BEWARE EON Steel POD batteries DOA out of box new! Very Disappointing

[tunes456]

Hi, sorry to hear about your problem. Are you sure the battery was really empty? Do not trust the battery indication - I hope it will be removed! Also, myself I can never see the faint LED blinking unless during a night dive or in a completely dark room (Tank Pod must be pressurised too, of course). Just try pairing using any of the two methods and if it works - it is OK.

If you are unable to pair and see your tank pressure, then of course, warranty will help you. Depending on where you are, it might be possible in some locations to arrange a convenient courier pick-up for you, if you are not near a cervice center. Contact our support at suunto.com/support and order a warranty service and our support will let you know the options.

Please reply here if the battery was really empty. I have not heard about an actual empty battery out of the box yet. There might some other hardware failure, but they are very rare.

Sorry again, and I hope you a quick replacement if it will go that way.

Regards,
Tom from Suunto R&D

Thanks Tom,
The POD paired without issue, just no light and the low batt indicator. The tank pressure seems a bit different than the SPG, but mine also consistantly over-reads by 10-20 bar.

Are you suggesting that we disregard the low Batt indicator and diving with it like this?
If so, should we still expect 2 years or 200-300 dives?

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Tom Ahola]

Thanks Tom,
Are you suggesting that we disregard the low Batt indicator and diving with it like this?
If so, should we still expect 2 years or 200-300 dives?

If the LED is really broken (check in a dark room - it is really dim) you are entitled to a repair/replacement, if you wish to have it working. Also, if the serial number starts with 14, and you have a low battery indication, they will replace your Pod under warranty service. The newer Pods are more tolerable to static electricity and the battery indication is less likely to be reset by an electric shock. But it seems even they are not 100% reliable, so it is up to you if you want to have it replaced now. It might be replaced anyway when you take it for battery replacement later, possibly also after the warranty period.

Yes, I recommend not trusting the battery indication but replacing the battery after 2 years or 200-300 dives, whichever comes first. Do this also if the battery level indication says the battery is full.

Tom

 

[jcbrown]

...If the serial number starts with 14, and you have a low battery indication, they will replace your Pod under warranty service...

Suunto Service Center is Not Replacing my Eon Steel Tank POD's Starting with Serial Number 14 and indicating Battery Replacement. I'm being Requested to Pay for Battery Replacement.

Only 90 Days Warranty on Replacement Eon Steel Tank POD. I had Three Eon Steel Tank POD's, Unused, indicate Battery Replacement after 90 Days just sitting in the OEM Box.

When is the Battery Indicator Issue going to be Resolved?

 

[jcbrown]

Suunto Service Center is Not Replacing my Eon Steel Tank POD's Starting with Serial Number 14 and indicating Battery Replacement. I'm being Requested to Pay for Battery Replacement.

Two out of Three Eon Steel Tank POD's Starting with Serial Number 14 are being Replaced. Why not the Third?

 

[Diving Dubai]

So I have 4 transmitters (between my wife and I)

1 is approaching its 2 year anniversary no battery issues.

The other 3 have been exchanged twice. I've had 2 battery failures. Not low batt just no power. There was some issue with the dealer not discharging the memory of the TX (you need to let it sit after taking the battery out otherwise it still remembers the last battery level) so new batteries showed almost empty. I had a brand new TX showing low battery.

To be fair I PM'd Tom here with all the serial numbers and the history and he dealt with the dealer

I have been asked if I was leaving the TX pressured, or if there was a possibility of a static build up in my reg bag. Given my wife and I do different things but both had the same issues we discounted that.

Personally I would like to see the batt level indicator fixed and kept rather than deleting so you have some indication.

I have been a huge supporter of the EON, and still am, however my support is starting to fade. If this year we don't see some meaningful firmware improvements (like seeing 2 gas pressures, better Pod management, better gas management, I may start to re consider my options.

I don't think the Perdix AI is mature enough yet - in a year who knows, I like the OSTC but is has no AI, so who knows. But certainly Suunto is on notice

 

[Tom Ahola]

I have escalated my request to remove the battery indication from Eon Steel. That will fix all this trouble if and when a Eon firmware update will bring this fix. I really believe that divers should be able to replace the Tank Pod battery regularly without the indication. After all, the battery change interval matches well the regulator service interval and they could be service at the same time, except for the very active diver doing long dives, the battery might need replacement more frequently. After all, the battery level indication is not a promised feature and divers have been coping very well for year with the old Tank Pressure transmitters (for Vyper, HelO2 and D-series) which never had a battery indication.

jcbrown: I have asked our service department what the current policy is and will hopefully return with and explanation soon about the replacement of old 14.. serials Tank Pod. However, as it seems the newer serials are not perfect either, the replacement to a newer serial would not bring you much benefit.

