My nastygram to SRI over the Teric Battery Issues

[Manatee Diver]

Figured I would share this here as I am on my last straw with the Terics.

I am incredibly frustrated with the Teric. I own two Terics that I purchased in 2019. In the last four years each Teric has had at least 6 repairs/replacement due to battery issues for each computer. Each time I am told "This will fix it," and each time it doesn't.

I've followed all the recommendations, turning off fast charging, not charging after every dive but after it reaches 50-60%, and using an official Shearwater charger. But almost exactly a year after a battery replacement the battery life suddenly plummets off a cliff, instead of being able to go a month between charges now it goes two weeks, and it will get progressively worse in the coming weeks.

This is completely unacceptable that a battery with little more than 12 charge cycles is having this sort of drastic wear. My current smartwatch is two years old, instead of once a month it is daily charged from a similar level 50-60% to fully charged, and still has no noticeable battery life degradation.

You can't tell me that this is normal, a lithium rechargeable battery should be good for at least 100 charge cycles with most modern batteries lasting 300 or more charge cycles.

So far Shearwater has been good with providing battery replacements, but having to send my computers back for repair yearly is unacceptable.

 

[Gone for diving]

I don't like anything that doesn't have user accessible batteries,
whether disposable or rechargeable.

I agree lithium batteries are often abit iffy in small devices,
Not totally sure but I think USB charging often overcharges.

 

[Diver-6873]

my DPFL and I are both on our fifth Terics since their 2018 launch. We are fortunate that Shearwater has generally issued replacements from local dove shops since sending them back to the states is time consuming and gets expensive. We absolutely love the computers and while a couple replacements have been for non-battery issues, we also know that after 6-8 months, the battery drain will increase dramatically. We dive ours 6-10x per week, year round.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Something I find interesting is that the Peregrine does not appear to have similar issues. Mine certain hasn't and I've not read of any other similar issues with the Peregrine. Something to do with the difference in form factor of the Teric vs. the Peregrine perhaps?

 

[Manatee Diver]

we also know that after 6-8 months, the battery drain will increase dramatically. We dive ours 6-10x per week, year round.

You have a bit more wear than I do. I dive once a week for about 2-3 hours, that runs the battery down about 10% each time once I download. So when the battery is fine I get a month between charges.

Something I find interesting is that the Peregrine does not appear to have similar issues. Mine certain hasn't and I've not read of any other similar issues with the Peregrine. Something to do with the difference in form factor of the Teric vs. the Peregrine perhaps?

Well the Peregrine battery might be an off the shelf battery. Apparently the Teric battery is custom, in fact that first batch of bad batteries was because the original battery manufacturer cut corners to keep up with the unexpected popularity of the Teric.

It also could be a software issue that I've speculated about, as the Peregrine firmware uses the same code base that Shearwater has been using for probably at least decade now. Which the Teric is different enough that they at least forked it or started completely from scratch.

I agree lithium batteries are often abit iffy in small devices,
Not totally sure but I think USB charging often overcharges.

That is the other speculation as well. Perhaps that tiny battery can't take the 4.2v that it is "rated" for and it would be best to derate it to 4.1v or 4.0v. That is what adaptive charging does on other devices, charging only to 80% to preserve battery service life.

But I am not an engineer, but I know that what we are seeing is simply not acceptable, and the fact that there is no fix in sight is also not completely unsatisfactory.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

It's too bad that Shearwater has produced a second rate product. If it wasn't for that model Shearwater would be rated by everyone as a perfect company.

 

[Erik_jm]

I've been having a lot of the same problems with our 2 Terics. They are great computers and my wife and I love them. But we end up with the same battery issues after a year or so after replacement. I've sent them back 2 times since 2020 now. We typically go on 2-3 dive trips per winter. Nov, Feb & March. 12-14 dives per trip and that's it. We use the Shearwater charger despite hating the form factor and dated USB-micro cable. Is there a better option for a flat USB-C charging solution?

 

[MidOH]

Ate you turning the compass and AI off?

Mines been fine. But I charge it normally when it needs it. I charge it every night on dive trips, when I'm recharging my Gopro.

Now Gopro's..........there's a charger headache. Those darn things eat half the battery, sitting off overnight.

 

[Litefoot]

Ate you turning the compass and AI off?

Mines been fine. But I charge it normally when it needs it. I charge it every night on dive trips, when I'm recharging my Gopro.

Now Gopro's..........there's a charger headache. Those darn things eat half the battery, sitting off overnight.

Going OT a bit, but I agree on the GoPro. The QuickCapture feature is the only way I can get decent life out of the battery since it seems to consume power equally in standby or while recording.

 

[tursiops]

I've been having a lot of the same problems with our 2 Terics. They are great computers and my wife and I love them. But we end up with the same battery issues after a year or so after replacement. I've sent them back 2 times since 2020 now. We typically go on 2-3 dive trips per winter. Nov, Feb & March. 12-14 dives per trip and that's it. We use the Shearwater charger despite hating the form factor and dated USB-micro cable. Is there a better option for a flat USB-C charging solution?

The Peregrine charger works well.