Shearwater Tern and Tern TX

[scubadada]

Has anybody asked Shearwater directly? I just sent them an email...

I received a prompt response from the Shearwater Service Center. The Tern and Tern TX battery is different than that in the Teric.

I wish Shearwater the best of luck with their new computers. I'm optimistic that my current Teric will be the perfect one.

 

[lexvil]

I received a prompt response from the Shearwater Service Center. The Tern and Tern TX battery is different than that in the Teric.

I wish Shearwater the best of luck with their new computers. I'm optimistic that my current Teric will be the perfect one.

Not that I’m in the market for a while but I would feel better if the used the same battery since they seem to have worked out the Teric issue.

 

[scrane]

Not that I’m in the market for a while but I would feel better if the used the same battery since they seem to have worked out the Teric issue.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that.
I’m sure that whatever Shearwater does it will not be the cluster * that followed the Teric.

 

[lexvil]

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that.
I’m sure that whatever Shearwater does it will not be the cluster * that followed the Teric.

Mine were performing perfectly, taking a few weeks to show any power drop. I think most issues in the last few years come from user error.

 

[stuartv]

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that.
I’m sure that whatever Shearwater does it will not be the cluster * that followed the Teric.

The real question (to me) is not is it the same battery. The real question is, is the person/engineer/manager who was in charge of/responsible for the Teric battery the same person who is in charge of the Tern battery?

 

[Joneill]

Not that I’m in the market for a while but I would feel better if the used the same battery since they seem to have worked out the Teric issue.

No they haven’t - I’ve had my battery replaced twice since I bough it in 2018 and the current one is once again draining pretty quickly (~3.5% /day). I just recharged to 100% using the supplied SW charger (which is all I've used since I got the battery replaced) on 1/18 and it is at 62% today (1/29).

While it has not been a big issue for me as I can recharge nightly on a trip if needed, it’s not as expected and requires far more monitoring in storage than SW indicated in the manual. The problem is that if you let it go dead, that could also damage the battery! At current rate of discharge, mine would completely drain in ~1 month - maybe a bit longer if discharge rate lessens, but 6 months is fantasy!

Shearwater's Manual is WAY off:

 

[Joneill]

Mine were performing perfectly, taking a few weeks to show any power drop. I think most issues in the last few years come from user error.

How so - I've followed SW guidance and still had 2 battery replacements and #3 is not holding up very well as I posted above. What is the user error you think is an issue?

 

[tridacna]

How so - I've followed SW guidance and still had 2 battery replacements and #3 is not holding up very well as I posted above. What is the user error you think is an issue?

When was your current one replaced? Both of mine were replaced 6 months ago and now holding charge perfectly.

 

[Joneill]

When was your current one replaced? Both of mine were replaced 6 months ago and now holding charge perfectly.

Last battery replacement was March 2022! Mine was solid/fine for a Fiji Trip in August 2022 - held charge really well in storage but I noticed it wasn't holding as well when prepping for my Raja Ampat trip on Dec 2022. In my experience, battery is good in storage until you start using it a lot - 1 or 2 trips and it seems to start falling off faster again?

 

[scubadada]

Last battery replacement was March 2022! Mine was solid fine for a Fiji Trip in August 2022 - held charge really well in storage but I noticed it wasn't holding as well when prepping for my Raja Ampat trip on Dec 2022. In my experience, battery is good in storage until you start using it a lot - 1 or 2 trips and it seems to start falling off faster again?

That has been the general pattern of my bad batteries. If it weren't for a black screen and some broken antennas, bad batteries would have been my only problem.