7x Solar -How many Lux hours to add 1 % to battery charge?

m99fighter over 3 years ago

It’s been an hour+ , I’m just at the track watching a football match. Sun is out , free power :-)

I’m still at 88 % , no change with 36.3 lx hours now. It’s my first garmin solar , came from a 5x

Top Replies

Volker over 3 years ago +10

I think the solar functionality of the F6/7 series is working different as many users would expect: it is more a support for the battery to use less battery during an activity as to load the battery.

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Volker over 3 years ago in reply to m99fighter +4

If it is enough sun available and the device is not covered with something (and keep in mind, during movement, the device isn’t always well aligned to get enough sun), the device should use less battery…
Lee over 3 years ago +3

Out in the nice Southern Iraq sunshine today I managed to get 160k & the battery still went down 3%. Everything turned on apart from pulse Ox.

All Replies

0 m99fighter over 3 years ago

3 hours + outdoors. Got 104k and still not enough to add power to the f7x ss

0 aryanabdulla over 3 years ago in reply to m99fighter

It's disappointing to see that after 3 hours of charging it didn't get any power.

Did you put the watch into power saving mode?

Or what setting do you use?

0 Volker over 3 years ago

I think the solar functionality of the F6/7 series is working different as many users would expect: it is more a support for the battery to use less battery during an activity as to load the battery.

Years ago a did. some solar testing with my F6xPS: after 7:31 hrs (aborted) I gained only 2% battery. This was in full sun.Attached a pic from the first 4 hrs.

Maybe the solar functionality has increased since then, but the main functionality is still to support the battery to use less battery during an activity.

0 gmfvisor over 3 years ago in reply to Volker

So the question show much can you get with 2% battery cause that's what you get by giving it a whole day of sun treatment

0 m99fighter over 3 years ago in reply to Volker

With my experience today of 3 hours under direct sunlight , I don’t see it helping extend battery if it’s based on battery percentage. The days left didn’t change too.

0 m99fighter over 3 years ago in reply to aryanabdulla

Just the standard power setting, not battery saver. Yes seems Solar is just a gimmick , not really there to charge significantly or if it can really charge with normal use. Also the outer ring need to be highlighted for Solar to be charging. I see that ring not being full even if you just have a shade for a few seconds. We can’t purposely leave the watch outdoors with direct sunlight for 3 hours everyday to get the extra 9 days.

0 aryanabdulla over 3 years ago in reply to m99fighter

DC rainmaker said in his review if it gets enough sun with specific settings you can get unlimited battery life

0 Volker over 3 years ago in reply to m99fighter

If it is enough sun available and the device is not covered with something (and keep in mind, during movement, the device isn’t always well aligned to get enough sun), the device should use less battery as if the activity is done without sun. The battery percentage should not go down as fast as it do would without sun - you won’t see a surge of the battery percentage during an activity. That’s the way it works for the F6/7 solar series.

0 DK302 over 3 years ago in reply to aryanabdulla

I seriously doubt it. It's not a dumb watch where it can be charged by sunlight and it'll never die. The purpose is to extend the battery life. I think DC was talking about battery saver watch mode only. According to Garmin you "could" get a year from it.

0 Lee over 3 years ago

Out in the nice Southern Iraq sunshine today I managed to get 160k & the battery still went down 3%. Everything turned on apart from pulse Ox.