Topic: Battery charge level indicator jumping up after use

[fleish]

So I've got a pair of these Impact BPD-8000 Universal Portable Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery Packs to run my R-4:


And they serve me quite well. I've only had one major failure where the charge went from 3 bars to nothing during a show. I wrote that off to not charging it right before the show - and assumed it had just been a while since I last charged it. Last night though one of them showed a charge of 2 bars going into the opener. After the opener was done it showed 3 bars FWIW I don't think it's the same battery I mention crapped out earlier - but I couldn't swear to it since I'm not 100% sure which one I marked to be able to tell the 2 apart after that issue.

Just to be safe, I switched to the other battery which had just come off the charger to be safe since the R-4 trashes the open file if it loses juice while recording

Anyhow, does anyone know why this might happen? TIA.

[Myco]

I've read that the charge indicators are unreliable and can drop out fast, and I've had the charge indicator on my bat jump up after a show also. Not the same battery maker, but same type of battery. I ordered a Y power cable from Ed @ Kind Kables and with it I can plug in two bats in at a time, or hot swap a battery with no power loss. Definitely the way to go.

[bhtoque]

If you check the meter under load, then again without a load it will give you a higher reading. Did you check while running, then again while deck was off?

JAson

[fleish]

Myco: thanks for the reminder. I keep meaning to do this.

Jason: I think I only checked it right before & right after. Is it an instantaneous change you think or would it take time to "recover" before showing a higher charge? I've heard/seen something like this I think in other battery applications and want to say it's the latter.

[bhtoque]

It is instant. As soon as you remove the draw on the power the meter will kick up a notch. It is possible that if it were barely charged enough to light at a certain level, it would not change enough to jump up, but the underlying cause would still be true.

It is easy enough to reproduce.

JAson