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What would you do in a storm with rechargeable hearing aids?!

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I’m in Wales and we have had extreme winds here which felled some trees here which damaged the gas supply so no heating as well and made our running water not suitable for drinking as it has gone all muddy.

We are also stuck where we are as well as we can’t get out of the building.

We hadn’t lost electricity but what would you do in that kind of situation?
You really need to put the hearing aids in to find out exactly what was happening and electricity had gone down?

I know there are power banks but what would you do if you needed to put your hearing aids in now to be fully aware as much as possible to find out what we needed to do? They may not be charged or have enough charge.

Where I’m staying is deep in the mountains surrounded by trees and is really isolated.
Not being at home, means I’m more reliant on my hearing aids, I feel.

I don’t have rechargeable hearing aids now but the way the world is going, I feel I’ll have no choice in the future.

Lower winds in Wales, now heading for Scotland.

40 people in this conversation73 min readJump to latest

For traveling & holidays or emergency! - disposable batteries are the best choice.

Staying in an isolated mountain, solar cells or generator would be ideal.

At home I have a portable generator that can run basically the whole house. But, if I traveled, which I no longer do, I have my backup set of aids which are battery operated. When we were still traveling I had a hand held power bank I always carried with us.

In reply to @danka

@danka

Disposable batteries are the way to go but eventually I feel there’ll only be rechargeable batteries available and our spare set of Aids will only last so long.

Would you have any ideas on how to solve the issue when disposable batteries are no more?

@lgbuck62

I have a handheld power bank as well which is also solar but the difficult is when the hearing aids haven’t charged yet an emergency happens.

Spare disposable battery hearing aids will only last so long as seeing what new hearing aids are coming out, I feel rechargeable hearing aids will be the only option.

Edited

Signia and Rexton chargers store 2 extra full charges when they are charging a pair of hearing aids before being plugged in again. In addition, their charges each last for about 40 hours on their hearing aids with . That’s 120 hours, or 5 days, on one charge. This can be extended further by not charging immediately, if not necessary, after the 40 hours are completed. Battery powered hearing aids are obviously the way to go in s your situation, but as far as rechargeable are concerned, Signia and Rexton offer the best solution.

BTW, after watching Hinterland I can relate to your situation.

I use the Oticon Smart Charger so I only plug it in every 5 to 6 days. If I know bad weather is coming I will charge it to make sure it is fully charged if the power goes out. I also will plug in portable chargers so I can charge the ‘charger’ if necessary.

I use replaceable batteries but will probably use rechargeable units next time. I keep some power banks charged anyway so would use them until power restored.

A good power bank and you’re good for a week after that you may have a problem.

Loss power for a week.
I have Audibel/Starkey rechargeables.
My charger holds three charges.
Charged the charger with the car while I had the aids in.
Charged the aids normally.
Aids were always charged

In reply to @eliotb

@eliotb

@Psych1

@freezerman404

Thanks but I’m curious as to what you do when the are NOT charged but you NEED THEM IN because of the current situation.

Staff were thinking we had to evacuate, luckily we didn’t but I wouldn’t have the time to charge the Aids to then understand staff members.

As I said before, if I was at home, I wouldn’t need my Aids in this situation but I was in place where I didn’t know so felt more reliant on my Aids.

I realize this won’t work for everyone, but wearing one at a time might be an option. For most, that would be enough to understand important things like evacuation instructions, and it doubles the usable window. But from the mentions of “staff” and “we,” it sounds like you’re in a place where it’s safe to rely on others to tell you what’s going on, or at least tell you when you need to put your aids in to hear things yourself.

Portable Li-Ion battery chargers can be purchased pretty cheaply. A suitable one should be able to recharge hearing aids for dozens of times. Another option is to plug the hearing aid charger into the USB port on your vehicle.

In reply to @Zebras

Posing unlikely disaster scenarios in order to discourage folks from getting rechargeables isn’t really fair. sure, you’re simply asking a question. I suppose for those living in isolation where power goes out for over a week, disposables are a good option. How many of us meet that criteria? As for needing my aids right now and finding them dead as a doornail…my rechargeables are NEVER that dead, even when I put them into their charger at the end of the day. They still have plenty of juice. A twenty minute charge will give several hours of service. Again, when will that perfect storm ever happen when my aids are dead and my life depends on hearing emergency info right now, or else? I’ve never come close to that. In any case, my old set of aids are replaceable battery aids. Many have those. hence, this non-problem is solved.
I suppose I could invent scenarios where my disposable batteries have died and I have none to replace them with. But I won’t go that route.

In reply to @Zebras

If that comes a time where disposable batteries are no more available, then we ourselves have to be well prepare (in case of unforeseen circumstances). The following info from my friend staying in isolated palm oil estate with TV, Mobile phone, cooling fans and lighting.

  1. a diesel or petrol operate generator
  2. Solar panel for boiling water, lighting and charging power banks
  3. 2-3 pieces of good power banks
  4. a good 4-wheel drive SUV (charging in the car)

As more and more cars are moving towards Electric Vehicle esp. in China. We saw tremendous development is various accessories for the EV. One that my eye is the portable generator for EV. A few Jelly can of petrol and a portable generator, the EV are traveling towards the inland & Tibet China.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

In reply to @billgem

Mine can be turned on and off manually. By default, they turn on automatically when removed from the charger, but I changed that because it was annoying. I think most / styles have an on/off switch, don’t they?

In reply to @jeffrey

@jeffrey said:

Posing unlikely disaster scenarios in order to discourage folks from getting rechargeables isn’t really fair.

I’m not saying don’t get rechargeables if you read my post!

Re read my posts before you make assumptions!

@Zebras said:

Thanks but I’m curious as to what you do when the HAs are NOT charged but you NEED THEM IN because of the current situation.

Staff were thinking we had to evacuate, luckily we didn’t but I wouldn’t have the time to charge the Aids to then understand staff members.

As I said before, if I was at home, I wouldn’t need my Aids in this situation but I was in place where I didn’t know so felt more reliant on my Aids.

Are you able to read this?!

As I said before it’s looking like more and more rechargeables hearing aids are ONLY available so people don’t put words into my mouth.

In reply to @billgem

@Zebras said:

Thanks but I’m curious as to what you do when the HAs are NOT charged but you NEED THEM IN because of the current situation.

@Um_bongo

@ThomF

Thanks but I’m curious as to what you do when the are NOT charged but you NEED THEM IN because of the current situation.

I have a solar power banks but in some emergency situations, you can’t wait until the HAs have power.

:slight_smile:

In reply to @jeffrey

@jeffrey said:

I suppose I could invent scenarios where my disposable batteries have died and I have none to replace them with. But I won’t go that route.

You’re definitely misunderstanding my point.

Spare hearing aids don’t last forever! I don’t mean batteries, I mean HEARING AIDS. By the way the hearing aid market is going, you’re not necessarily going to be able to buy disposable battery hearing aids.

If you have nothing nice to say, please don’t say anything!

@jeffrey said:

I’ve never come close to that.

You’re not in my part of the world so you don’t know exactly what was happening!

@jeffrey said:

my rechargeables are NEVER that dead, even when I put them into their charger at the end of the day.

It also depends on how much Bluetooth you’ve used and how much power you require. Some people can’t get through the day without a recharge so again, your situation is not everyone situation.

@jeffrey said:

I suppose I could invent scenarios

Clearly you don’t understand!

Clearly you think having a dig at me is the way to go. Good for you!

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