My Sendo is complaining that the battery is low.
But even without any power cord plugged into the Sendo, the battery monitor is showing it's charging.
Even when I come to plug the power cord in, the phone doesn't recognize that power has been supplied.
Now, I'm worried if I can't charge it soon then it'll power off and I'll have no phone.
Any ideas ?
Sorry if this is obvious, but have you power-cycled the phone?
Yes.
Taken the battery out. Rebooted.
Even pressing '5' and restarted and it's still the same with the battery charger showing it's charging without anything plugged in.
alanh wrote:But even without any power cord plugged into the Sendo, the battery monitor is showing it's charging.Even when I come to plug the power cord in, the phone doesn't recognize that power has been supplied.
What firmware do you have? Do *#0000# on the Now Screen. Certainly a power cycle (as suggested above) will fix it, and then show the correct power level.
Other possibility is a hardware issue - has the pin in the power socket of the phone bent at all - should be in the centre, not touching the sides. If it is, POWER THE PHONE OFF, then try to straighten it.
I'm running...
X 1.98.5.2
Release IG
3-Nov-2004
The pin doesn't look bent and the power plug goes in fine.
At the moment I'm not sure whether it's a battery problem or a phone problem.
Is the phone meant to power up without a battery installed and with external power ?
O.k. I've had the phone apart and I think it's not the pin, but the clip that ground connects to when the power plug goes in. I think it's been jammed.
Now I can see this is only a little piece of plastic that plugs onto the main board.
Is there anywhere I can get a replacement part in the UK ?
I might contact the repair folks listed on Sendo's site for a price.
Nope. Definately not that after all. I completely disconnected it and the battery still thinks it's being charged.
So, are the phones able to power up without a battery installed ?
Sadly, no.
It's a battery powered phone, with (apparently) a software-controlled charging circuit. Which means that if your battery goes completely flat then you've got problems. You have the same problem if you screw up the software update by not charging the battery properly beforehand.
The Sync Station (cradle) is capable of charging a second battery, and as far as I know that works even if the phone isn't there.
Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Does anyone know what voltage the battery should be outputting when fully charged ?
I don't want to buy another battery and find out it's the phone that's the problem.
Get this too....
I'm getting about 3.18V out of the battery.
So I left the phone off, and plugged in the power cord, and left it for a couple of
hours, and now the battery is at 3.78V.
So, I know the battery is charging, but the software thinks it's always charging!!
What the heck is going on, I'm still not sure if something software wise isn't working quite right.
Mine's close to the end of a charge cycle, so I'll let you know.
OK, it's cooked, and the lab digital multimeter says 4.19V when not under load.
Ok. I'll leave mine a little longer.
But now, what's classed as 'low battery' warning on the Sendo - what voltage ?
Seems to be getting to 3.81V and not getting any furthur.
Any clues anyone ?
Strangely enough. I've just rang Vodafone to see if they could help. And the guy instantly said 'Is it getting a phantom charge', and then gave me Sendo's phone number to call.
I've not heard of that phrase before - 'phantom' , but it sounded like it's a known issue.
Grumble....
O.k. The phone charges whether it's on or off, as I've checked the voltage to the battery again and it's now 3.87V and climbing. I'll leave it for the rest of today and see what happens.
But the flippin battery meter just keeps going. Obviously as the phone thinks it's constantly being charged, I don't get the messages from the OS saying 'Charging' with a little battery and lots of colours.
At the moment I really don't think it's a hardware problem, but some firmware or flash glitch.
After leaving it on charge with the OS booted up. The battery is now at 4.36V. I guess that is fully charged.
But still that battery meter goes on and on.
I'm not so sure it's a hardware glitch, but more of an OS problem now.
Have you tried doing a reset of the phone by holding down the 5 key while you turn it on (this will "format" the phone's memory, so make sure you do a backup first...
It may be a wierd software glitch, which that might cure.
Yes, I did that in one of the original posts.
I've just tried re-loading the firmware too, and that still produces the same problems.
Does anyone know if the phone stores some battery state anywhere in flash that can be read ?