Replacement KS10 (Phonak) rechargeable battery via Costco?

Hearing Aids
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#1

My summary added 11.30.2023: My Costco in Bend Oregon U.S.A. quoted @$200 for rechargeable battery replacement on KS10 HAs if they are out of warranty; no cost if within the USA 3 year warranty period. Interestingly she also said that she had some wiggle room if they were only slightly over the 3 year limit. About 2 week turn around.

Your experience with having Costco send KS10 aides to Phonak for rechargeable battery replacement:

  1. Are they still doing this as of November 2023?
  2. Approximate cost?
  3. Approximate turn around time?

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My 4-year old KS10s no longer make it through the day and need partial charging during the day. I am nearing end of trial of new Philips Hearlink and plan to return them and go back to KS10s. With Roger remote mic options, the KS10s/Phonak are better fit for my needs (and severe hearing loss) which now includes more situations in at least moderately noisy environments with several people.

Original battery had good longevity; I was usually quite careful with it. Meaning tried to never let it go much below 20% before recharging; rarely left in charger after fully charged. I had learned from numerous articles a decade ago that while rechargeable batteries all get the same number of lifetime recharging cycles, you can optimize those cycles by trying to use battery within the range of 20% to 80%; reducing quick charging in favor of slow charge; avoiding extreme temperatures. (Article for example BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University).

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#2

I don’t know but I’m doubtful since it’s out of warranty. All you can do is ask. If not, ask for possible suggestions. If none, call around to Phonak dealers, hearing aid repair places. Lloyd’s hearing aids might be a possibility.
I’m guessing cost could range anywhere from $200 to $600 for the pair. Turn around time 1-3 weeks should cover it. These are wild guesses with a big range, but I’m pretty confident cover most of the possibilities.

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#3

I had the same issue with battery life becoming noticeably worse, having bought them in Jan 2022. I sent them in to have the battery replaced in Aug 2023 and they were able to do it without any issues. I was still under warranty so it was free. It took a little less than 2 weeks, but I live near the service center so your mileage may vary.

It seems that though Costco no longer sells the Phonak/KS10 models, they are still able to send them in for service. IIRC Costco no longer receives priority service/shipping, though.

#4

As OP: Thanks all for input. My info FWIW:

  1. My Costco in Bend Oregon over the phone told me that they’d send HAs to Phonak & cost would be @$200 for replacement of rechargeable battery with turn around time of 2-3 weeks. I dropped them off today and was pleased to find out that they are still under warranty until Sept. 2024; so original battery probably would have been marginally serviceable for 30-34 months; meaning I currently need to do a 40 minute charge in early evening depending on how much streaming I have been doing.

  2. Lloyds Hearing Aids repair as suggested by MDB is good resource to know about. Cost would be @$150 + $13 to ship back to me + my cost of shipping to them. They never called me back so don’t know what that $150 covers and whether they then add on cost of parts. I had also left in voice mail ? of whether they replace batteries in Phonak Roger products e.g. Select, or Roger ON.
    The Roger “remote microphones” in my exp. with Select are far better than Philips HAs Audio Clip that I will be surrendering the Philips 9040 HAs to Costco as my 6 month trial is soon to end and I will revert back to KS10s. While I had lost my Roger Select in comparison to new pricing Select or even newer Roger ON is affordable on Ebay compared to new price of around $1,500. BUT longevity of used Roger mic would depend on being able to replace the rechargeable battery at a reasonable fee.

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#5

With apologies for detouring this useful thread (I have KS10 HAs), on the point about Roger battery replacement, has anyone attempted the Pen 1.1? I have a 2018-ish model and the battery is not long lived. I’m in the UK. If it could be replaced then it would make a useful addition to my newer On.

#6

I believe the KS10s were first available April, 2021. None should be out of warranty at this time, at least those with 3 year warranties in the U.S. market.
At that time, I asked about battery replacement after warranty and was quoted $135 or so. A lot has changed with Phonak and Costco since then, though.

#7

@garethjwells It seems possible, but NOT necessarily easy. This thread (What is the expected battery lifetime of Phonak Roger Select? - #12 by hold4triple) might be of help. If you do a search within the thread, there are numerous comments about PEN and battery.

I do not have PEN, but am looking at used Roger Select. For the latter, HAs repair places even that do onsite work, seem to send KS10/Paradise OR ROger mics back to Phonak for the battery replacement and cost is $200-225 per item - insanely expensive.

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#8

select battery

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#9

Thanks for this. I’ll look into it. I guess the high cost of Roger devices might make the battery replacement worthwhile. Emphasis on ‘might’.

I know I rely a lot on my Roger ON now, both for work/social events but also as a wireless bridge device. Similarly the Pen proved fundamental to my past life in the office as I had a set up where my desk phone was routed to the Roger pen and thence to my hearing aids. Nothing short of magical at the time.

Is much known about battery longevity in these devices?

#10

OP’s update … ? about others experience with battery replacement
My KS10s came back from Phonak with under warranty battery replacement so am happy to have them back and that it didn’t cost what would have been @$200 as I still had a few months of warranty. However I really wonder about the quality of the battery replacement meaning that while I am doing more streaming than usual, I am still needing to do a brief recharge in early evening to make it through the day/evening. Two other things have me concerned about the longevity of the rechargeable battery replacement; 1) While I haven’t accurately timed things yet, it seems that using the same Phonak charger as prior to battery replacement, the time to charge from15% to fully charged as reported by Easylink is taking much less time than with older battery. I expect this aspect is normal, meaning due to changes in battery chemistry a onlder battery has both less capacity and takes longer to charge fully. 2) My BT connection is to right HA so even though it needs a little less amplification than left HA the BT drains the right side far more quickly than the left. Currently the right HA shows about 21% more discharged than the left. With the older battery I recall this difference being more like 10%. Unless this right-left difference is due to a brand new battery without many discharge-charge cycles, I expect that in Target app every six months or so I will change which HA is the BT access point to even out my charge-discharge of dsichage for each battery.

Has anyone else had Phonak replace the batteries on LS10s or PhonakParadise> What has been your experience?

If I had to pay @$200 for battery replacement,I’d probably look toward buying a used pair of HAs that use 312 replaceable batteries.

#11

I had both KS10s refurbished last year due to the recharge issue. Everything went to Phonak, including the charger. They seemed fine on return and longevity of each charge seems in line with what I was getting. I do much more streaming of Teams via Roger now though, which does take it out of batteries.