Question about Maestro internal battery

John K6VFR

I hadn't used my Maestro for a few months because I was waiting on 2.0.  After the 2.0 came out, I tried to power on the Maestro and it was completely dead.  I was informed to send in my Maestro to Flexradio because its internal battery drained out and it must be sent to Flex.  But, my question is this-- Should I have known that the Maestro must be used periodically to prevent the internal radio from draining out?  Is this in the directions somewhere that I missed?  If I missed it, my bad, I take full ownership.  But, if not, it seems like this should have been a big deal to get this information out to Maestro owners.  Sorry for the vent, since it is probably my fault for not knowing this in the first place, but it is very frustrating.   

Jim Gilliam

Maybe the instructions should say to use an iPad between battery changes.

Ria

The Maestro screen is a tablet, so it has an internal battery. In order for it to be charged it needs to be connected to power and turned on. Maybe try holding down the button with power connected?

If not, yeah, it will have to take a ride to Austin...

Thomas Dias

Very important information, I'm in Brazil. There is a Maestro and not known.
Sending another country for repair is very difficult for me.

Jeffrey Kerber, N3VE

Does anyone know if the battery is easily replaceable?  I am not having a problem, I leave a fully charged external battery plugged in.  My Maestro is out of warranty and would like to know more about the internal battery so I could change it myself when the time comes.

Jeff N3VE 

KY6LA_Howard

I have the same design flaw with an Atomic Aquatics Cobalt II Dive Computer.. It has an internal battery that must be kept charged at all times and NO DOCUMENTATION THAT THE UNIT MUST BE KEPT CHARGED.   The Cobalt II has had 2 trips back to the Factory before I figured out that it needed to stay charged..

I suspect that there is no simple solution to this issue other than to calendar yourself to regularly charge the Maestro like I do with both my Maestro and Cobalt 2  

Clay N9IO

Howard I sent my 6300 in to trade up to the 6600.

I did the initial update to Maestro 2.0 without a radio present but knowing this I will definitely make it a point to run the thing say at least weekly until the new radio arrives.  Thanks for the info guys...

WX7Y

A lot of tablets type PC's both Microsoft and Android based have this problem,  To fix this usually only takes removing ALL power opening up the Tablet and unplug the internal battery for 5 minutes or so then plug it back in plug external power and wait a couple hours to charge it then power it on.

BUT I have not left my Maestro with out power because there has been MANY write up's on the community about keeping the battery charged to see how hard it is to get into the internal Battery to reset it.

Maybe some one has done this that may tell us so we won't have to send it in.

I think it will also reset if you leave it off for like 5 months so the internal battery will totally discharge ( it does on Samsung and ASUS tablets)  but not sure with the tablet inside the Maestro if this will work or not.


73's
Bret
WX7Y

KF4HR

I leave my Maestro plugged in whenever I'm not using it, but as obviously important as the internal Maestro battery charge is, is the battery charge level indicated anywhere on the screen?  If not, it should be!

NX6D Dave

This really needs a detailed answer from FRS engineering.  I don't know if the embedded tablet will recharge when completely flat when Maestro is connected to external power for a while.  It sounds like it won't. In the mean time, I'll look at the Maestro docs and if this isn't covered, and I suspect it isn't, I'll correct that, boldly.

NX6D Dave

I just tested for this.  No, the internal battery level isn't shown.  But, running Maestro on the internal battery only results in a bold alarm message saying that power needs to be applied, or a charged external battery needs to be applied within a couple of minutes, or Maestro will shut down.

Rick Holloway

Same exact issue, Mine arrives in Austin today, Wish there was a warning label or some other notification, They are fixing under warranty but what a pain. Cost me $25 to ship it back. Would have gladly plugged in occasionally if I knew this would happen.

NX6D Dave

In section 4.4.12 of the Maestro User Guide, which is about use of a USB connected external battery, it says:

If the battery being used cannot supply the required power for Maestro, but does not fall below 4.25V, it is possible that it can cause a slow drain of Maestro’s internal battery.  If the internal battery is completely drained, Maestro will shut off and will require charging through the wall charger port on the back of the Maestro (up to 15 minutes may be required before Maestro will restart in this condition).

It doesn't say outright that the tablet battery can simply fade out to nothing when not in use.  It does say, however, that connecting Maestro to external power and leaving it for a while should recharge the tablet battery.  If this isn't the case, or of there are special cases in which this doesn't work, we need to get the straight information about this and get it documented correctly.

Earl Richardet

I'm thinking of purchasing a Maestro to go with my new 6600. I really want to hear from FRS before I make my purchase...

NX6D Dave

In an effort to understand this, is it right to say that if you just let a Maestro sit, the tablet battery will gradually discharge until it gets to a point that you cannot recharge it, and cannot operate the Maestro, simply by plugging in the external charger?  Was an "external" battery (a battery in the battery compartment on the back of the unit) in this picture in any way?

Norm - W7CK

There really needs to be some instructions posted so that the end user can perform this function in the field.  Otherwise, the unit just isn't reliable enough.   This is my personal opinion, so please take with a grain of salt.

Norm - W7CK

Rick Holloway

I had a fully charged external battery installed when it went on the shelf about three months ago. Took off the shelf and it wouldn't start. Removed battery and let it sit on charge over night. Still no start. Flex said to send it back. I am not sure but I don't think it matters if there is an external battery installed or not. The tablet battery will die if it is not plugged in for an extended period. No idea how long that is, Mine had not been on since April.

NX6D Dave

Thanks for the information.  I'm going to get this straightened out in the documentation.  I'll make it very clear what must be done to avoid this problem.

