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Oticon Intent Smart Charger - Useage

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I had my Oticon Intent 1s fitted in October last year and am very impressed with their performance. The were supplied with the Oticon Smart Charger -the one with the built in rechargeable battery.

I started charging the HAs with the Smart Charger permanently connected to a 5V power source and observed a behaviour which was different to that described in the Smart Charger user manual, namely the HAs were not switching off when fully charged. Opening the lid and the HAs LEDs glowed green and stayed green with the lid down, confirming the HAs remained on. The user manual states the HAs turn on when the lid is lifted and turn off when the lid is closed.

I was leaving the HAs in the charger overnight, around 8 hours, and I was concerned that this could impact on the HAs battery life - contuing to charge lithium ion batteries once fully charged should be avoided. In any case the HAs are turned on for the entire time in the Smart Charger, which I don’t like.

I queried the above behaviour with Oticon, who confirmed this is how the Smart Charger is designed to work, ruling out a faulty Smart Charger, and adding the charging stops once the HAs are fully charged.

I wasn’t happy, so I changed how I use the Smart Charger.

I now fully charge the Smart Charger and then disconnect it from the 5V power source.

Now when the HAs are fully charged they switch off. Opening the lid, the HAs turn on and the LEDs glow green. Closing the lid, the HAs turn off and the LEDs go out.

I am much happier with this charging regime.

I typically average around 15 hours daily use of my Intents.

I find that an overnight charge of both HAs consumes around 12% of the Smart Charger internal battery capacity and I recharge the Smart Charger every 9th day.

I have an Android phone and use macros to keep track of both HAs and Smart Charger Useages and generate a notification on the day I need to charge the Smart Charger.

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Edited

I am curious how you were able to tell that the LEDs stayed green when the lid was closed. And Oticon indicated the hearing aids will always stay on while charging if the charger is plugged into a power source? It is hard to understand why Oticon would design it that way, as you are certainly correct that would be bad for the lithium-ion batteries. The same would apply for leaving the charger plugged into a power source continuously. By not fully recharging the smart charger every night, that will help with the charger’s battery longevity.

I do not have the Intents but I do have the Phonak Spheres which also use lithium-ion batteries and came with a smart charger containing a lithium-ion battery. The Spheres automatically turn off when inserted into the smart charger - whether the lid is open or closed. You can also set them to either stay off when you take them out of the charger or automatically turn back on when removed. I set that to have the hearing aids stay off when removed. Fully charging lithium-ion batteries reduces their life and so does running them way down. They last longer if you keep them in a range of charge between 20-80%. Both Apple and Google now have settings on their phones to cut off charging once the battery reaches 80% in order to make the batteries last longer. Unfortunately, such a control does not exist for hearing aids - at least not that I know of. So what I do is to try and take out the aids out of the charger once they start blinking green, which is around 80% charge or so. I usually do this in the morning before I need to use the aids or in the afternoon when I don’t need them while working alone in my office. I can go at least a couple of days without needing to charge them, so if I am not needing to use them at some point in the day I can just charge them up a bit and not have to worry if they go uncharged for a day. I do the same with the charger. If it starts blinking yellow while charging the aids, then I plug it into a power source. Once it starts blinking green then I unplug it. Not everyone’s situation will allow for this, but it will definitely help with the longevity of the batteries, even if you can only do that some of the time. Just thought I would pass that on. :slightly_smiling_face:

Demant made a change for Intent/9050/etc. that the aids can be programmed while in the charger with the charger open. The aids are on in a sense and maybe that is what is happening to OP if the charger thinks the top is open.

In any case you should not charge the battery in the case constantly. I charge the Intent case when I get down to 1 light (maybe longer; I don’t really keep track), which for me is about every third or fourth day. I put the ’s in the charger each night.

Edited

I said this in another thread:

Many people assume the charging functions and algorithms are in the charger, but they’re actually in the . Large team of engineers develops these algorithms, which are highly complex and far more precise than anything a human could manage manually. Chargers supply the power, while HAs control the charging process. I agree with what Oticon said.

