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KS10, NOT charging

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Edited

I searched and understand there have been discussions re issues with charging KS10s. I didn’t find a “solution” or recommended next steps so, in the hope of generating them (for posterity), this post…

I bought KS10s Nov 2021.
Lately, on more than one occasion I find the right KS10 goes quiet (for lack of charge) suddenly after the customary harsh beep. This happens after the aids were left (as usual) in the KS charger overnight. I then have to reinsert it back in, twiddle it around until the light starts blinking, and then wait some hours for it to be charged. This can be problematic when I’m away from my charger.

What could explain this?
Should I preemptively meet my Costco hearing specialist and have the charger or aid replaced/repaired?

Further: I do NOT turn off my hearing aids when I place them in the charger overnight. Could this be contributing to the problem? Would it be better to turn OFF the hearing aids before inserting them into the charger for overnight charging?

Leaving the aids ON overnight in the charger proved to be a mistake when power went out for several days following local storms. The aids were dead in the morning (having depleted their charge overnight staying on. Perhaps that’s a hint I should be turning OFF the aids before inserting them in the charger. Could I be wrong?

10 people in this conversation8 min readJump to latest

I do think you need to take them to Costco and explain the situation.
I don’t think turning them off before putting them in the charger is going to fix the situation of aids discharging if the power goes off. The aids are currently programmed to come on when removed from the charger or if the power goes off. If that’s problematic, you could have them programmed to require being turned on manually.

I would just second the suggestion to take the aid back to Costco for replacement. I just did that with my right aid for charging problems. It was gone about 10 days, and I got a replacement that has functioned perfectly since.

Our Costco just took my wife’s KS10 and sent them in for replacement. It took 2-3 weeks, during which time my wife had a loaner/

Hey - was just humour. British.!

On a serious note, I have the same problem. Every other night my right KS10 hearing aid doesn’t charge. My Costco is a 120 mile round trip. I will have to make the journey to get it sent for a repair at some point.

Miles here. Kilometers on the continent.

The Costco hot dog and soda special there is just £1.50. A bargain :grin::+1:

I had the same problem–it is quite common. I also had them set up so they require being turned on manually, as MDB suggested. If the power fails, they are off

Putting the aids in the charger when it’s powered on, turns off the aids. (ONLY if the case has power) They then blink amber if normally discharged, red if severely discharged, green when charge is completed. If the case can’t be turned on, it would be wise to turn the aids off (if not wearing them) by beans of the buttons on the aids ('till the LED on the each aid displays red.) It’s probably not wise to let the aids go clear dead, as that’s not good for any type of battery. If I do a lot of streaming music to my aids they go dead before I can get to bed. I wish I still had aids with disposable batteries, that’s the only way one can ALWAYS have workable aids.

Edited

I now understand the KS 10/Phonak design re charging (or not):
a) inserting hearings aids already ON into charger would turn them OFF and commence charging.
b) taking (charged) hearing aids off would turn them ON automatically.

Let’s say there’s a power loss before you normally insert the aids into charger (e.g., before sleep). The loss has the same effect if you had taken the aids out: it turns them ON, steadily draining their charge.

This is a fatal problem I see in the design. You wake up in the morning, take out the aids, put them in your ears, expect to go ahead with your day, and realize you hear even less than without the aids. So, while you are asleep the aids in their (power-less) charger are ON, squealing, but you are asleep, can’t hear their squeals, the aids are drained of power, and dead when you expect them to be alive.

This problem is worsened if you were to have a critically important morning event (e.g., business meeting, Zoom or FaceTime session) where your hearing and participation is vital. With the dead aids you can’t participate or contribute meaningfully to the meeting. Using a power pack etc to charge the dead aids takes time, time you don’t have.

This is compounded by the (known) problems with KS 10 (not) charging.

