1M battery/power issue?

[Darren Clemons]

We've had our 1m for almost a year now - June of 2015. The last few weeks we've had some strange issues going on with acquiring ANY full validated/verified shots in ANY coverage at all. We have three identical systems: a 1m base, HPT35BT radio and an LS. With this, we have been able to mix/match some to troubleshoot and have narrowed the problem down to the oldest of our 1m bases.
What is typically happening is about 2 hours into the job, it's like a switch is just turned off. NOTE: The battery indicator on the 1m is always still yellow by this time - NOT red. It will be off a full charge as I hook it up almost every night. The LS will just quit doing almost anything - yes it's in mostly heavy coverage, but hey that's why we've got three of these things - they work almost anywhere! I'm not talking "struggling" for 10/15 minutes going through several buckets, I'm talking maybe 5 "clicks" TOTAL in 35 minutes. I've reset tracking many many times but that doesn't help. We've tried both the 1w and the 35w radio - both of which are at 100% reception at these areas and neither will make a difference.
We were at a point today right at my 2 hour into the job window and bang, just stopped. The point was barely marginal (for this machine ) being 6' out of a fence row on the open field side. Stayed there for 15 minutes collecting 3 different 5 minute Dpos sessions but never even got through first phase of the RTK. My partner went and got our external battery and plugged it into the 1m and - bang!! The LS immediately started clicking away like crazy. Went through all three phases of verification without a pause. As soon as I stored that one I started over and it never missed a beat - 5 more uninterrupted 6 full engine minutes.
So, it's definitely a power issue inside the 1m, but my question is how can it still show yellow on the indicator, coming off a full charge overnight and just stop after two hours?
Maybe 1 year is the life of these internal batteries? I have once let it drain all way down til it powers off and then re charged. I'm doing that again tonight. Not sure if the battles inside these "build a memory" like some of the older system I've had did.
Just curious if anyone who has the 1m - LS combo has had anything at all similar going on.

 

[Matt Johnson]

I have attached base and rover data for the 2 points (20 and 22) when Darren was having trouble. I was able to process both these points with the base data with good solutions.

 

[Darren Clemons]

Thanks Matt, what happened right there was 20, 21 & 22 were all 5 minutes sessions with not even close to an RTK solution though. Point 22, during the 5 minute session only had collected a total of 4 "clicks". One bucket with 2, and two single click buckets. Again, this point wasn't even that difficult as far as canopy. Out in the edge of an open field.
After point 22, we switched to external battery (while still sitting on the same point) and easily, without any struggle whatsoever, collected 300 seconds of uninterrupted 5/6 fixed engine RTK data. The battery on the 1m was still showing yellow at this time.
It's great that the points processed, but what we've got to figure out is why it stopped collecting RTK data at this point in the job.

 

[Sean Joyce]

Darren;
FWIW from what I have read that the best way to charge and discharge lithium batteries is to charge them when they are about 40% and charge them to 100% or slightly less.
They don't develop a memory like the NiCads of old and running them dry is not good for them.
there is a lot of info written about this.

 

[toivo1037]

Darren,
Only a year isn't that great for a battery, even if you are using it a ton. It is strange that the indicator is still yellow, I guess you could take that unit after using for 2 hrs and hook it up to the computer and see what the voltage on the board is.

It does sound like you have it narrowed down to low voltage though. A good thing about the T-1, and I asked this before I bought my set, is that the battery is user-replaceable. We can order one up from Javad, and drop it in ourselves.
https://www.javad.com/dynamic/Shop/Product/1905

I wanted to make sure they were not sealed units with a $1000 charge to swap the batteries. Like most other things, Javad is about the unit, not screwing us on the little tings.

 

[Darren Clemons]

Darren,
Only a year isn't that great for a battery, even if you are using it a ton. It is strange that the indicator is still yellow, I guess you could take that unit after using for 2 hrs and hook it up to the computer and see what the voltage on the board is.

It does sound like you have it narrowed down to low voltage though. A good thing about the T-1, and I asked this before I bought my set, is that the battery is user-replaceable. We can order one up from Javad, and drop it in ourselves.
https://www.javad.com/dynamic/Shop/Product/1905

I wanted to make sure they were not sealed units with a $1000 charge to swap the batteries. Like most other things, Javad is about the unit, not screwing us on the little tings.

Thanks for the info T, I wasn't aware I could purchase these and put them in. That being said, it's been boxed up and shipped out this afternoon to San Jose - just afraid something else may be wrong with it so they're going to give it a going over.