My HAs don’t have any manual way to turn them off since they have no buttons. They come with a charger that has a built-in battery, so there’s absolutely no way for me to do what you described. I get about 30 hours of use from a single charge, including streaming.

If you want to extend the life of the batteries:
(1) Avoid high heat
(2) Avoid letting the batteries go below 10-15%
(3) If you plan to store them for a long time, keep the battery level between 50% and 80%. Even when turned off, batteries slowly lose charge due to natural chemical processes, so check them regularly (may be monthly) to make sure they haven’t run down completely.

Have HAs fit around your life, not the other way around.

Imagine if everyone had to go through your process with their high-tech devices every day—smartphones, headphones, Teslas and other EVs, computers, tablets, and smartwatches.

As I said, not everyone’s situation would allow for what I do, but I wanted to mention it as it is an easy thing for me. Sadly, rechargeable batteries in small devices tend to be a planned obsolesce thing as they are not user replicable. If a person has a 3-year warranty on their hearing aids they can try sending them back in to get the batteries replaced before the end of that warranty, which would provide a much more reasonable timeframe before needing to replace the aids due to loss of battery capacity. Your advice is solid and simple enough for most everyone.

Here are a couple dumb questions while we are on the topic of chargers:

  • The charging ports are color-code for the left/right . Does it make any difference if you put them in the “wrong” port?
  • Do the ports share the total charge capacity? Or do they each “own” 50%?

With the coming storm and possible power outages, I’m thinking about charging strategies as I am functionally deaf without my HAs. Thinking I might charge one at a time so I would retain some hearing. I’ve never used it for multiple days (I typically use the desktop version). Your report of 12% consumption is heartening; I think Oticon says a Smart Charger typically delivers “up to” 3 charges.

Edited

I have been wearing rechargeable hearing aids for the last 6 or 7 years. I charge my aids over night and don’t worry about it. The chargers are called smart for a reason. I haven’t had but one failed rechargeable battery and it was bad from the point I got the aids. I also have spare chargers in case I have an emergency and need to travel quickly. I also have backup aids that are rechargeable. The key is planning and follow through with the plan. I rotate my aids and chargers every month. I wear my backup aids at least once a month. Planning is very important and the follow through of that plan is crucial.

Edited

In reply to @seaduck

@seaduck said:

Here are a couple dumb questions while we are on the topic of chargers:

  • The charging ports are color-code for the left/right HAs. Does it make any difference if you put them in the “wrong” port?
  • Do the ports share the total charge capacity? Or do they each “own” 50%?

In the case of my Phonak Spheres, both aids will charge in either the left or right charging port. However, there is a cavity in the middle of the charger to hold the receivers and wires that connect them to the aids. If you put the right aid in the left charge port (or vice versa), then the receiver and wire will hang over the outside of the charger and you cannot fully close the lid to the charger. So, it is “better” to put the aids in their designated slots for charging, but you can charge them if they are in the “wrong” slot. At least that is how it works with my aids and charger. You can try it yourself and see if works with your aids and charger.

I am quite certain there is a single battery in the charger and both charging slots draw power from it, so they share the single battery and one charging slot can use all of the battery’s power if the other slot is not in use.

If you have a rechargeable power brick with a USB connector, like for a phone, you can connect that to the hearing aid charger so you can charge up the charger’s battery. If you live in an area prone to power outages, it would be a good idea to have one or more of those power bricks to use for your phone and your hearing aids.

I suspect you’re right about the brick. Will look into it.

As for being able to close the charger: for my Oticons, I have a Smart Charge with a lid, but my daily go-to “desktop” model doesn’t have a lid, so that’s not an issue. And, come to think of it, the desktop version seems to address the OP’s concern about his ’s not turning off. With the desktop, they turn off automatically as soon as they’re inserted into their ports. The LED lights are visible (green or amber) to indicate charge level. And when I take them out, the HAs automatically restart.

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