This is a nightmare situation, one I’ve run into several times the past month. The only workarounds that I see:
a) turn OFF the hearing aids before insertion into charger. In the morning you’d either have fully charged aids or with some portion of their charge before the power went out. This does not address the KS 10 not charging issue.
b) wake up some hours before your normal time (esp on days where you have morning meetings), fire up EasyLine Remote, check your aids are charged, go back to sleep if they are, insert them into power packs if not, etc. The impact on sleep quality can’t be overstated. So, beside buying the Phonaks I now have to wake up early, check it is healthy, remedy if necessary, before I go back to sleep!

Perhaps all rechargeable aids have this same fatal design flaw. This issue merits consideration in our purchase decisions.

This is only one primary reason I prefer disposable battery aids. Sadly, it seems as if all advanced feature aids have rechargeable batteries. Plus, the enclosed batteries degrade over the life of the aids the length of the charge. All rechargeable batteries lose capacity over time.

How often do you experience a power outage? Here, with an old infrastructure, it’s pretty rare. I used to travel with 2 spare batteries. Given the quality of batteries, that wasn’t always enough. Also, although I’m pretty good at preventing running out of stuff, there have been times I’ve needed to make an emergency run to Costco, to buy a reasonably priced spare. That wasn’t the only solution, but it’s the best one available to me.

I’m not arguing for rechargeable. There isn’t a clearly best choice. Neither is perfect. This is not something to go to war over.

In reply to @meaningfullyhappy

As mentioned earlier, it is possible to have the aids programmed to need to be turned on manually (via buttons). The situation you describe is the default programming, but there is an option.

In reply to @meaningfullyhappy

@meaningfullyhappy said:

Let’s say there’s a power loss before you normally insert the aids into charger (e.g., before sleep). The loss has the same effect if you had taken the aids out: it turns them ON, steadily draining their charge

That may be why Oticon ships their SmartCharger by default with their aids. The charger has a built in battery good for 3 full charges for the aids. Losing power would just switch to the internal charger battery.

My wife’s KS10s have had similar charging issues, but I’ve found a solution that works most of the time. First, unplug the charger from the wall. Then remove and firmly reinsert the usb plug into the back of the plastic wall plug. Now remove your aids from your ears and place them into the charger (they may feedback and squeal a bit). Carefully plug the charger back into the wall receptacle and wait for the charge indicators to begin flashing which will also stop them from making noise. Then make sure not to disturb the charger or the wall receptacle. This has worked for overnight charging two weeks in a row, but it isn’t a permanent fix for the issue.

Edited

First, my appreciation to all who responded/contributed with their thoughts and suggestions. I shall certainly try the workarounds if the KS 10s after repair (see below) act up again.

How often do I experience loss of electric power? Going by the performance and record of the local utility, at least 1-2X/yearly, increasing in frequency and duration. I don’t expect it to “get better” any time soon; more likely it’d get worse.

What’s more relevant is: what is the impact if I learn the hearing aids were not charged (as expected/normal)? My experience so far: extremely bad. Imagine you have an early morning call on important matters with serious consequences, it is either virtual or in person, you put on your hearing aids before heading out or joining the meeting, and you realize the hearing aid(s) didn’t charge or one or both shut off minutes before or into the meeting, and you cannot participate in the meeting…What price would you put on that?

Costco scheduled me to come in, swap the KS 10 pair I have for a loaner (Resound or Phillips), send out the KS 10, have it repaired, and have me come back in a week or so. I showed up, they realized they didn’t have a loaner pair (something to do with replacing their Phillips units they had with the new model), etc. So I expect to go in sometime this or next week…

My Costco (Edinburgh) turned the repair around in about 14 days and I got to enjoy a pair of Jabra for that time. Had I not just placed an order for a Roger ON device…

Only my right HA was affected by charging issues but I work from home and need to stream calls etc to my HAs. A dead HA is pretty bad for me as I’m borderline non functional without (headphones help but aren’t the same). I have an emergency pair of 2017-ish Phonak HAs from the NHS which just about cut it but not really. Happily both HAs were effectively rebuilt and a brand new charger supplied. Solid functionality so far…

Kinda miss the Jabras but the Ks10 edges it got having easier switching between devices.

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