Bose S-1 battery issues

[Hugh Robjohns]

Erm.... Next time we meet I need to have a quiet word with you...

[Sam Spoons]

Bloody hell, amongst his myriad other jobs Hugh is the Tooth Fairy....

[Hugh Robjohns]

Sugar Plum Fairy, more like!

[Sam Spoons]

Entirely too much information Dr R

[Hugh Robjohns]

[ConcertinaChap]

Came back to this thread about a week ago after a break and learned about the firmware update. I applied it and a week later my S1 is still showing at 100% on the connect app. So thanks, guys, you fixed my problem for me.

I must say I'm still concerned at Bose's QA standards. This really should have been picked up during system testing.

CC

[Hugh Robjohns]

I've had a notice saying they've 'repaired' my S1 and it's on its way back. No information as to what the fault was or what they've actually done, though, but I can easily check to see if they've replaced the battery pack when it is back here.

[Sam Spoons]

I just checked my two S1, which have been unused for a few weeks, one is registering 90% and the other 100% so I guess mine are 'fixed' too. One has been back to Bose in Belgium twice the second has only had the firmware update.

[Rob Kirkwood]

Heading towards 10 weeks & my own S1 is still reading above 90% (no repair, just firmware update)

Rob

[Hugh Robjohns]

Has anyone actually tested the runtime of their battery after a month of storage to see if it is the same (near as dammit) as a freshly charged battery?

I'm sure the battery capacity really is as full as it says, but the firmware update could just have changed the discharge curve calculation so it appears to stay fuller for longer...

[Rob Kirkwood]

Has anyone actually tested the runtime of their battery after a month of storage to see if it is the same (near as dammit) as a freshly charged battery?

Good point, but don't think I can personally face the prospect of 2x 6 hours-ish of high-volume pink noise just to find out.

I'm sure the battery capacity really is as full as it says, but the firmware update could just have changed the discharge curve calculation so it appears to stay fuller for longer...

Well, that's put the cat among the pigeons!
They wouldn't do that, would they? Surely not?

Rob

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'd hope not... but who knows? It was a flippant comment, but companies have been known to do strange things to save face sometimes...

I'm finding it a little hard to fathom how a firmware update has changed the battery discharge when the unit is switched off, but I have no knowledge at all about how the speakers control and monitoring circuitry works.

I shall see how my speaker performs when it returns next week.

H

[Sam Spoons]

Has anyone actually tested the runtime of their battery after a month of storage to see if it is the same (near as dammit) as a freshly charged battery?

I'm sure the battery capacity really is as full as it says, but the firmware update could just have changed the discharge curve calculation so it appears to stay fuller for longer...

Just when I was becoming happy with my S1's again....... That had crossed my mind but, despite my other issues with Bose I decided to refrain from mentioning it. Bose claim that 'in use' battery life has been improved by the firmware updates (but they also said in did not solve the battery drain issue so who knows what to believe).

Either way, they do hold charge better than my first one did as it was completely flat in less than two weeks.....

[AlecSp]

I'd hope not... but who knows? It was a flippant comment, but companies have been known to do strange things to save face sometimes...

Maybe Bose have been learning from VW...?

[ConcertinaChap]

I'm finding it a little hard to fathom how a firmware update has changed the battery discharge when the unit is switched off

I'm not. I have the example of Olympus recorders before me. The earlier models like the LS10 tested extra memory every time you turned them on and as a result if you had a large SD card fitted it could take a surprising amount of time to start up. This could be a real problem if you wanted to record something in a hurry. For later models they had a solution. It only did this check the first time after you fitted new batteries. After that it retained the value and started up very quickly. Trouble is, however it did it, it drained the batteries and after about 4 weeks or so you had a dead set of batteries and a dead recorder. I've avoided Olympus kit ever since.

The S1 must have been performing some sort of housekeeping task that drained power in a similar way. Find a way of doing it that didn't drain power and you've sorted it.

CC

[Sam Spoons]

It obviously was battery related or something that didn't need to run continuously when in standby as the S1 is perfectly happy running on the mains with the (originally optional) battery removed.

Hugh may well have something though (and I had considered it as I said) it maybe that the battery discharge curve in the monitoring software has been tweaked to show less discharge in the first few days to disguise the actual situation. One of mine took 14 days to lose 10% then fell from 90% to 40% in a week and a bit..... It costs a lot less to tweak the firmware than it does to put a few hundred S1 through the warrantee repair system

[Hugh Robjohns]

It is clear that the off switch isn't really a hardware-off switch since the charging circuit remains operational if the unit is switched off but still connected to the mains. So the processor or some other sub-circuit may have remained alive for checking the battery charging state periodically... The other possible candidate I can think of is the Bluetooth facility.

