Battery indicator not accurate

SanDisk MP3 players Sansa® Clip | Sansa® Clip+
1

Did someone bumped into a situation when the battery indicator has showned an unaccurate sing of usage?

when i connect my device to the computer, it shows an higher percentage than when in use. for exapmle when i do properties at my computer it shows 60% and when i disconnect and hear music it indicates lower battery life such as 20%. why the hack?

i’m troubled. :frowning:

2

I don’t know why it does this but I find exactly the same thing.  I wish the Clip used a number for the battery life rather than a pictorial representation (or at least had a menu option that showed the numerical percentage like it does when it is connected to a computer). 

3

Hey folks.  The next clip firmware release will have a high precision battery gauge,  just as you have asked for.  It will have “Pixel resolution”  and be percentage based.

FYI the release is in QA testing now.

See Ya,

SansaFix.

4

Ya know, Sansafix, this is my first Sandisk product…but I am becoming a big fan of Sandisk with this kind of responsiveness- I think I’ll have to update the glowing review I gave the Clip on ePinions.com (“Richiemagoo”) and mention how responsive Sansa is!! This is a GREAT way to build a loyal customer base…and a heck of alot cheaper than advertising!!

Keep up the good work!

5

Good deal on the new battery meter.  I found that when mine says 25% charge left, I need to charge it, because it’s about to quit.

Fortunately, the USB cable from my old m230 fits the Clip, so I carry it in my backpack and can recharge my Clip at the office.

6

Are you using FW 1.01.18?  Its more accurate than the original firmware.

7

I’m using .18, yes.

A few days ago I looked at the battery meter while I was packing up in the morning, and it was about 1/4 of the way full.  I figured it would last for my 1hr 25min commute, but it only made it about 2/3 of the way.

25% of 15 hrs = 3hrs, 45min, so I was thinking it should’ve made it to work.  Not a huge deal though.  Still looking forward to the update.

8

Understand that LiPo battery SOC (state of charge) determination is a bit tricky; there’s a balancing act between maximum discharge time / allowable depth of discharge and battery health, in other words, where is “zero”, since you never actually discharge any Lithium chemistry battery “all the way”, or it’s Done Forever. So device manufacturers have to pick a minimum which is a “reasonable” point to disallow further discharge. So there is an offset to, and also some non-linearity in, the discharge curve, and that has to be matched up to a percentage number to display to the user.

A good analogy is vehicle fuel tank transducers, most people can relate - who hasn’t had a car that would go, say 250 miles from Full to 1/2 but then go 300+ miles from 1/2 to Empty (or worse, vice versa)?

Getting it tweaked takes some iteration and a good sample size of batteries, to accomodate tolerances, variation etc. Anyone who has done best-fit curve-fitting in software will appreciate this (ahhh polynomials…)

Overall, I think Sansa has done a Fine Job with this in the current FW, and if the next release is improved as SansaFix indicates it will be, that is even better. Way Cool.

9

Sansafix good morning,

first thanks for your quick respond, it was flashy indeed.

now… if you’ll be kind to tell us which FW is next? i have already 18H in hebrew.

except of the percentaged gauge what improvements will be made?

gr8 day to all

10

I imagine it will be numbered V .19 and available in all langauges, Hebrew included.

AFAIK, the fixes so far are:

1.) Battery Gauge resolution / accuracy improvement
2.) Volume level step size reduction / expanded range (lowered minimum volume, particularly)
3.) Improved id3 tag parsing (fixes “Refeshing Database” lockup issue)

I suspect that something to improve Mac / cross-platform filesystem support may also be included

The new version is scheduled for release in about a week or so, pending test and approval. AFAIK…

shalom :wink: