Help: Oticon Smart (Travel) Charger died in middle of trip

I had a problem with a usb-c port that stopped charging. I cleaned it out with a toothpick and it has worked ever since.

I don’t know if this is what’s causing your problem, but it is probably worth a try.

Have you tried to rent a loaner from a local Audi for a few days?

@cvkemp said:

But if the charger itself is dead then you have to have another Oticon charger, either desktop or smart charger. I never travel without my smart charger and I even take a desktop charger with me

@cvkemp: This is exactly right - it’s surprising that a long-time member would be caught without a spare of all components critical to HA operation - but, hey, maybe he was having a bad day, and just forgot to pack them.

(But an audiologist would be my first and most immediate choice of a source of help, in this instance. A call to an audiologist’s clinic will probably resolve the problem …)

As the OP mentioned, I’m not going to get into the rechargeable vs disposable battery HAs debate because we’ve all really beaten that horse to death. My next HAs are going to be rechargeable, in fact.

But I’m going to add to what @cvkemp and @SpudGunner said about needing to bring backups on a trip if the HAs are that critical for you. It’s not just backup for the Smart Charger, but it’s also backup for the HAs, because it easily could have been the HAs that died on you and not the Smart Charger. Neither of those things take up much room to pack a backup for anyway.

While I really don’t have any suggestion about trying to get the Smart Charger to work other than what’s already been mentioned (like try to clean out the USB port or giving the charger a mild whack in case of loose connections or find a local Oticon HCP), one thing you can try to do is maybe buy a pair of Apple Airpods Pro earbuds (preferably the gen 2) because they should be readily available for sale at a local electronic store. I hear that the Airpods Pro can allow you to enter your audiogram (or use the Mimi app to test your hearing live) then compensate to your hearing loss up to a degree in its setup. Then you can either wear it using Live Listen which will then use the iPhone mic to pick up sounds, or I also hear there’s a transparency mode so that you can use its own dual beam forming mics to pick up the surrounding sounds. I don’t own the Airpods Pro (2) so I can’t really help you with any details, but that’s what I heard on the forum.

They say that for folks with mild to moderate hearing loss, the amplification compensation from it may be sufficient to be adequate for your hearing need, although it’s still far from replacing a real HA. If you find this solution helpful, maybe the Airpods Pro 2 can serve as your last resort backup for hearing next time you travel as well. It can double for listening to streaming music as the bass delivered from it should be superior to that of a pair of HAs. In fact, I hear that Costco is having a Black Friday sale on it right now for $199 from $239, if you can find a local Costco near you. If you decide later that it’s not helpful enough for you in the long run, you can always return it to your local Costco when you get home.

I definitely agree I always have my backup aids as well as my chargers. At this time we are planning what we need for our cruise this February. And my hearing aids and chargers are the top of the list.

Update:

Banging it and cleaning the USB port didn’t fix anything. I found a local audiologist who will rent me a charger for $25 for duration of my stay!

I just bought a new smartcharger from mysecondear.com81 who is in Germany but ships DHL to USA. Cheapest by far to get a new travel charger so I’ll have a new one when I get back.

Thanks all for your input and advice.

I’d imagine that these smart chargers are solid state, meaning there are no moving parts such as relays that could wear out over time. In my opinion, it’s either a lousy soldier joint or an issue with the lithium battery inside the smart charger. The charger will monitor the lithium battery, and if it feels that it is not operating correctly within spec, it will refuse to charge it for safety reasons.

The only way to diagnose the issue would be to open up the charger and troubleshoot the circuit and its components. However, if you are not an electrical engineer and/or have the proper lab/tools, I’d highly discourage you from doing this because of safety concerns. It would certainly be nice if there were a status LED that would flash several times to tell you what the issue is. These units cost $300+, which is highway robbery in the first place.

The unit has a 3 year warranty so should be replaced by oticon this audiologist said. So I’ll have a spare in future trips

Thanks again all, appreciate this community.

@Luga: I guess it depends who literally cannot function with their HAs, as someone has already pointed out. I know how things are gonna go if I try to do pretty much anything without my trusty aids … so I pack spares of everything whenever I venture anywhere farther away than town, or for any purpose more complicated or involved than getting groschries.

Yeah… I’m basically non-functional without my HAs… having something fail while away from home is a bit of a worry… I’ve have even purchased spare receivers to avoid the trip to the audi should one fail…

@Luga: FWIW … me, too.

@Luga: Well, you’re a pretty experienced and savvy user - if it’s good enough for @Luga and @cvkemp Kemp, it’s good enough for Da Spud! . [Chuck has many Smartchargers!]