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Phonak PartnerMic glitch

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Used my PartnerMic yesterday and it worked flawlessly. I charged it, made sure it was off and put it away. Today I started getting repeated tones in my hearing aid like I was going in and out of range of PartnerMic. I checked PartnerMic and although it was turned “off,” it was definitely on. I have tried turning it on and off, restarting hearing aids (KS9). I’ve also tried repairing, but since they’re already paired, that didn’t seem to do anything. Anybody got any clues what might be going on? Of note, when I turn them “off,” they really are off for a few seconds and then come back on. I bought them online with a year warranty and they are past that, although when I look it up in Target, it shows a 3 year warranty. I will talk to Costco and an audiologist to see if they can suggest anything.

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I guess getting advice from Costco is best but could the battery of the PartnerMic be crapping out? If you have a USB digital multimeter, which come pretty cheap on Amazon, you could fully discharge, then fully recharge the PartnerMic and with the multimeter measure the mAh charge consumed on charging fully. Because USB charging is done at 5.0 volts, you just have to remember to multiply the mAh figure by 5.0/3.7 (or whatever the PartnerMic says it’s mAh capacity is rated at for average discharge voltage). If Phonak doesn’t provide any of this in the PartnerMic literature, you can probably find out by getting the FCC ID (required to be on the device and in the literature) and search the web on that ID for the FCC teardown analysis. Every time I’ve done this, e.g., for ReSound Multi Mic and Phone Clip+, I’ve found pictures that show the battery capacity and the average discharge voltage at which the device is rated.

Because my grandkids have one, I recently bought myself a Nintendo Switch - it’s a pretty amazing device even though it’s only a 1080p display. But I’ve had problems with letting the Joy-Con controllers sit around and self-discharge. A bad battery makes a controller behave really funky. Same thing with a Samsung watch - although in that instance I think the Samsung Health app du jour was causing excessive battery drain and make the watch behave crazy 'til I replaced the battery. But perhaps even though you can charge up the device, it might not have the capacity and the “youthfulness of battery” to delivery the current demanded at the voltage required. Especially if you bought a used device that’s seen a bunch of wear already such as being kept at 100% charge or kept in hot conditions, etc.

Don’t have a USB multimeter, but wouldn’t rule out it being a battery charge issue. It was bought new and hasn’t been used much. It did get heavy use yesterday though–probably it’s full 6 hrs claimed capacity. It wasn’t blinking red at me though. I have since hooked it up to Target and checked for updates and it has current firmware. It’s weird having a device that I can turn off after I reset it, but then comes on by itself after 30 seconds or so. I guess “hot” is relative. I think it’s been under 85 degrees most of the time, but has likely spent a fair amount of time in the 80 degree range. Even if I confirm it’s battery, it’s not replaceable that I’m aware of. Thanks for thoughts! (Even when “off” it seems to work ok!)

Interesting. It stayed “off” after taking it off the charger and was still staying off after an hour. are off now so I’ll see what it’s doing in the am. Perhaps the battery drains a bit of power even when off and then acts weird? I guess stranger things have happened.

In reply to @Raudrive

I guess whether that would work in general would depend on whether the charger can always supply more current than demanded by the load at any time for whatever device one is troubleshooting. I would think the load on a microphone attached to a transmitter cannot be very great. While “researching” your suggestion, I read that for smartphones when upgrading to a new OS version that it’s a good idea to have the battery reasonably charged as the charger can’t always supply the burst of current demanded during the boot cycle and might need to rely in part on the battery, with which it’s connected to the load in parallel. Not being very electrically minded, I’m not sure how correct that advice is! :slightly_smiling_face:

Good news (I think)! Seems to be working fine this morning. Perhaps turning it on and off while connected to the charger did something? I hate the inconsistencies of electronics. A friend and I came up with the term “quantum effect” to explain apparently unexplainable electronic glitches. My mental imagery thinks of the probability distribution description of an electron and imagines that sometimes they really do all congregate on the other side of the room! :>) I’ll see how it goes over the next few days. On the good side, even though I didn’t buy it from Costco, I did use my Costco Visa with 2 year extended warranty (glad I thought of this when I purchased–it had since slipped my memory) so if it acts up again, I should be able to replace it.

