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Recharging strategy

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Edited

Hi, I am new here and to hearing aids. I just bought the Phonak Infinio Sphere 90s and love them so far.

I am finding that I can get 14 hours of use in calm environments with maybe a couple hours of streaming and still have over 60 percent charge in each battery at bedtime.

To minimize the number of charging cycles and thereby hopefully extend useful battery life, I have commenced turning the aids off in the evening of every other day and storing them outside the charger until next morning. In other words, charging only every other night, not every evening,

Is this a sound strategy or am I better off just charging every night even if they have 60 percent charge available?

22 people in this conversation23 min readJump to latest

It sounds fine as long as you’re unlikely to run them down to under 20% on the 2nd day.

Welcome to the forum.

Are you able to get two full days out of the aids with one charge?

My processors typically have about 60% battery left at the end of the day but do not last two days. So I put them on the charger every night. This has worked well for almost 5 years with very little battery life change over those years.

In reply to @Raudrive

@Raudrive said:

My CI processors typically have about 60% battery left at the end of the day but do not last two days. So I put them on the charger every night. This has worked well for almost 5 years with very little battery life change over those years.

I’m shocked that rechargeables last for five years. Mine from the N6 were completely unusable after one to two years, but that was almost ten years ago.

Maybe it was because I was younger and ignorant and didn’t know about the risk of complete battery discharge.

After that experience, I didn’t want to buy expensive new batteries amd use only disposable 675s…

In reply to @Raudrive

Thanks to both of you for replying. Yes I am able to get two full days, at least so far, without draining the batteries below the high 20 percent level. As time goes on I suspect this be more difficult.

In reply to @Bimodal_user

@Bimodal_user said:

Mine from the N6 were completely unusable after one to two years,

My example is the Kanso 2 processors. These processors with built in rechargeable batteries have had great battery life.

The Nucleus 7 processors with detachable rechargable batteries only lasted a couple years before the batteries began to weaken and not last one day.

@bearcat said:

minimize the number of charging cycles and thereby hopefully extend useful battery life

@bearcat
I’m doing the same with mine at the moment and I do think it will work. (I’m not a fan of disposables as I don’t like to be bound to always have them loaded more then 20% so I cannot have other ’s at the same time in use)
Batteries have become better over the years. The LiIon’s we use nowedays are really good and lasts over a couple of years. It depends on how oft you reloaded, as the counts are important. Though don’t forget that charging over 80-85% and going under 20% is not preferable. Also loading not to fast because hight temperature degrades the batteries also.

Edited

Being a former Sanyo Engineer on lithium’s, cells are initially rated at energy capacity and number of cycles to a fixed discharge rate and voltage. Typically 500 cycles. Typically 2.5v for 3.6v cells. Honestly, I never tested past 3v, because the difference typically is so small, it doesnt matter…

The next factors are charge rates. Factors of charge rates are temperature, and length of charge past full. A smart charger will shut off at full capacity, minimizes heat in a protected cell. Charge rate keeps heat to a minimum.

If you “can”, shut off ’s for an hour or so before putting into charger. I havent been able to determine if there’s autoshutoff on these chargers.

I get 2 days out of my 90’s before charging

every 2 days, yes. One night I just shut them off and turn them back on in the morning

I dunno. Maybe I’m an outlier here, but I say CHARGE 'EM UP every single night. Yes, just put the aids in the charging base - don’t even turn them OFF - just drop them into the charger overnight.

Why? Cuz for starters, if you have a pet at home, they’d be less likely to grab one aid and EAT IT (as happened to me years ago when I had one of my battery aids on the nightstand at in-laws eaten by the DOG).

Also, considering that Phonak swaps in a NEW rechargeable battery before the warranty is up (in 3 yrs), you can have your rechargeables replaced, no questions asked. Run 'em into the ground. Use 'em! Hearing aids aren’t like UV wands, massagers, or other devices that will likely fail due to a “rechargeable” battery that no longer holds a charge. These are medical devices. We wear them cuz we NEED to wear them.