Regarding the future, I would like to have your opinion. If we would make a new Tank Pressure Pod, which is more important to you - a long battery life or a battery level indication? Being able to estimate battery capacity by voltage would require a battery type with significantly less capacity and shelf life - you would need to replace it at least twice as frequently. Would that be OK?

 

[Diving Dubai]

I have escalated my request to remove the battery indication from Eon Steel. That will fix all this trouble if and when a Eon firmware update will bring this fix. I really believe that divers should be able to replace the Tank Pod battery regularly without the indication.

That would be fine, except the Pod's aren't making the 2 year time. As you know I've got 4 pods and only 1 has made a 2 year life (within the dive constraint) While I accept that some issues were caused by the dealer not following SOP for battery change (the indicator still showed low) I've have a replacement have zero out of the box, and 2 TX quit unexpectedly. In total I've had almost 12 changes and fixes of the past 2 years.

Personally I feel the battery indicator is worthwhile especially given the batteries aren't user replaceable. With no indicator If you are going on a trip you either need to change batteries to be sure or go at risk. I'm a big fan but the Pods have been somewhat unpredictable thus far.

I'd prefer a user change battery, then at least I could keep spares. My Pods are now on an annual battery change (approx 100 dives or 120 hrs) purely because I don't trust the life, which is a shame and saddens me

 

[Tom Ahola]

I now got confirmation that according to service instructions the older Tank Pods are indeed still being replaced by new ones directly if they are brought to a service point. But it might be that some service point have not read the instructionw or some might not even have received the instructions. Also, I found some confusion in the instructions. We will send new clear instructions to all of our service points as soon as possible. This hopefully helps getting rid of older tank pods from the field. But as I said they are good for diving if battery is replaced often enough and indicator is ignored, which may be valid for the newer pods too.

Diving Dubai: I didn't know until now that you had actually run out of battery so that they have stopped transmitting. We have done extensive battery capacity tests and there should be plenty of reserve capacity after the 2 year or 300 dives. I have not yet seen a single Tank Pod with actually empty battery if not counting those numerous ones I have run empty on purpose to test the battery life. If they have been basking in direct sunshine, reaching high temperatures or if they have experienced a intense mechanical shock, the battery might deteriorate faster. The special battery has a glass core, which might fracture and cause capacity loss, but I believe that would require a really hard hit, most likely causing the pod to break otherwise too. We do intensive drop tests and sledgehammer hits for all our products and we don't sell anything that is not robust enough to survive those. The battery manufacturer (Saft) specifies that the storage temperature should be maximum 30 degC. If the pods are sitting in hot sunshine for a longer time, they might discharge. Saft has not specified how fast they will discharge in high temperature and we have not tested it. I might do some tests regarding this if I find a free temperature chamber. But try to keep your equipment under shades. Direct sunshine might anyway greatly reduce the lifetime of your regulator hoses.

Me and some of my colleagues were in the Maldives last week, diving all week testing Eon and tank Pods in salt water and warm temperatures. We were not able to reproduce any problems with the battery indication. For me the Tank Pod battery level decreased only 3% during the week (we see the exact level with our internal tools). But we will be constantly testing and fixing any problems we find if they are such problems that can be fixed. The battery indication is one problem that should have been fixed by never having the indication in Eon Steel in the first place, because the battery chemistry just does not allow reliable indication.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Diving Dubai]

Thanks for the info Tom

We have 4 months of temperatures that are above 40C in the shade, indeed night time air temps never drop below 37C. If you gear comes in via shipping container... I've unloaded one on site in the summer and the internal temp was above 65C, So I guess then we will get degradation through heat then?

Because of UV, I change my hoses every couple of years max.

If you guys want to come out and do some proper hot weather testing, I'll take you diving

 

[dmc78]

Personally I feel the battery indicator is worthwhile esI'd prefer a user change battery, then at least I could keep spares. My Pods are now on an annual battery change (approx 100 dives or 120 hrs) purely because I don't trust the life, which is a shame and saddens me pecially given the batteries aren't user replaceable.

I agree with Diving Dubai on this. In my case living in the U.S.A. in Oregon the closest Suunto service center is in Vancouver B.C. which would involve shipping it off out of country. I wish my local dive shop could service it for me, If they can service my Regs why not my Tank Pod?