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Forum Discussion
AirCard AC810S keeps rebooting when plugged in wall power without battery installed
I have an AirCard AC810S. I want to use it without the battery and plug it into a power source (wall or power bank, and NOT my laptop). But the unit keeps rebooting and not load the home screen. The ...
Thanks. I'll contact the support. By the way, just found out that this is not just happening with 1 unit but 2 more. We have also tested using the wall plug and cable that came in the netgear box. But the results are still the same; i.e. keeps rebooting.
Will post the response from netgear support here soon.
Hi,
The AC810S does not officially support operating without a battery. And that is likely the answer you will get from support.
The reason the battery is required is that it provides a current resorvoir to average out short term current spikes from the power supply due to network transmissions.
Depending on your current operating conditions (which can vary based on proximity to cell tower, band used, etc), the AC810 may attempt to draw more current than the wall plug supplied with the AC810 (and most other USB wall plugs on the market) can supply (typically rated for 1.0 amp).
When this happens, the unit will reset.
A simple way to determine if this is your problem, is to take the SIM Card out of the AC810 and try to power without the battery.
With no SIM, the AC810 will not attempt to transmit to the network.
If the resetting goes away, then that likely means it is a power draw issue.
If you can find a USB power source that can supply at least 2.0 amps, it may resolve any problems related to power draw.
Again, this is an 'unofficial' workaround as Netgear cannot guarantee that it will always work.
Also note that most PCs will supply less than 1.0 amp on their USB port.
If trying to tether without a battery, it will be very likely you will see the reset issue and there is also a possibility you could damage your laptop.
So this is another reason Netgear will not officially support or recommend running this way.
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks very much. I understand a little better now. Here are some further tests that I have ran.
- Using original cable and then plug it into the laptop without battery - (result) it works.
- Power on the device with the battery while plugged into the wall (1A). Wait until the device recognise the battery and then remove the battery - (result) it works.
- Repeat the 2 test on my power bank with 2.1A port - (result) it works.
I understand the power drawn issue at start up, which I think the 2 and 3 tests prove it.
But the 1 test proves that it doesn't need the battery. Or does the computer some how resolves the power spike issue? 1A or 2.1A seems not matter at this stage.
Is there anyway that we can at least mimic the computer USB port so we can power the device on via wall socket or power bank?
Thanks,
Alex