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Battery drains too fast after solar charging

3493554
over 1 year ago

Hi guys, i noticed that after i charge my watch using solar power, it drains power much faster until it drops to the value before the solar charging started and then it goes back to drain normally. Anyone else experienced that? example: my watch drains roughly about 7% a day(24h) what gives about 1% per 3-4 hrs. Today i had it at 34% and solar charged it up to 43% but then, within first two hours it dropped to 41% which is way to fast. Any thiughts?

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  • 0 10 months ago in reply to 2196702
    2196702 said:
    Can anyone explain why solar charging doesn't hold the charge like cable charging does?

    As far as I see, you are confusing the battery charge level with battery life estimate. Those are two completely different values. While you appear to be thinking that the number of days is an indicator of the battery charge, it is not the case.

    The estimate is based on the current consumption. If the solar cells supply enough current to fully cover the consumption, the indicator will show an infinite estimation. In the moment the solar cells stop supplying any current, the estimate will be based on a much higher curent draining the battery, hence the estimate must drop abruptly to adapt to the new conditions.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to trux
    trux said:
    In the moment the solar cells stop supplying any current, the estimate will be based on a much higher curent draining the battery, hence the estimate must drop abruptly to adapt to the new conditions.

    Yes, I would understand that once the current has stopped, the battery level will drop. But I haven't observed this behaviour. I'm seeing the levels begin to drop many hours after the charge has ended, or the next morning (my watch is on battery save all night, so there's very little drain happening there).

    I'm just not seeing the benefit to solar charging if the added charge seems to go away within 12-24h (i.e. no benefit to solar charging).

    Maybe I need more time with the watch to know its charge/drain behaviour. Other than this specific behaviour, I absolutely love the watch.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to 2196702

    I am afraid you still do not understand the difference between the battery level and the battery life estimate. There is a very important difference between those two. Battery level will (practically) not change when the solar charging stops. Battery life estimate will drop dramatically.

    To find whether the battery is charged or not, look rather at the true battery level indicator (in %), not at the battery life estimate (in days). The life estimate only tells you about the in/out balance, and it has no direct relation to the battery charge.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to 2196702

    ... perhaps the following simplified example may help you understand the difference between the terms battery charge, and battery life estimate:

    Say, the battery is at 20% of charge, no solar charging, and the estimate tells 1 day remaining. Now, you go out, and the current from the solar cells climbs to the level of the consumption. It means that if you stay in these exact conditions, you can use the watch indefinitely, because the solar charging would cover the consumption. It in no way means that the battery is now fully charged to 100% !!! It is still at 20% (or perhaps just a tiny bit more). So in the moment the solar panel stops supplying the energy, the estimate will drop back to 1 day.

    As I wrote - this was a simplified example. In reality there is some averaging over certain period included, in order to avoid continuous brisk changes of the estimation, but I hope it can help understanding the difference between the two terms.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to trux
    trux said:
    look rather at the true battery level indicator (in %), not at the battery life estimate (in days)

    Fair point!  I'll try to do that and see what happens. I wish the watchface allowed for the % to be displayed instead of the day. Seems like the only way to access the % is to go into the settings screen.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to 2196702
    2196702 said:
    I wish the watchface allowed for the % to be displayed instead of the day.

    I do not know how it is on Instinct Solar, but on Instinct 2 you can have both variants, when you customize the watchface. If not available on your model, the Settings menu needs just a single button press, so you can check the value rather comfortably.