1?language=en_US

#15

Your comment is spot on. Speech comprehension is notably better with Lumity and that is reason enough to buy them.

Jordan

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#16

The issue is being on Android 12……

#18

Hm. That’s what’s in the back of my mind. I was so hoping to just use the two pairs to get through my 14-16 hour days, but now I’m wondering about the old wives’ tale of rechargeable batteries needing to be completely discharged before being charged up again. For me, that would cause some awkward moments! I don’t even like waiting to hear the warning beeps. I’d rather enjoy a normal day without any pause in hearing as I’d have to excuse myself (usually during the evening movie - or any social gathering after 8pm) and then get to my spare pair (usually plugged in here at home).

I suppose I could travel with my Marvel aids and some batteries at all times … but then I’d miss that noticeable sliver of better speech comprehension as well as not having to change programs pretty much ever. On top of which the Marvels have 3 different programs than my Life aids, so I’d have to fiddle-faddle around and try to remember the program lineup.

If my current problem is due to a faulty charger, that seems pretty easy to fix. If it’s a question of needing to drain the rechargeable aid to zero, I’m up a stinkin’ creek with a paddle full of holes.

#19

I do still want to test out the charging base … this morning’s observation was ODD. Why would an entire night in the charger leave these Life aids winking orange? In my other charger, they wink green after a full night’s charging.

FINGERS CROSSED it’s the charging base, but yes, I agree that Android 12 PLUS my cinderblock ears and being a POWER user are taking their toll on these rechargeables’ usability for more than 12 hours. :neutral_face:

#20

My recollection of this issue when it plagued me was that only the main Bluetooth aid would drain very quickly whilst the other would be fine.
As it says in that link that you provided, by the end of the day one aid would be on 30% and the other on 0%.
Once I fixed the issue all that happened was that the main BT aid drained at the same rate, I don’t remember actually getting longer once the issue was fixed.

It is actually possible to fix under Android 12: if “Enable Gabeldorsche” shows up under Developer Options then enabling that fixes the issue. Alas people have reported back that that particular option isn’t there for Galaxies, shame as it is for Pixels and probably other models.

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#21

HEY! I didn’t even know about that button! So I think I’ll go try that, too! :smiley:

Altho my cellphone has Android 12, I don’t even use it that much. My total phone call use is maybe an hour to 1.5 hrs per day; I stream music maybe 45 min during workout a few days a week. I realize our audiograms are different … I’m pretty much a FLATLINER way WAY down there in the cinderblock zone. Perhaps it’s multi-factorial?

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