Interesting. When my Roger On is on the charger base which is also the TV Connector, and I have the TV on, when I turn the TV off, it takes about 15 seconds for the Roger to disconnect from my hearing aids, then it comes back on less than a minute later, staying on for 2 minutes (which mutes sound around me), before turning off again. It is not physically switched on. The audiologist couldn’t tell me why it’s doing this. Just said to switch off the program with my aids, which doesn’t work, as the aid button only does balance between surrounding sound and mic when the Roger is connected to the TV.

Thoughts?

Don’t know what aids you have. If Marvel or Paradise, hearing aid buttons can be programmed to both switch programs and mute/unmute as well as the balance function you describe (that parts volume control when not connected to a streaming device. If programmed that way, program changes are usually a longer push on the top button and the mute/unmute is a very long push on the bottom button. Have no idea why it functions that way. @RogerPM can you shed any light on Gayle’s post?

I have the Paradise. I thought we put the program change via a push on the hearing aid buttons, but it’s not working. Just the volume when I’m not streaming or TV Connecting, and the mute works as well. Just not the program changes. I’ll have to go back in to get that adjusted.

Take notes about your concerns to share with your fitter.
Big help.

In reply to @MDB

I was pushing on the bottom button to change programs, it works pushing on the top. So I can switch programs. I’ve been used to a Signia, where you can push either top or bottom to change programs. Thanks for the input, MDB. Still getting used to these Phonak!

Yes, Signia has a much better button arrangement in my view. Yes, Top button, medium length push for program change.Volume: Short push up or down depending on what you want and mute: Long push on bottom

Edited

In reply to @MDB

First off: I’ve been laid off and no longer work for Phonak, so I’m no longer as up to date on the products and technical details.

As far as I remember, a long push on the multifunction button does indeed change the program if manual program selection is enabled. 15 seconds is as long as it takes for the Roger On to detect that there is no sound coming from the TV. I’m not sure why it would start up again after a minute, especially if it’s turned off. If you’re using the analog input, there could possibly be some interference that goes over the detection threshold and activates the Roger On again. Could be that the TV switches from one stand-by mode to another after a certain time after it’s turned off for power saving reasons, which causes a click in the audio enough to wake it up. Pure speculation from my side, as I’m by no means a TV expert. @gayle Have you tried connecting it to another audio source to see if it behaves the same way? If possible, try using the optical input, as it’s often more reliable.

Edited

@RogerPM Sorry to hear that you were laid off. Hope you landed something better. Thank you for being willing to share your knowledge. I’ve truly appreciated it.

In reply to @RogerPM

So sorry to hear you have been laid off. I hope you have moved on to an even better job if that’s what you wanted.

You have been a huge help on this forum answering all the tuff questions. Sure appreciate it.

Trialed one for about a week and it wouldn’t hold a charge. So that ended that. Also felt the microphone being used was kind of low quality when I could get it to work

In reply to @RogerPM

Thanks so much, RogerPM, for your input, even though you no longer work for Phonak. Hopefully you’ve found something better.

The RogerOn charger unit is plugged into the optical connection. So maybe it’s the TV doing something, even though it looks like it’s off. I don’t think the Roger is turning back on after I’ve had it plugged into my laptop. I’ll double-check again.

Gayle

I have a small home theater room with the classic 5.1 system

Unfortunately, however, I still can’t understand all the dialogues, so I was thinking of taking a Phonak PartnerMic, in combination with my P90s, and putting it in front of the central speaker from which the dialogues come: do you think it can be fine? Will I be able to understand the dialogue while maintaining the surround sound of the other channels? Or will I feel like when I connect the P90s to the TV via bluetooth?

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