PINE64
Battery Dead on Arrival? - Printable Version

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Battery Dead on Arrival? - mpz - 02-14-2021

Hi everyone, 

just got my pinetime (open) yesterday. Wouldn't turn on, so I tried attaching to the charging base (2.4A outlet) and it powers on, staying on momentarily after removing from the base. This made me think the battery might just be dead so I let it charge for the afternoon, but it still won't turn on when detached from a power source. 

Is there something I'm supposed to do first for it to work properly? Any tests I should run to diagnose the situation? Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks in advance


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - barray - 02-14-2021

Is this the sealed or unsealed version? If sealed, your debugging abilities will be limited...

Some initial ideas:

1. When attached to the base, what is the version number you get in the software?

2. (Unsealed) Check the battery is soldered correctly in the device. It sounds like the battery is offering next to zero supply to the device off power.

3. (Unsealed) Check there is a voltage across the battery terminals whilst connected (under load) - ideally 3V+. If it's below, then there's a good chance the battery has had some damage.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - mpz - 02-14-2021

(02-14-2021, 01:21 PM)barray Wrote: Is this the sealed or unsealed version? If sealed, your debugging abilities will be limited...

Some initial ideas:

1. When attached to the base, what is the version number you get in the software?

2. (Unsealed) Check the battery is soldered correctly in the device. It sounds like the battery is offering next to zero supply to the device off power.

3. (Unsealed) Check there is a voltage across the battery terminals whilst connected (under load) - ideally 3V+. If it's below, then there's a good chance the battery has had some damage.
Unsealed version

1.) Version 0.7.1
2.) Soldering of the wires to the board look good, clean even.
3.) Voltage was good.

I was able to update it after quite a few tries while it was connected to a power source and now am running 0.13.0 of infinitime. I also used tape to ensure the device was fully seated to the base. It seems to be working now and the battery percentage seems to be consistent post-update and taping. 

Thanks for recommending those checks. Will use them again in the future.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - barray - 02-16-2021

Hmmm... I still suspect something is amiss here. Not actually charging the device correctly would for sure cause this. I personally used to elastic band mine to the base.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - Avamander - 02-16-2021

Is it possible that your watch was left in freezing temperatures for too long?


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - jferg - 02-16-2021

(02-16-2021, 06:01 AM)Avamander Wrote: Is it possible that your watch was left in freezing temperatures for too long?

How long is "too long"?  I just discovered that our postman left mine in a weird spot, sometime today, in ~0-degree F weather.   It had no battery when I tried to turn it on.  It does power on in the docking station and does seem to be taking a charge (it's at 2% now), but I don't know whether it will hold the charge.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - barray - 02-17-2021

(02-16-2021, 08:16 PM)jferg Wrote:
(02-16-2021, 06:01 AM)Avamander Wrote: Is it possible that your watch was left in freezing temperatures for too long?

How long is "too long"?  I just discovered that our postman left mine in a weird spot, sometime today, in ~0-degree F weather.   It had no battery when I tried to turn it on.  It does power on in the docking station and does seem to be taking a charge (it's at 2% now), but I don't know whether it will hold the charge.

0 degrees F is almost -18 degrees C, that would most certainly do it if left for a while... Batteries really do not like cold temperatures, for exactly this reason batteries used in cold environments will have battery-warmer circuits (for example, Tesla cars).

Sounds like you need a new LiPo cell. They are really quite small and shouldn't be too expensive.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - danielt - 02-17-2021

(02-16-2021, 08:16 PM)jferg Wrote:
(02-16-2021, 06:01 AM)Avamander Wrote: Is it possible that your watch was left in freezing temperatures for too long?

How long is "too long"?  I just discovered that our postman left mine in a weird spot, sometime today, in ~0-degree F weather.   It had no battery when I tried to turn it on.  It does power on in the docking station and does seem to be taking a charge (it's at 2% now), but I don't know whether it will hold the charge.

My sealed units arrived with completely empty batteries (although it's not that cold where I live). I left them on the docking station for an hour so two before using them. That left them with more than enough power to run the reloader successfully.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - Avamander - 02-21-2021

(02-16-2021, 08:16 PM)jferg Wrote:
(02-16-2021, 06:01 AM)Avamander Wrote: Is it possible that your watch was left in freezing temperatures for too long?

How long is "too long"?  I just discovered that our postman left mine in a weird spot, sometime today, in ~0-degree F weather.   It had no battery when I tried to turn it on.  It does power on in the docking station and does seem to be taking a charge (it's at 2% now), but I don't know whether it will hold the charge.

Long enough for it to freeze trough, difficult to predict without manufacturer (usually confidential) information. You can try and see how long it lasts, but if it doesn't hold a charge thankfully a new cell isn't too difficult to acquire.


RE: Battery Dead on Arrival? - Mpoint - 03-30-2021

Guys this is not a dead battery issue this is a know problem when PineTime is shipped with old bootloader If you update with new bootloader the battery should charge just fine. here is the link https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/j7fvk4/pinetime_wont_turn_on_after_turning_it_off/