HI, I’m new to hearing aids and have had my Jabra 20’s for about a month. I was told to keep them plugged in and in the charging station when not in use. I don’t like keeping batteries operated devices plugged in .since it ruins the battery. I charge mine then take them out of the charging slots and put them in the middle opening. If I take them off the charging slot overnight, I get a low battery beep in the morning? That seems odd to me that these won’t hold a charge overnight.
Is it normal for these to discarge so rapidly when not in use?
Thanks
When you take them out of the charging slots, you’re powering them up, so yes, it’s normal for the batteries to begin discharging, and if you keep them powered up and out of the charger for 12-16 hours, yes, I can imagine that they could completely go dead and need another recharge. If you only leave them in the middle slot and not in the charging slots for, say, eight hours, I can imagine they won’t make it through the next day without needing a recharge. So, yes, again: normal.
There may be a way to take your aids out of the charging ports, allow them to power up, and then manually power them down. I don’t know the Jabras, but in some aids, you can do this by holding down the top button for a few seconds. That may not work with yours, though. Try it.
Honestly, as far as we know, it doesn’t really ruin rechargeable hearing aid batteries to leave them in the charger overnight even though they recharge faster than that. Rechargeable hearing aids these days use lithium ion batteries, and they’re good for maybe three or four years, and that will be about it, whether or not you remove them from the charger when they’re fully charged.
You’ll know the batteries will need replacement because they will stay powered up for fewer hours without needing a recharge. In some hearing aids, this means the entire aid must be replaced, because the “battery” is baked into the aid circuitry and is not replaceable. It pays to keep an eye on the warranty clock and ask for new aids close to the end of the warranty, because it may be cost prohibitive to have them serviced once the batteries no longer hold a charge. But again, as far as we know, you can’t delay this need to service/replace by shortening the aids’ time in the charger.
I know there are some lithium ion power tool batteries for which the manufacturer advises not leaving them in the charger, once they’re charged, but they mean don’t leave them in the charger for weeks, not for a few extra hours. And power tool batteries are somewhat different from hearing aid batteries. That advice really doesn’t apply to hearing aids.
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Thanks for detailed reply. I think I found the issue. I can turn off my hearing aids with a long press. I found though that if the jabra app is open and I get near the hearing aids it turns them back on. Thus they were on when I thought they were off.
FYI on charging lithium batteries. My wife and I got new iPhones 2 years ago. She uses the high output charger and leaves it plugged in all the time. I charge mine from my 2 amp charger in my recliner in the evening and try to unplug it at 80%. My battery health is still 100% hers is 90% and dropping fast. I have no way to do that with the hearing aids though and not sure it would be the same.
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I’m sure you’re onto something about maintaining battery health in an iPhone, though battery replacement in an iPhone is easier and less expensive than it is in rechargeable hearing aids (though not, for iPhones, as quick and cheap as swapping out a $5 card battery at home in bygone days of cellphones!).
I agree it may not be analagous to hearing aids. The difference in charger amps and battery levels when the two of you disconnect may be more responsible for her declining battery health than leaving them connected to the charger. I have seen warnings about fast charging and charging to 100%, in other words, that your way of charging is better for long-term phone battery health than her way.
Interesting that approaching with the app on powers up the aids. That wouldn’t have occurred to me either. It’s a good idea to keep the app open all the time if you’re using Find My [aids] on an iPhone. Find My… may not work all the time (for example, if you lose an aid while out-of-range of a cellphone tower), but it has saved my butt a few times. It’s worth using.
It’s nothing to do with the Jabra app itself, it’s because the charger is still talking to the aids, so they are not properly off, and if you approach the charger with the app, the charger will try to find out what the state of charge of the aids is currently, so as to report it to the app.
If after turning them off with the 5 second press the button, instead of putting them in the well in the middle of the charger, you instead put them in a safe place, say a special plastic box in a drawer or whatever, and it’s some feet away from the charger, then they will stay off and fully charged even if the app does come close to them or indeed close to the charger.
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Thank you I didn’t know that.