Finally, if you live in a place where you may have power outages for days or perhaps the power supply is unreliable, you’d always have that many more hours of use in an emergency to hatch Plan B. (perhaps involving battery-operated aids)

With my hearing loss, I’d never start a day with less than 100% charge in my rechargeables. If my aids no longer held a charge, they’d be sent in to Phonak asap. That’s why I keep backup pairs on hand. Well, actually, I went back to using 312-battery aids full time last spring, but that’s a whole 'nuther topic.

Edited

where is it documented you can get new batteries before the 3 years?

Typically, tired batteries (unless they’ve failed) are tough get covered under warranty unless they wont even last a day.

and BTW the spheres have a battery powered charger, USBC, so could charge it up with solar, or keep a standby portable power source to recharge it. They take very little charge I’m sure without looking at the specs. And they shut off when put in the charger

Edited

Dont aids use Lithium-ion batteries? Lithium-ion batteries dont need to be run down low until recharge.That was the old type of batteries. In fact i thought i read its not good to fully deplete them. See below

Info from the mfg themselves…
“Contrarily to some received ideas, Li-ion batteries don’t have a memory. They don’t need regular full discharge and charge cycles to prolong life. It’s actually the contrary: the smaller the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last, the more cycles it will be able to do”.

In reply to @mr.smithster

who said they needed to be fully discharged? Cells are rated in charging cycles (typically 500) for a rating. Other factors I’ve already explained impact cell life as well.

and DoD still counts as a charging cycle, but builds less heat, so there are tradeoffs dependent upon charge rate. Its not that cut an dried.

Edited

I have to LOL when i read all these doomsday rechargeable battery topics.
Todays have Smarts, which prevent them from actually charging to exactly 100%, and when they are depleted to the level of shutdown, they will recharge fine.
Just do as @1Bluejay does, and enjoy life!!

EDIT @jeffpa corrected me, on the fact the Charger has the Smarts, NOT the HA.

I know, edit again, now @jeffpa does say the HAs have smarts, so I’m smarter than I thought.

Who knew that charging hearing aids every day would make me enjoy life ??

Ha ha yeah, well at least you’ll be able “hear” life as it’s passing by.

In reply to @jeffpa

I don’t see any documentation of a battery replacement feature of any warranty that is in my documentation. I bought Phonak Spheres a couple weeks ago. I see only two documents that give me warranty rights: page 50 of the User Guide provides a very limited one year “International Warranty”. It also suggests I ask my local hearing professional where I purchased for “the terms of the local warranty”. My seller includes a 3 year limited warranty against “loss or damage” of the aids subject to a replacement fee of over USD $300 for each aid in cases needing total replacement. The terms “loss or damage” are not defined but I would think ordinary loss of battery life is not “damage.”

So, although I will ask my provider whether there is any battery replacement program for Phonaks (I saw something about that on another forum too), the documentation certainly does not suggest that this is a given.

I think it is better to avoid the issue and prolong hearing aid “expected service life” (rated at five years by the Phonak User Guide) whenever possible. @jeffpa, thanks for your input here.

Edited

In reply to @flashb1024

I have to laugh when I hear certain comments made

The hearing aid itself has no charging intelligence.
That is all in the charger.

Theere is no such thing as charged to 100%. 100% is merely a representation of charge voltage, which has nothing to do with capacity. Past certain cell voltage, charged is released in heat.

I didn’t know if these cells are protected or not, given form factor probably not.

Whether the charger itself charges to peak voltage, I can’t tell from documentation. It may or not.

Neither matters to cell chemistry. The reason to shut off charge early is is to minimize heat.

Given I paid 4k for mine, I’d rather be smart knowing what actions I can take to preserve their longevity.

As a former Sanyo engineer designing and testing lithium cells, you can choose to learn and listen, or not

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