[Rich Hanson]

You might be on to something wrt Bluetooth: I have a Kobo Touch ereader. When I first had it the battery would drain quickly in sleep and even in power off, but only if WiFi was enabled. Later firmware updates stopped this from happening. (On a side note, I'm impressed that they're still doing firmware updates on a device that was first released in 2011)

[Hugh Robjohns]

Just a quick update: My S1 has been returned with a note to say the fault I described (and videoed) could not be replicated by the service department in Belgium.

Bizarrely, though, it goes on to say, "During the testing process it is possible that routine servicing or updates to the latest hardware/software have resolved the problem."

I'm not sure what to make of that! Did 'routine servicing or hardware updates' involve replacing the battery pack or charging board before any testing? Seems a definite possibility...

Anyway, it is now working properly and the firmware is reporting as the same current edition I had already loaded.

[Rob Kirkwood]

So, my Bose S1 battery testing hit 12 weeks yesterday - & I've called it a day.
Here are the results, & how I did the testing...

I bought my S1 Pro brand new just under 18 months ago from a UK supplier. Until lockdown it had been used (& recharged) every week. The only change I've ever made to it has been an upgrade to firmware version 7.1.5 (there is now a more recent version).

So, I fully charged it Saturday 4th April, & put it back in it's bag. Since then it's never been reconnected to the mains, & has only been out of its bag & switched on briefly to check the battery charge as described below.

I began checking battery level (with the Bose App on an iPad via bluetooth) every few days - as time went on I dropped to just testing weekly.

The App shows battery level in lumps of 10%, and by Thursday 30th April it had dropped to showing 90% charge - so actually somewhere between 90-99%.

My original plan was to keep going until it dropped to 80% - but the App has continued to show a 90% charge up to & including yesterday Saturday 27th June (= 12 weeks on from charge). For me, a charge level between 90-99% after 3 months is perfectly fine, so I called a halt to my testing.

As a further test, before plugging it back in, I decided to run pink noise through it to discover how long the battery would last - this would give some idea whether the battery really did still have a decent charge, or whether the App was showing 'optimistic' levels after the firmware change.

So, pink noise in (generated on a loop within Cool Edit Pro) at a level that pushed the S1 reasonably well, but was tolerable for us elsewhere in the house with the S1 bundled up in a couple of thick sleeping bags . I'd also buried a mic with the S1 & recorded that to another DAW so I could check exactly when it stopped working, in case we went deaf . I expected it to run for maybe 4-5 hours.

Surprisingly, after 8 hours we were running out of time to let it continue - so I called it a day at 8 hours 5 mins! According to the Bose App, the battery then still had 20% charge, although the icon was showing red... so maybe it would have continued for another couple of hours, or maybe there's some battery protection that would have cut it off before then?

finally, I dragged out my cheapie sound level meter just to see what level I'd actually been driving the S1. So with the S1 back in free air (it had got pretty warm while wrapped up), & again fed with the same pink noise at the same level, I got a reading at 1 metre of 80dB (C weighted, slow response).

8 hours plus is quite impressive, double what I was expecting, & I think suggests that the firmware changes have really made some battery life improvement, rather than just cheating the figures.

Rob

[Sam Spoons]

The App shows battery level in lumps of 10%, and by Thursday 30th April it had dropped to showing 90% charge - so actually somewhere between 90-99%.

Actually that represents between 81 and 90% as it doesn't register 90% on the app until it has fallen to 90%, the next increment is when it falls to 80% when it will show 80% in the app.

However that is all pretty academic as 80%+ charge remaining after three months is perfectly usable. And 8 hours 'in use' batter life is excellent.

Good that yours does not have the issue

[Hugh Robjohns]

Good report of some thorough testing there's Rob. Encouraging results.

[JohnStan]

Hi guys, I am new to Sound on SoundCloud. Have a question about the Bose S1 Pro and it’s long term battery life. Mine is about a year and a half old and I play an acoustic guitar through it daily and play lots of music through it as well for my sons violin lessons. Has been a fantastic piece of kit so far but I’m pretty sure my battery is dead or dying out. It will no longer accept a charge that I can tell. I have never kept it in extreme conditions and usually never drain the battery completely. I probably use it 70% plugged in and 30% off of battery. Anything I can do to get it back accepting a charge? Can’t pay $100 for a new one right now and can’t find a cheaper version. Thanks, John

[resistorman]

Batteries can only accept a finite number of charge cycles. Not sure if keeping it plugged in counts toward that, but if I’m going to be using mine plugged in for a long time I take the battery out.

I doubt there’s any third party batteries out there.

Have you tried Bose support?

[James Perrett]

The battery performance goes down with more charge/discharge cycles. The standard specification is that the capacity will fall to 80% after 1000 cycles which is around 3 years of daily use.

Given the experiences of various users on this thread it looks like Bose are doing something odd with the battery which could possibly mean that the battery is being continually discharged and therefore reducing its lifespan. However, I would expect it to last longer than a year and a half unless you are using it so much that you are charging it more than once per day.