Nighthawk M1 battery flat and offline in morning

1. How many WiFi devices are connected overnight?

Zero

2. Is there any device also connected over Ethernet overnight?

Yes about 8, doing Windows Updates on hired computers machines and pretty much constantly syncing about 1mbit/s of data back to a central server.

3. Do you have a MicroSD or USB thumb drive plugged into the M1 constantly?

No.

4. Are you plugged directly into the wall socket or using a power board with the supplied wall plug?

Using the supplied 1amp Netgear wall plug.

5. How much data is being used over night?

About 100GB per night.  I bought it to use it, not to look at the pretty lights.

So far I've discovered ditching the standard wall plug and plugging into a USB port with 2.4amp capacity made a big improvement.  I'm yet to run it to the point where the battery + power = flat.

I can't with certainty say the 2.4amp USB supply is the solution, I'll need more time before I can prove that scientificly.  However my gut is telling me the supplied wall plug is NOT powerful enough for regular use.

I don't get it, why is it only designed to be for intermittent use, I know many customers will use it that way.  However there are also many who can't get good Internet via land facilities and those who need a portable device for event work (all day conferences etc where Internet at from the conference location is EXTREMELY expensive and hard to organise, ie no cables to your assigned area etc).

Hopefully they consider those who use it as a better ADSL connection or a workhorse for an event when they make the next one and/or future firmware updates.

For me the unit is an NBN speed portable solution.  I often see speeds of 40mbit - 200mbit down and 20-60mbit up.  I can't get a fibre connection where I need the Internet and I'm not at the location for more than a week.  So it's perfect that way.  Data costs a fair amount, but setup fees for a connection this fast are often several thousand dollars.  So the high price of data is not really an issue it's cheaper than the setup fees for the temporary connections in the long run.  I also take advantage of Telstra ability to "share" data on a business plans.  That softens the blow on a large account with 30+ other mobile devices you can borrow from other people's data for this large events.

20GB x 30 plans = much data, avoiding excess charges.

I guess if you call doing 200GB+ in 2 days a heavy user that's how I use this thing.  It's not much data nowdays people get 1TB+ per month on a home plan pretty easily.  Sure it's possibly quite a lot of mobile data, but there will be more of this in the future as prices for mobile data drop so design products around doing 3TB of mobile data a month, that might be the norm by the time the next generation is released.

Hello,

The only "workaround" I know of is.

Remove the Battery.

Get a powerful usb wall adapter such as the ones designed to properly charge an iPad.  Otherwise you will find the unit will reboot when it draws more power than the supplied usb adapter can produce.

Only insert the battery if/when you are going portable with the device.

Hope it helps, report back your sucess/failure I've only bought one Nighthawk M1 and stayed on the older Cradle and Advanced III hotspot units where possible due to this problem.  According to Netgear they didn't design it with permanent use in mind, but thought everyone would use it "on the go".

Telstra and the packaging unfortunately doesn't tell you it's not designed for use beyond 8 hours.  The people selling it as usual have virtually no product knowledge or experience.

I hope the next edition solves this problem or a firmware update down the track solves it.  I do think you will need a larger power supply even if the firmware is adjusted to remedy long term use.  Luckily they are easily available since iPads have been on the market.

Regards,

Leigh

**Update to my previews post (See above this one)

Instead of taking the battery off the unit, just remove the battery cap (not the battery) and leave it connected to the charger. Then go to the Hot Spot Web Page administration (not the mobile app) and select Settings >> "Carrier" Wi-Fi Status >> Diagnostics and you will see the system and battery temperature. As soon as the Battery reach 40 C (104 F) it automatically stop charging. Now put the hot spot near a fan or AC unit (without disconnecting it from the charger) and as soons as it reach about 37 C (98.6 F) it will automatically start charging again. Keep in mind that 37 C (98.6 F) is the same temperature as the human body... sooooo I don't understand why Netgear team decided to select this temperature (40 C) as a threshold and label it as "danger" when is really a safe temperature and make the unit stop charging... At least I know that the unit is working fine and the problem is in the software.

Netgear Team, is really easy to fix this problem, please do so soon! This is really anoying!

Netgear Fan Boy!

Hi AlbertMartin,

Can you please explain how you use your device? Do you normally leave the battery in while using the AC power adapter even though it is at a full charge?

Please let me know. :]

- Jason N

Hi Ayed,

The issue is that the battery thermal management in the MR1100 is too conservative.  It stops charging due to "overheating" because the "hot" temp threshold is set too low.  This is a known issue with this product.  This product unfortunately was not designed for hot climates (I wonder if the AUS or EUS versions are any better)

This is a simple software change in firmware that Netgear seams unwilling to change.  General consensus is that Lithium ion batteries are safe to charge up to at least 45C, some would even say 60C.  But the MR1100 stops charging due to thermal sensitivity at like 35-37C.

Charging slower should help some.  Leaving the case open and/or setting up a small fan also helps.  

Occassionally there are also bad batteries that heat too much while charging.