D100 Backup battery dead after 1 year??

[darinh]

Hi all,

I installed my D100 last December with the emergency battery backup pack.  All was great until about June '08.  I noticed that my EFIS would shut off instantly with the master switch (prior to this, it would give me the 30 sec. acknowledge or shut down prompt).  I hadn't started flying yet so I figured the battery was not charging.  I have been flying now since July and still nothing.

I removed the battery and used a multimeter to check voltage and it reads 0...completely dead.  I know from my RC days that discharging a Li-Ion this far will ruin it.  I thought I would try to charge it using a Triton 2 charger which is specifically made for Li-Ion but it errors out within a couple seconds of starting saying the battery voltage is too low (in other words, the battery is toast).  

Here is my question, doesn't the Dynon D100 incorporate a low voltage cut-off to the backup battery to prevent it from discharging below a certian point?  If so, how could my battery be completely dead?

Darin

 

[dynonsupport]

Darin,
The battery has a built-in protection circuit. It's not in the D100, it's in the battery itself. Please don't hook the battery to any other charger.

We did have a bug in older software versions that prevented charging a fully dead battery. First make sure that you have upgraded to the latest software, 5.0.

Once you have 5.0, try turning the unit on and off with the master a few times. Leave it on for 2 minutes each time.

You can monitor the battery voltage right on the D100, no need to take the battery out. Just go into the info items and choose "VMETER". The battery is "I". Once it starts reading above 0, it should charge fine. The charger is very slow, so it can take about 20 hours to fully charge. Just an excuse to fly more

If none of this works, we'd be happy to look at the battery here and either charge it if it's fine or replace it if it's under warranty.

 

[N8RV]

Good to know. My D100 & 120 are older than yours -- and still brand new! I'll have to update as soon as I plug the units back into the panel after painting and then check the battery.

I had the same problem with my Garmin 396 -- brand new, never used, dead battery. Thankfully, Garmin sent me a new one.

 

[darinh]

Thanks Dynon I will try what you recommend.