Mike W8MM

I have a total of three Maestros, one of which I use constantly, the other two of which were left sealed in their boxes for well over a year (very delayed contest project).  I recently read another thread about this very subject and thought to myself that I would be very upset if the two "new" Maestros needed factory service without ever being unboxed.

So, I unboxed them.  And, sure enough, they seemed dead as rocks after connecting them to their power supplies.  I then took the suggestion of a poster on the previous thread and pushed on the power button of each Maestro for about a minute while still connected to power.

To my amazement, both "new"-but-old Maestros both gave out a little flash of the screen back light after a while.  I left them both connected to the power supply overnight and the next day they were both right as rain.  Whew!  No factory trip required!

So, before giving up on the first sign of trouble, try looking around on the community for earlier discussions of this issue.  Maybe you'll get lucky like I did ;~} 

NX6D Dave

Thanks for this input. This may be the solution we're looking for!  If I can get confirmation of this from engineering, it will go into the documents.

Mike W8MM

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/maestro-wont-power-up-anyone-seen-this-issue-before

Here's my reply - fresher memory at the time for exact sequence of events:

"When I started reading this thread, I was really bummed because I have two brand new, never-opened-the-box Maestros for my SO3R VHF contest station (under construction).  They arrived about one year ago, which seems way past the trouble threshold.  So, I decided to get it over with and I unpacked and connected them to AC power.

Sure enough, both seemed as dead as rocks.  I pushed on their power buttons for 10 or 15 seconds and saw no response of any kind.  That was two days ago.  I left them plugged in to the AC since then.

I just went out to the garage to check on them and lo and behold, after pressing the power button for 30 seconds or less on each one flashed the display back light for 5 or so seconds, I released the button and then they went dark.  Just for fun, I pressed the power button again for 5 or 10 seconds each, and they both fired up just fine.

I powered them down for the night and I expect they are both completely healed.  I'm leaving them connected to AC power for a few more days to make sure they are fully charged.

Whew!"

Mike W8MM

Also, from the thread link posted above:

Paul, WB5AGF
When my Maestro would not boot-up earlier this afternoon I phoned Austin and spoke with Dudley.
Following Dudley's direction :
- I plugged-in the external power supply (confirming that the green LED on the 'brick' was glowing) and then held-down the Maestro's Power Button for 60 seconds (Dudley had said "30 or 40 seconds" but I figured that 'a little more can't hurt')
- leaving the Maestro plugged into the external power supply I set it aside (as Dudley had said to then leave it alone for 24 hours with the external PS connected)
- about 5 minutes later, out of the corner of my eye (since I'd set the Maestro to the side), I caught a flicker (I thought at first it was either my imagination or a reflection off something)
- I looked at the Maestro unit and its screen had come on showing the WiFi Network search screen (no EtherNet cable was plugged in).
Since then my Maestro has 'played' like it should (and I'm going to leave it plugged-in for the next 24 hours to give the internal battery a chance to recharge).
Dudley had explained that there needs to be a slight amount of charge remaining in the internal battery (not what a user can install inside the rear battery compartment but the internal battery which we can't access) for the Maestro to be able to boot-up. Dudley said that from what he's seen there is about a 50/50 chance that holding down the Power Button for an extended period of time, and then waiting 24 hours with the Maestro plugged into the external power source, will get the Maestro to power up (and then allow the internal battery to recharge). I was surprised (but pleased of cource) when my Maestro decided to 'wake-up' after only a few minutes.
- Paul, WB5AGF

Ross - K9COX

Was not handled very well by Flex.

Michael Coslo

I'm a little surprised that people with an amateur radio license do not know about the care and feeding of batteries. Any device with a LiPo needs to be used and charged

Tim - W4TME

John, you have a valid and reasonable question.  The answer is yes, you should have known about the issue and what to do to prevent it from happening.  We are supposed to be including a tech note with every Maestro shipped that explains the battery situation. It was my understanding that a Constant Contact mailing was sent out to every Maestro owner we know about informing them of this situation.

Obviously, you were not notified and I'll take the follow-up action to figure out why that happened and correct the problem.

No apologies for venting.  As a matter of fact, I find that your post is exemplary in how you stated your issue in a professional manner and I really appreciate that.

Thank you for bringing this aspect of the problem to our attention.

Tim - W4TME

The internal battery is not replaceable.

Tim - W4TME

There is a "really dead" and a "mostly dead" battery state.  If it is the latter, which is essentially the internal battery drained below the point of powering the display, it still has enough power left to initiate a charging cycle and the internal battery will charge.  If the internal battery drained below the point where it can not initiate the charging process then it is "really dead" and has to come back to Austin for charging.  If the internal battery is fully charged then it will usually take 6-8 weeks (sometimes more) to fully drain to the really dead state.

Tim - W4TME

This issue has been resolved on the newer Mastros that are in the process of being manufactured.

Steve K9ZW

Hi Tim Can you tell what that notice was titled, as a quick search didn't turn up a tech bulletin here either? Thanks and 73 Steve K9ZW

Larry - WA7LZO

Dell Venue 8 tablet battery replacement YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305Fj0Rg3u0

Battery costs about $40.

73,
Larry
WA7LZO

Michael Coslo

I have revived LiPo Batteries that have slipped below the voltage that smart chargers will charge at, even though the battery is actually okay.  LiPo's are really energy dense, and as such are kind of like a genie trying to get out of a bottle. It can get exciting.  And the refreshing should be done by a person who knows how to do it safely.  That's probably why FlexRadio Systems wants the battery returned.

I'm reluctant to even share the method.