Icon hd net battery drain

[rafal1676]

Noaoodiver thats what i did with my comp. and transmitter. It went back to leisure pro and tmo mares. i will be posting if they fixed this problem or not. If not I will send it back again and after three times i will ask about money refund, and will go with different comp.

 

[Hatul]

Noaoodiver thats what i did with my comp. and transmitter. It went back to leisure pro and tmo mares. i will be posting if they fixed this problem or not. If not I will send it back again and after three times i will ask about money refund, and will go with different comp.

I eventually went with the Galileo Sol and have been happy with it, but in January Liquivision is coming out with the Lynx, which looks very promising. Liquivision has lots of experience with OLED comps for tech divers and has good reputation on Scubaboard.

Adam

 

[Ex nihil]

I used the old HD Icon, without air integration for some time and liked it very much. In warm water I could get 14 hours of diving off the battery and I could leave it on the shelf for weeks. The AI version cannot handle a weekend's worth of dives and I cannot go for a dive on the spur of the moment because unless I put it on to charge the night before, the battery is flat. I would gladly pay now what I paid for the upgrade just to get my old unit back again.

 

[Zak OHara]

Icon HD Net Ready uses up approx 5% per day when not desaturating, and approx 9-10% per day when desaturating. The additional consumption during desaturation is due to the blinking red light, which we are considering removing in future models.

Why this high consumption, especially when compared to the previous non air integrated Icon HD?

The reason is a technical limitation when packing so much technology into one product, specifically a color display and wireless RF communication.

The RF communication is strongly affected by electromagnetic noise. A color display produces a ton of electromagnetic noise. In the non air integrated version this was not a problem, and so we were able to use stabilizers on the printed circuit board which themselves also produced electromagnetic noise but were very efficient. These same stabilizers in Net Ready caused interference with the RF communication, so they had to be replaced with a different type which is much more “silent” but unfortunately at the cost of using more power.

Keep in mind that Icon HD Net Ready even when turned off is not really off. It is checking ambient pressure every 20 seconds, and ready for USB signals and RF signals at all times. So basically the implication of having a feature rich color display with RF communication is that you have to charge it often. Not very different from an iPhone…

I hope this helps to explain. Battery consumption has been a major consideration / work around when developing new technology in this category. We are constantly looking to improve the technology so we can extend battery life, as well as develop new functionalities.

 

[Hatul]

Icon HD Net Ready uses up approx 5% per day when not desaturating, and approx 9-10% per day when desaturating. The additional consumption during desaturation is due to the blinking red light, which we are considering removing in future models.

Why this high consumption, especially when compared to the previous non air integrated Icon HD?

The reason is a technical limitation when packing so much technology into one product, specifically a color display and wireless RF communication.

The RF communication is strongly affected by electromagnetic noise. A color display produces a ton of electromagnetic noise. In the non air integrated version this was not a problem, and so we were able to use stabilizers on the printed circuit board which themselves also produced electromagnetic noise but were very efficient. These same stabilizers in Net Ready caused interference with the RF communication, so they had to be replaced with a different type which is much more “silent” but unfortunately at the cost of using more power.

Keep in mind that Icon HD Net Ready even when turned off is not really off. It is checking ambient pressure every 20 seconds, and ready for USB signals and RF signals at all times. So basically the implication of having a feature rich color display with RF communication is that you have to charge it often. Not very different from an iPhone…

I hope this helps to explain. Battery consumption has been a major consideration / work around when developing new technology in this category. We are constantly looking to improve the technology so we can extend battery life, as well as develop new functionalities.

I don't see why when not desaturating you can't almost fully shut down. Then just wake up only if a button is pressed or if it's water activated? That's how my Galileo Sol works-- it does not wake up until I press a button or immerse in water. It's a dive computer not a telephone. Also can you explain what the term "Net ready" means?

 

[Zak OHara]

I am not an engineer, so I'm afraid I can explain in detail the question you ask. I wouldn't be surprised if your computer is still on even when you think it is off. Again a major difference between the two is the color lcd display, which requires more power to function.

Net Ready is the term phrased for Air Integration capability.

 

[Pumuckel57]

Keep in mind that Icon HD Net Ready even when turned off is not really off. It is checking ambient pressure every 20 seconds, and ready for USB signals and RF signals at all times. So basically the implication of having a feature rich color display with RF communication is that you have to charge it often. Not very different from an iPhone….

@Hatul
I agree, especially if you locked the device by button the Net Ready has not to check the pressure and an USB connection until he is really switched on by button or water contact. Also I never understand the sense of the blinking LED. It makes more sense to use that LED to indicate the charging process, because you don't get an information whether charging goes on or contacts loose connection using the poor loader interface, if the screen is switched off. So it happens to me while on liveaboard: putting the Icon to the loader, next day I don't get a fully charged device, because current was cutted.

Pumuckel57

 

[zoranb]

I agree with the latest comments. Luckily the firmware is uprageable, so all these details can be added in the future FW versions. The last one (3.04) is quite good, but there's always room for improvement.

The two LEDs at the bottom can be used to show charging status.

Unfortunately, it seems that the power-saving feature was the last part of the development process, maybe even following it, resulting in some poor decisions which were adressed with the netready upgrade.

It does seem a bit odd you can't turn it off, but I've gotten used to it so much, that I don't even unlock the device, and start the dive with the device out of the box, as it wakes up automatically on pressure change. Again, with an upgradeable software, all this can be configurable, and I'm sure a time will come, when you'll be able to make your own settings in the Dive organizer, and have it compile your own firmware.

I bought a USB solar charger that's basically a battery that can be pre-charged via a USB port, or with the sun, and I use it as a backup to charge my icon when I don't have a power outlet nearby. It's not gonna charge the icon 100%, but enough for a dive. And while I'm diving it's charging out in the sun.

@Hatul
"net ready" is a concept developed by Mares that some day (soon?), your equipment will be able to communicate with the icon being the brains of the operation. Parts of your equipment will be able to exchange different type of information and feed it into the icon for display. What info? Let your immagination run wild. When during the dive you inflated your BCD? How much air did you put in it, and how much you have at the moment. The body temperature in your suit. If you drop a part of your equipment it goes out of RF range, and you get an alarm. The GPS reciever on your buoy can relay its coordinates to your icon, and show your location on a map. And then all this for your buddy and/or your dive group if you're a dive master...

 

[lucca brassi]

I bought a USB solar charger that's basically a battery that can be pre-charged via a USB port, or with the sun, and I use it as a backup to charge my icon when I don't have a power outlet nearby. It's not gonna charge the icon 100%, but enough for a dive. And while I'm diving it's charging out in the sun.

then buy UEMIS ZURICH ) Home - uemis - THE UNDERWATER REVOLUTION (oooo I'm evil ;-))

 

[Hatul]

then buy UEMIS ZURICH ) Home - uemis - THE UNDERWATER REVOLUTION (oooo I'm evil ;-))

Are you serious? As far as I know the company went bankrupt and their computer is not made anymore. It's amazing they still have their website up as though nothing happened. How about some Enron stock.