Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

"Lux hours" doesn't mean anything

Locked-N-Loaded
10 months ago

I bought a new Enduro 2.

So, im realizing, "lux hours" is meaningless. What is a "lux hour"? No one even knows what that means or translates to. So if my watches battery life can be extended by the solar charger, which is reported as "lux hours", what's a person suppose to even do with that? 

Why isn't there a screen on the solar intensity screen that converts that into something meaningful like... "12 minutes of battery life added". Otherwise, "lux hours" is meaningless as it has no reference to numbers that any person would understand. "Lux hours" isn't proving to me any battery life was added. It just means the solar panel registered sunlight.

I have "90.1k lux hours" today on a run. Ok? So what? What does that even mean? Why not give us a useful conversion?

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to Locked-N-Loaded
    bluefish said:

    Please publish the following details of your watch :


    1) the displayed remaining running time in days when the display brightness is set to 5%.


    2) the displayed remaining running time in days after you have set the display brightness to 100%.

    Locked-N-Loaded said:
    No.

    Ok, then I'll tell you what the result is.

    The remaining time displayed in days changes if you change the display brightness in the settings ! 

    You don't even have to use the backlight, and yet the display of the remaining time changes.


    You are of the opinion that Garmin is CALCULATING on the data provided.

    Please explain to me how Garmin calculates the remaining time in this case ? How does Garmin know how often you will use the lights ?

    So is the display of the remaining time a CALCULATION, or an ASSUMPTION?

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to Locked-N-Loaded

    I think a reasonable estimate of how much battery the solar panel has saved is all that is needed and is very feasible and would likely be accepted by users.  It could even say "Estimated battery % contribution" and give a margin of error for the pedants in the help/support pages.

    Most of the "data" that is displayed on the watch is an estimate, some of it rougher than others:

    e.g steps, sleep, training readiness, location, HR, HRV, sleep, cadence, speed, steps, intensity minutes, training load, power, etc,

    Even the date and time is not 100% correct.

    But it is broadly fit for purpose.  And that is all that is needed here.

    And for the purposes of a simple estimate of solar charging, factors such as battery temperature, display brightness and even battery age are in the larger scheme of things irrelevant and if Garmin implements this it seems unlikely that they would bother to include these 2nd order factors in their estimate.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to PubBike
    PubBike said:
    display brightness
    PubBike said:
    are in the larger scheme of things irrelevant

    Unfortunately, the OP is not willing to provide data. However, it is obvious that Garmin do assumptions in terms of "remaining time in days" (do the experiment I suggested).
    If the OP continues to insist that CALCULATIONS are taking place here, he should be able to provide evidence to support his thesis.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to bluefish

    I'm not sure what your point is.  The watch does loads of calculations all the time for all kinds of reasons.  That's why it needs a CPU. And that's why it consumes battery power in the first place, and that's why it has a solar panel and that's why it would be good to know what use the solar panel is. . A lot of those calculations use assumptions as part of the model. The OP doesn't need to provide any data.  This is just a discussion on a forum.  It is not a research paper.  Citations not required! (where are yours?)  Garmin aren't going to read this.  They'll implement this in their own way.  And I'm looking forward to it, a little bit.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to PubBike
    PubBike said:
    . The OP doesn't need to provide any data.

    Of course, the OP does not HAVE to submit any data. But if you followed the discussion, he insisted that the remaining time shown is CALCULATED. I had asked how he knows this, or whether it might not be based on ASSUMPTIONS. I then ASKED him to do the test I mentioned above.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to PubBike
    PubBike said:
    The watch does loads of calculations all the time for all kinds of reasons. 

    However. I think that this discussion is generally overrated here, since Garmin (as they themselves write "only sees solar energy as a support for the battery"). Neither the fenix nor the Enduro have an efficiency that is really worth mentioning. You go for a hike in summer with GPS, and the charge doesn't go down quite as quickly as it would without solar. That's all.
    I stand by the point that the Enduro model in particular is designed to use the CPU as efficiently as possible (as mentioned before, the Enduro 1 didn't even have maps for that reason). Any "unnecessary" CPU load due to additional calculations should be avoided.

    The CPU clock of the Enduro is also throttled in contrast to a fenix.
    If you want a Garmin watch with a solar module that really delivers, you should buy an Instinct 2X. This has a much larger effective solar area.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to bluefish

    ...which comes back to the very point that the OP was making: "Lux hours" doesn't mean anything.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to PubBike
    PubBike said:
    which comes back to the very point that the OP was making: "Lux hours" doesn't mean anything.

    Yes, a lot of lux hours = a lot of light in a period of time. Few lux hours = less light in a period of time. So you can see whether you have supported the battery more or less. To get a real time display (as the OP wants), you need data and calculations. Unnecessary, as you can check the current battery level ANYTIME, and the current consumption can change spontaneously ANYTIME during an activity. Call up the map page on a MIP display during a run and, unlike a more static data display, the power consumption changes SIGNIFICANTLY from one moment to the next.

  • 0 10 months ago

    shocking video... actual Real time battery calculations happening. Unbelievable, but true. Amazing! Who knew real time battery calculations were happening? Huh.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to Locked-N-Loaded
    Locked-N-Loaded said:
    shocking video.

    Uh, what good does it do you if you install a third-party app (NOT Garmin) that also messes up its own additional power consumption?
    After watching the video, I wonder what your statement is supposed to be. Are you saying that Garmin - as discussed above - calculates the remaining time in days in real time? No, they don't do that. Just do the test I suggested above.

    1.9% consumption ? That's really shocking! Now you know why Garmin doesn't do real-time calculation.