Battery life

If you're having problems with the hardware of a DM41X or DM42, post about them here.
tbruylan
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:31 pm

Re: Battery life

Post by tbruylan »

rprosperi wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:28 am
tbruylan wrote:
Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:43 pm
Hi, not sure if still relevant, but I have the same issue. Put in a fresh battery (tried Panasonic and Varta) and it drains in about 3 to 4 weeks. Is this the expected lifetime of a battery, or is something wrong? Calculator usage is also limited to a few minutes per day max.
A few is... how many?

And are those few minutes pressing buttons for manual calculations, or is it a few minutes of continuous program execution?

If only 3-4 minutes per day of manual entry and batteries die in 3-4 weeks, I'd look into it further.

Otoh, if this means 5-10 minutes daily of mostly continuous program execution, I'd say 3-4 weeks isn't bad at all.

More info will help to give better feedback.
Well, the calculator is sitting on my desk at home and I'm not yet making a lot of use of it. Usage basically means turning on the calculator daily to check the voltage (diagnostics menu) and turning it back off. I could literally see the voltage dropping every day. My battery just ran out a few days ago. It measures 2.01V (after removing it from the calculator), so it's empty.

Maybe important to specify: My device was still running DMCP 3.7 (I only noticed when the battery was already close to empty). Thus, I upgraded to DMCP 3.9a a few days before the battery finally ran out. Tomorrow, I will insert a brand new battery. But, I'm going to measure the calculator's current draw first (while at work in our lab with the proper equipment, as shown by @keithdalby). I hope the firmware upgrade to DMCP 3.9a fixed the issue :)

I will report about my findings :)

PS: Looking at the PCB, I see that R12 (one of the resistors next to the USB header) is not populated. Is this expected? If a resistor should be there, what value?
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akaTB
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Re: Battery life

Post by akaTB »

tbruylan wrote:
Sun Sep 09, 2018 5:33 pm
rprosperi wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:28 am
tbruylan wrote:
Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:43 pm
Hi, not sure if still relevant, but I have the same issue. Put in a fresh battery (tried Panasonic and Varta) and it drains in about 3 to 4 weeks. Is this the expected lifetime of a battery, or is something wrong? Calculator usage is also limited to a few minutes per day max.
A few is... how many?

And are those few minutes pressing buttons for manual calculations, or is it a few minutes of continuous program execution?

If only 3-4 minutes per day of manual entry and batteries die in 3-4 weeks, I'd look into it further.

Otoh, if this means 5-10 minutes daily of mostly continuous program execution, I'd say 3-4 weeks isn't bad at all.

More info will help to give better feedback.
Well, the calculator is sitting on my desk at home and I'm not yet making a lot of use of it. Usage basically means turning on the calculator daily to check the voltage (diagnostics menu) and turning it back off. I could literally see the voltage dropping every day. My battery just ran out a few days ago. It measures 2.01V (after removing it from the calculator), so it's empty.

Maybe important to specify: My device was still running DMCP 3.7 (I only noticed when the battery was already close to empty). Thus, I upgraded to DMCP 3.9a a few days before the battery finally ran out. Tomorrow, I will insert a brand new battery. But, I'm going to measure the calculator's current draw first (while at work in our lab with the proper equipment, as shown by @keithdalby). I hope the firmware upgrade to DMCP 3.9a fixed the issue :)

I will report about my findings :)

PS: Looking at the PCB, I see that R12 (one of the resistors next to the USB header) is not populated. Is this expected? If a resistor should be there, what value?
For me this issue seems related to the upgrade to version 3.9a.bin
My beta unit started to deplete batteries in a couple of days; voltage indicator kept lowering while looking at it.
I had no issues after reflashing 3.8.bin both with 3.7.1 & 3.9.1 pgm.
Greetings,
    Massimo
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tbruylan
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:31 pm

Re: Battery life

Post by tbruylan »

I made some power measurement (see attached screenshots).

Connected the calculator to a 3.00V power supply with Imax set to 20mA, and in series a precision multimeter to measure the current in uA range. The calculator boots fine.

It runs DMCP 3.9a and PGM 3.9.1
dm42_about.jpg
dm42_about.jpg (89.84 KiB) Viewed 9187 times
.

Current draws measured:
  • ON - 490uA
    dm42_on.jpg
    dm42_on.jpg (73.27 KiB) Viewed 9187 times
  • OFF - 420uA
    dm42_off.jpg
    dm42_off.jpg (76.93 KiB) Viewed 9187 times
  • With USB cable connected - 6uA (no screenshot)
So, calculating from a 230mAh CR2032, it theoretically drains in about 22 days, which is coherent with my practical experience.

I tested DMCP 3.8 with PGM 3.9.1 and without a PGM loaded, but the current measurements remained the same.
grsbanks
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Re: Battery life

Post by grsbanks »

You should definitely update to DMCP 3.9a because that fixes an issue with powering the QSPI chip down.

Battery drain when powered down should be around 6uA, not 500uA.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who do not.
tbruylan
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:31 pm

Re: Battery life

Post by tbruylan »

Well, as stated in my post, it is running DMCP 3.9a and it is consuming 420uA in OFF state.
grsbanks
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Re: Battery life

Post by grsbanks »

Sorry, I missed that.

I've passed the info on.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who do not.
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akaTB
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Re: Battery life

Post by akaTB »

grsbanks wrote:
Mon Sep 10, 2018 1:42 pm
Sorry, I missed that.

I've passed the info on.
And Michael already knows about my issues with 3.9a...
Greetings,
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ijabbott
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Re: Battery life

Post by ijabbott »

It sounds a bit like a leaky capacitor somewhere.
tbruylan
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:31 pm

Re: Battery life

Post by tbruylan »

So, I received a replacement (a brand new DM42). To verify, I measured the standby current of this new DM42, and it consumes a perfect low 3.4uA.
IMG_4943.jpg
IMG_4943.jpg (101.31 KiB) Viewed 9029 times
SwissMicros is really taking a no-nonse approach as advertised. Their service is great, as are their products :) Thanks.
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groenewe
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Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2017 11:49 am

Re: Battery life

Post by groenewe »

battery died without using the Dm42 in 13 days..... Aargghgggg!
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