Battery Consumption

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newtothis35
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Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2021 4:00 am

Battery Consumption

Post by newtothis35 »

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what everyone's experiences are with the battery life of the DM42 with the CR 2032? As of now I have only had one battery last me more than a few weeks out of multiple brands since I have received it. Are there specific brands you all enjoy or certain tips you might have for getting better battery life, (besides using it less) or is that just the nature of the CR 2032? I love the calculator and programming it has been extremely fun but I find having to be constantly weary of draining the battery stressful at times (having used it for multiple big tests).

Thank you everyone for sharing your personal experience.

PS: Someone mentioned before about a version of the DM42 with blues instead of yellows, and I second that 100%, I would love to see the DM42 with a bright blue like the bottom of the SwissMicros header.
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Walter
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by Walter »

You might know this already but you can operate your DM42 (with a good CR2032 cell inside) connected to an external USB power source. Then the necessary current will be supplied via this connection and the cell inside will be spared. That's recommended for worry-free operations.
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toml_12953
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by toml_12953 »

Walter wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:44 am
You might know this already but you can operate your DM42 (with a good CR2032 cell inside) connected to an external USB power source. Then the necessary current will be supplied via this connection and the cell inside will be spared. That's recommended for worry-free operations.
Yes and it runs at a higher clock speed, 80 Mhz vs 24 MHz for battery power.
Tom L

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newtothis35
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by newtothis35 »

Walter wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:44 am
You might know this already but you can operate your DM42 (with a good CR2032 cell inside) connected to an external USB power source. Then the necessary current will be supplied via this connection and the cell inside will be spared. That's recommended for worry-free operations.
I do actually know this, however, that actually reminds me of something else. Plugging it in only woks for me when it is a particular type of power source such as the grid or a(n) (on) computer going through the usb. I've used multiple brand battery packs to try and do that on the go but they do not recognize the dm42 as something that needs power so they automatically cut off power however long they were designed to after not seeing anything is charging. The way I see it is that this issue could rely on either the design of the DM42 or the battery packs themselves.
reavy
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by reavy »

Some battery packs have a(n often undocumented) mode for charging low-current devices. For example, several of My Anker brand battery packs will enter this mode after pressing and holding the button for a few seconds. A green light replaces one of the blue power level indicator lights, and then the pack stays on for approx. two hours regardless of whether anything is connected to it and drawing power. No documentation about this anywhere in the product manual or on the company’s web site, but some other users on the Internet mentioned it.

The normal cut-off current threshold is about 50 mA for many battery packs. I have seen dummy loads that periodically draw something like this just often enough to keep the pack from turning off.
newtothis35
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by newtothis35 »

reavy wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:31 pm
Some battery packs have a(n often undocumented) mode for charging low-current devices. For example, several of My Anker brand battery packs will enter this mode after pressing and holding the button for a few seconds. A green light replaces one of the blue power level indicator lights, and then the pack stays on for approx. two hours regardless of whether anything is connected to it and drawing power. No documentation about this anywhere in the product manual or on the company’s web site, but some other users on the Internet mentioned it.

The normal cut-off current threshold is about 50 mA for many battery packs. I have seen dummy loads that periodically draw something like this just often enough to keep the pack from turning off.
That is some great information! I'll look into that with the one I have and maybe I will just have to look at Anker's line of products eventually. Much appreciated.
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pica
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by pica »

I use the DM42 almost daily, and usually generic cr2032 cells last over a year. The only exception was when I tried to run a pre-release version of dm42pgm, that did odd things, including draining the battery. However, that stopped when running standard the standard dm42.pgm, or the latest unofficial dm42pcm.pgm. My dm42 is now quite old- SN:00293, 2017
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ijabbott
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by ijabbott »

I use my DM42 fairly infrequently, but it's still using its original CR2032 from nearly 4 years ago. I just turned it on and it is showing 2.81V.
svarre69
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Re: Battery Consumption

Post by svarre69 »

This has been mentioned before, but a CR2032 coin cell can be of poor quality. I use only the known brands such as Duracell, Maxcell, Varta, Panasonic or something like. Don't use the cheap ones usually found in large bulk collections in supermarkets. They are usually of bad quality for long lasting stuff.
All the best
Peter
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