Issue with Oticon SmartCharger

I had the exact same issue with the Philips Hearlink charger, and was preparing to return it to Costco.

It resolved itself after a couple of days, and hasn’t happened again.

Mine is still doing it after a month

The answer is not straightforward. When I picked it up at the audiologist, she plugged it in and I inserted my hearing aids. She then unplugged the cable and the hearing aids continued to charge. So one would think that indicates the charger failed between then and now. However, I remembered that was how we tested it at delivery and replicated that test this morning: sure enough. If I place the aids in the charger while it is plugged in and then unplug it (as my audiologist did when we tested it) both aids continue to charge. It’s only if I place the aids in the charger while it is unplugged that I experience the issue of the right Aid not charging. So the bottom line is that there’s no way of knowing whether the charger had the issue when I picked it up.

By the way, I tested the charger with left and right aids swapped and had the same issue with both aids when placed in the right side, so it seems not to be the aids

@The_Latinist said:

By the way, I tested the charger with left and right aids swapped and had the same issue with both aids when placed in the right side, so it seems not to be the aids

Thanks for the clarification. It’s interesting that after you unplug it, and if the aids are already in then it works. But if it’s unplugged to begin with and you put the aids in, then it won’t work.

I seem to remember when @SpudGunner had some issue with his More 1’s batteries and had to have them replaced, his audi had to “reset” the More to accept the new replacement batteries. I’m wondering if there’s some similar procedure to introduce the SmartCharger to the More’s batteries or something like that… Something that maybe was overlooked by your audi in the setup process. Just a wild guess though.

In terms of trying to place the left aid into the right slot, I thought I read somewhere that the More original charger requires the aids to be put into their respective charging slot (left into left and right into right) and they can’t be interchangeably put into any slot as you will. So I’m not sure if your trying to put the left aid into the right slot would help with anything or prove that the right slot is bad. It makes me wonder if the SmartCharger has that same rule like the original charger (left in left and right in right only)?

Nah, they’re interchangeable. It’s be kind of silly to do it since the wires don’t fit (and in the smart charger they’d prevent fully closing the lid), but there’s no physical difference between the aids themselves, just programming, and the charger is just an induction coil—there’s no communication between the two. My audiologist even pointed out that they worked in either slot when she was demonstrating the desk charger.

@Volusiano said:

Were you successful in fully charging with the aids in the wrong slot in your regular charger?

I had never tried it, but I did last night and they fully charged just fine.

There really is no reason they wouldn’t; it’s just an inductive charger and they’re identically shaped. They’d have to actively make it not work by adding some sort of communication between charger and aid, which would be an entirely unnecessary complication.

Thanks for testing it out. That’s good to know. But while I agree that there should be no reason why it wouldn’t work in either slot because it’s just an inductive slot and there’s probably no obvious communication setup for verification that which charger is in which slot, I still have a nagging feeling that Oticon’s clear instruction to put the right aid in the proper slot is not for naught.

The fact that they require a battery reset on new batteries and keep track of a battery replacement history in Genie (as shown in the screenshot below) implies that they’re keeping track of the batteries’ performance as they get used, most likely so they can estimate accurately its day-to-day capacity and even overall longevity as they get worn down through usage, specifically for low battery warning beeps, and maybe also collecting useful battery statistics in case it’s needed to diagnose battery problems.

I wonder if maybe consistently keeping the proper aid in its properly associated slot would maybe also help with debugging if there’s an issue of charging on one side vs the other.

I have tested my smart charger and the right aid side of the charger is faulty when used without the wall charger. I have switched my aids around and get the same results that the right side of the smart charger is faulty when used without the wall charger.

I agree, but to only a certain extent. These days, as consumers, we tend to excessively find fault and complain (I’m as guilty as anyone). But, to me, there is a very vast difference between features of a product having little kinks and wrinkles to iron out (i.e. Phonak tap sensitivity, certain pre-programmed aid settings, BT, etc.) vs. the main purpose of a product having issues. In this case, this charger’s whole purpose is to be portable, and to not have to be physically plugged to charge our aids. When that sole function has this many issues off the bat, the product never should have been released. I’m being slightly dramatic, but I live and work in an operations world, so I will say from experience, issues like this is also how some people lose jobs.

I was in the electronics/software business for over 40 years. When we first started designing and creating new things it took some times 10 years to be seen by the public, today it is some times less than a year but normally about 18 months to 2 years that isn’t long enough to work out the wrinkles. And people scream it takes to long to market. Quick and dirty means crap out the door

I get it, I do. I don’t work specifically in electronics, but I am familiar with the concept to R+D to testing and to market cycles. And again, I know I’m being a bit dramatic; at the end of the day I do believe this issue will be resolved, people will receive appropriate replacements, issues will be fixed in production down the line.

BUT… in this particular case, it’s a simple induction charger. There is no noteworthy or groundbreaking tech or hardware in this item. I will stand by the fact that this was an easily preventable miss from a quality assurance standpoint, and it most definitely should have been caught.

I have looked deeper in to it there is firmware in the charger. So I am guessing there s some brains it. What I haven’t figured out yet is why it chargers great on the wall charger and not the batteries. The circuits look like there should be any reason for the issue