Maestro A Battery Issue

Jerry WA9UKB · November 2019

Maestro dies if unplugged from power supply? Never new about the battery issue until i seen some threads about needing charged, The issue here is I have always keep the Maestro constantly plugged in although I have had the unit since 2014 and always plugged to the supplied power supply, so my question is, do I now have a paper weight as it has been said that the battery is not replaceable in the Dell Tablet ? if I had known this in the beginning I would have not purchased the Maestro......

WX7Y · November 2019

If you don't have a Battery installed in the Battery compartment then your Maestro is operating normal.
These Batteries are NOT supplied by FLEX, The battery that people are talking about is the Battery installed in the Tablet inside the Maestro internal Tablet Microcomputer and are NOT meant to power the Maestro but rather keep the programming in the Tablet.
If you want a battery to Power the Maestro while it is not plugged in or portable operation here is a link: https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/210311883-Suggested-Battery-Packs-for-Maestro
hope this helps
Bret
WX7Y

W5AP · November 2019

Will the power supply recharge the battery in the battery compartment? Or do you have to take it out to recharge?

WW1SS - Steve · November 2019

They will not charge it

W5AP · November 2019

how about the Maestro B

WW1SS - Steve · November 2019

None of the maestro's charge the battery. Was supposed to but a last minute design change eliminated that.

Martin AA6E · November 2019

Seems he is referring to the built-in Maestro battery, not the optional battery pack. That is a small non-user-replaceable battery that must never be allowed to fully discharge. (Why? You might ask.) It will stay charged if you keep DC power on "often enough". Does the Maestro B have the same issue? Don't know. That's my understanding based on snippets I've read here. Has Flex fully described the problem somewhere? It would help!

Andrew VK5CV · November 2019

Jerry
If the Maestro is externally powered consistently from DC or user supplied battery the internal battery should be fine. If left without external power for an extended time the internal battery can go flat and not boot the device. There is a procedure to charge the internal battery that needs an unusual USB A to micro USB female cable.
Andrew VK5CV

k3Tim · November 2019

The table battery is indeed user replaceable, speaking from experience in having done so. Videos on the web show how to perform the task. There are vendors on the web selling the battery.

There is a H0W-T0 on the Flex site about recovering the Maestro A should the tablet battery discharge to the point the device recharge and boot. The interested stugent is encouraged to read it. The Maestro B does not display this 'feature'.

The USB power packs are all over the place wrt performance, especially during charging. Some (most?) can only charge and will turn off the USB ports supplying power. Other packs won't self start when the Maestro starts and instead a power-0n has to be pushed. The only viable solution (assuming USB power packs only) is to require external charging of the pack.

The above is my understanding as a user of a M-A from day one and reading this forum.

Regards All,

_..--
Tim - k3Tim

Steve K9ZW · November 2019

There seems to be an evolved confusion - a Maestro has an Internal Battery which is not going to run the unit, as it provides the boot-power to fire up the unit. It is the battery in the Maestro A-Version that should be kept from going completely flat, lest you have to do some extra steps to get the unit back into shape. Not a big deal, but with the B-Version FRS was able to greatly avoid the issue. The Internal Battery will keep the unit basically live just long enough to swap you user supplied battery. At least I have gotten away with a user battery swap.

ALL versions (both A-Version and B-Version) need a USER SUPPLIED & CHARGED battery connected to run without the mains adapter. Many people use batteries that fit inside the Maestro Compartment, though some more serious operators use larger batteries that are external.

No Maestro will charge the user supplied battery. There are sound technical reasons why a built-in battery charger for the user supplied battery hasn't happened. Most of us using their Maestro on batteries have more than one battery as it is.

Recommendations for a User Supplied battery tend to go stale, as models of batteries are updated in the marketplace. The Maestro documentation provides the maximum dimensions and minimum output requirements. I have found it useful to go with a battery physically slightly smaller than the absolute max dimensions.

The internal battery on any tablet based product, Maestro included, has a finite lifespan. At end of life it may not hold or take a charge well, or in some cases it may swell. Some users report that under 24/7/365 charging from always being on with the mains adapter, that they have experienced internal battery swelling. Often it shows as brown/burnt spots on the touch screen as it pushes from the inside. All have reported great success in either having FRS replace the internal battery, having a third party (like Batteries+ or other fix-it shops) replace the internal battery or as a DIY project.

A dead/failed internal battery is a nuisance but is in no way the end of the road for your Maestro. We certainly don't throw our our laptops or pad/tablets when the batteries act up, and with the same maintenance approach the temporary upset to using our Maestro can be fixed.

BTW it might be worth editing the subject of this thread (I think just the original poster can do that? or does FRS) as trying to run without a user supply battery is not just a A-Version problem, but is a lack of appropriate power problem that affects all Maestros.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Blog: http://k9zw.wordpress.com

Maestro A Battery Issue

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