Cobalt 2 vs Cobalt 1 battery life
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cotemx76
New
Hi Ron / Everyone,
I know the last response was a while back, but instead of opening a new thread I figured I would try this one first as it describes my problem exactly. Hopefully it finds Ron!
I have only 14 dives on my new Cobalt 2 computer, most recently 8 dives in Belize and 2 weeks later a day trip to Anacapa Island (CA) with 3 dives. The problem has now happened twice:
1) I started the Belize trip with a full charge and after 3 days of diving was down to about 50% before heading home. This seemed normal. Arriving home 2 days later, the computer was fully discharged and it would not wake up (I remember manually placing into sleep mode and then carried it with me in my carry on luggage). After a few minutes on the charger the computer woke up and I was at 1% charge. Got back to 100% and put it away.
2) Fast forward 2 weeks and when getting ready for my day trip the computer was at 84%. All seemed normal (loss of 1-2% per day). After completing 3 dives in cold water (59 deg) I was now down to 50%. Cleaned gear, hung to dry and when I went to download dives the following day I was at 1%.
Since Ron has been so helpful I figured I would start here before contacting Atomic directly. Thank you in advance any for help with this issue!
-Dwayne
I know the last response was a while back, but instead of opening a new thread I figured I would try this one first as it describes my problem exactly. Hopefully it finds Ron!
I have only 14 dives on my new Cobalt 2 computer, most recently 8 dives in Belize and 2 weeks later a day trip to Anacapa Island (CA) with 3 dives. The problem has now happened twice:
1) I started the Belize trip with a full charge and after 3 days of diving was down to about 50% before heading home. This seemed normal. Arriving home 2 days later, the computer was fully discharged and it would not wake up (I remember manually placing into sleep mode and then carried it with me in my carry on luggage). After a few minutes on the charger the computer woke up and I was at 1% charge. Got back to 100% and put it away.
2) Fast forward 2 weeks and when getting ready for my day trip the computer was at 84%. All seemed normal (loss of 1-2% per day). After completing 3 dives in cold water (59 deg) I was now down to 50%. Cleaned gear, hung to dry and when I went to download dives the following day I was at 1%.
Since Ron has been so helpful I figured I would start here before contacting Atomic directly. Thank you in advance any for help with this issue!
-Dwayne
RonR
Contributor
Dwayne,
The power consumption seems little high in diving, unless maybe it’s on the brightest setting. But the sudden drop while it should be asleep is not right. A full battery should give 5-6 months of standby power.
The first thing I ask is the storage situation. If the pins on the Cobalt are bridged by being in a wet environment (such as a damp gear bag), or by having metal contacts (like storing with the adapter in place) bridging them, the Cobalt won’t ever go into true sleep, but will keep sampling rapidly and will run the battery down in a few days, even though the display will be dark. Sometimes this can be brought on by salt collecting around the pins- try washing them out with fresh water.
One way to check this is to dip the Cobalt in water, without pressing any buttons. If it is in true sleep, it will immediately come up to the dive screen. If there is no response, it wasn’t in sleep mode.
If you have been seeing this kind of power drop consistently in a dry environment, then it is possible an ESD protection component on the board has taken a hit, and that might be preventing true sleep. It’s also possible there is a defective battery that is sometimes having a high rate of internal discharge. Both of these would be warranty repairs, but let’s look at the simpler and more likely explanations first.
Has this drop when in storage only happened right after diving? That would indicate something to do with the pins or storage.
I’ll send you some instructions for looking at battery diagnostics.
Ron
The power consumption seems little high in diving, unless maybe it’s on the brightest setting. But the sudden drop while it should be asleep is not right. A full battery should give 5-6 months of standby power.
The first thing I ask is the storage situation. If the pins on the Cobalt are bridged by being in a wet environment (such as a damp gear bag), or by having metal contacts (like storing with the adapter in place) bridging them, the Cobalt won’t ever go into true sleep, but will keep sampling rapidly and will run the battery down in a few days, even though the display will be dark. Sometimes this can be brought on by salt collecting around the pins- try washing them out with fresh water.
One way to check this is to dip the Cobalt in water, without pressing any buttons. If it is in true sleep, it will immediately come up to the dive screen. If there is no response, it wasn’t in sleep mode.
If you have been seeing this kind of power drop consistently in a dry environment, then it is possible an ESD protection component on the board has taken a hit, and that might be preventing true sleep. It’s also possible there is a defective battery that is sometimes having a high rate of internal discharge. Both of these would be warranty repairs, but let’s look at the simpler and more likely explanations first.
Has this drop when in storage only happened right after diving? That would indicate something to do with the pins or storage.
I’ll send you some instructions for looking at battery diagnostics.
Ron
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