Topic: Microtrack Bug Report

[ghibliss]

I questioned M-audio on this very subject and was advised that once the battery charge indicator icon has reached the full position the unit is completely charged.  Repeated charging will not increase the battery charge level at all according to the manufacturer.  i tried this same scenario and had the same results with the icon always allowing you to continue charging after a completed charge cycle had just taken place.  This is obviously yet another item which the software needs to have revised.

If you are that concerned about battery life get a USB battery box or rechargeable battery that you can use to increase your recording time.  This subject has been covered elesewhere in the forum.

[ChrisV]

Don't know if this is necessarily a bug or just an issue with my particular unit.   But I noticed a whole line on my display isn't working.  Sort of like a blown pixel in a digital camera display except it is a whole line crosswise.   It cuts right accross the "Booting Firmware" upon startup and remains missing when doing anything.   Just wanted to check to see if anyone else had this display issue.  I am debating trying to exchange it for another unit since it came that way new out of package.

[chitaper]

Don't know if this is necessarily a bug or just an issue with my particular unit.   But I noticed a whole line on my display isn't working.  Sort of like a blown pixel in a digital camera display except it is a whole line crosswise.   It cuts right accross the "Booting Firmware" upon startup and remains missing when doing anything.   Just wanted to check to see if anyone else had this display issue.  I am debating trying to exchange it for another unit since it came that way new out of package.

The display is fine on my unit, looks like you got a bad one.

[sunrisemusic]

Has no-one had the issue of battery draining totally when turned off for a few days after being fully charged?

I had this happen once before installing the new firmware (I noted it on this site).   I have also had it go a few days fully charged and find that there was about 2/3 battery charge left (or even more).

I installed the new firmware a few days ago and charged up doing the extra charging as per some folk on this site a few times. (BTW, I didn't charge it that way the previous time the battery drained dead.)

Anyway, just now I turn it on and, er, well, tried to turn it on. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. So I plugged it in to charge and it's still dead. This is after well over 5 minutes, probably longer. So I then plugged it into the USB port of my powerbook not expecting anything and finally, after 1-2 minutes the lights turned on.

Even though everything else seems to work as expected, I'm really hoping that I have a dud unit because I don't like the way iteh battery drains when turned off like that. That means that I need to keep topping it up almost daily even when I don't use the unit for a long time.

Anyone else had this?  Hopefully not. Please post experiences.

[detroit lightning]

i've not had that experience.  i was testing a few things on it early last week, and didn't use it again until sunday...seemed to have the same battery as when i left it

[udovdh]

As I posted before the MT appears to destroy Traxdata 4GB CF cards when formatting them.
They come out as 707G (after powerdown, formatting takes forever).
Anyone know what is wrong? 
Is this an issue with only my MT?
(the Kodak 64MB CF works OK)

[L Ron Hoover]

Has no-one had the issue of battery draining totally when turned off for a few days after being fully charged?

I had this happen once before installing the new firmware (I noted it on this site).   I have also had it go a few days fully charged and find that there was about 2/3 battery charge left (or even more).

I installed the new firmware a few days ago and charged up doing the extra charging as per some folk on this site a few times. (BTW, I didn't charge it that way the previous time the battery drained dead.)

Anyway, just now I turn it on and, er, well, tried to turn it on. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. So I plugged it in to charge and it's still dead. This is after well over 5 minutes, probably longer. So I then plugged it into the USB port of my powerbook not expecting anything and finally, after 1-2 minutes the lights turned on.

Even though everything else seems to work as expected, I'm really hoping that I have a dud unit because I don't like the way iteh battery drains when turned off like that. That means that I need to keep topping it up almost daily even when I don't use the unit for a long time.

Anyone else had this?  Hopefully not. Please post experiences.

Mine seems to lose a bit of charge after sitting for a few days without being turned on as well.

[pgoelz]

As for the internal battery, thanks to you guys who responded...there's been some conflicting opinions, some feel that charging it when it's full won't hurt it, and some feel that charging it when it's full just wears it out... as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I know next to jack about batteries, but I really do appreciate the adivce.  I'll change my habits, and I'll only charge it until the battery icon says full when i boot it normally, if you guys think that might be wearing out the battery.

I'm not an expert but I do have experience with LiPoly cells in electric airplanes.

1.  The cells degrade with each charge / discharge cycle.  Partial or full.  The degradation is in proportion to the energy removed and replaced. 

2.  There is some evidence that LiPoly cells that are held fully charged (as opposed to being fully charged and then having the charge circuit disconnected) degrade faster than cells that are charged and then left to self discharge.  For example, my laptop charges to 100% and then disconnectes the charge until the cells drop to about 95% (by using the laptop or simple self discharge). 

3.  Unlike the constant current charge routine used with NiCd or NiMh cells, the LiPoly charge routine involves applying a current limited constant voltage (4.2V/cell) to the cell(s).  Because of this, "topping off" has no effect at all once the cell(s) reach full charge.  In fact, a properly operaitng LiPoly charger should not even attempt to charge a fully charged LiPoly pack.  Full charge is defined as 4.2V per cell and a charge current near zero at 4.2V.  Assuming the charger is working correctly, that is.  I have my doubts about the MT.  From what I have read, either the charger is not operating correctly in some units or the battery meter is screwy or there is intermittent discharge occurring even when the unit is off.  What I would expect is for the unit to charge to full charge and then terminate the charge.  Removing power and immediately re-applying it should NOT result in further charging. 

Paul

[sunrisemusic]

Thanks for the replies, guys.  Since I had this happen when charging to full on one charge only,  as well as the multi-charge experiment, and since no-one else seems to have experienced the battery draining fully it so far looks like I may have a bad unit.

I'll get in touch with M-Audio. It's not good when I want to take it out and record for 20 mins, thinking I should have an over-half full battery, only to find it's dead.

[sunrisemusic]

Update: I charged it up today, turned it off around midday. Now, around 12 hours later, turning it on, the battery shows only a tiny slit left.  Calling M-Audio as soon as I have the time.  Will charge again and try again in the interim.

[ChrisF]

i just got the microtrack yesterday. im just a little confused about charging it for the first time.

i took it out of the box, put in the compact flash card that it came with and plugged it in. the quickstart guide said it would start charging, but it didnt. i tried pushing the power button and it did nothing. i couldnt get the microtrack to power up. i left it plugged into the wall for a little while and as i was walking by i saw that the whole screen was lit up blue. it says its charging now.

does this sound normal? should it take a few minutes for the thing to turn on after plugging it in the first time?

[JasonSobel]

i just got the microtrack yesterday. im just a little confused about charging it for the first time.

i took it out of the box, put in the compact flash card that it came with and plugged it in. the quickstart guide said it would start charging, but it didnt. i tried pushing the power button and it did nothing. i couldnt get the microtrack to power up. i left it plugged into the wall for a little while and as i was walking by i saw that the whole screen was lit up blue. it says its charging now.

does this sound normal? should it take a few minutes for the thing to turn on after plugging it in the first time?

this happened to me and at least several other folks here.  don't worry about it.

[chitaper]

I know all about the display flaking out, but during a show my green recording lights also went out. I was recording 24/48 s/pdif from a V3. The whole unit was locked up, no lights, display frozen. I thought for sure it had stopped recording but left it alone. After the show I had to hold the power button down until it turned off, then turned it back on again. Booted up and then locked up again... had to do another hard re-boot until it finally worked normally. The recording itself never stopped and seems to be intact.

Another time while listening to a recording on the headphones the sound on the headphones suddenly went out, and I had to re-boot. Has anyone else had that problem?

[udovdh]

It is official:

Traxdata 4GB Pro CF cards are NOT compatible with the MT.
Today I could try a Kingston Elite Pro 4GB which appears to work OK. (formatting works, 6+ hours of space after some waiting to get that info)

Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?

[cmoorevt]

Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?

I asked M-Audio this earlier in the week.  Their response:

"Unfortunately, due to the nature of firmware releases (testing/verifications/fixes/features) we cannot specify any official dates on when the next firmware may be available."

Obviously doesn't tell us much.  I wrote back looking for a general timeline and will report when they respond.