Nighthawk M1 battery charging problem

[The_Mule1987]

Hi there , I recently bought the unlocked version of the m1 nighthawk router and it was great 3 days ago . Suddenly , a charging issue started to occur with no reason , when my battery died I plugged my router to a wall power socket and then I was shocked that the battery had charged until 97 % and did not complete 100 % . I then removed the battery and returned it back and then plugged back the router to the charger and still it does not charge beyond 97 % . So is there any solution to my problem ? .

[TeeJay74]

I have seen this happening with several MR1100-100EUS devices. I have reported this to Netgear and some investigation is going on, no results yet.

[TeeJay74]

I managed to get full 100% charge after complete discharge/recharge cycle which took some time.

[The_Mule1987]

Did you experience a non full charge before , if yes then what exactly did you do to fix the problem . I never charged my router before battery completely shutdown. I always charge when the battery is dead and still I don’t get a full charge

[TeeJay74]

Yes, I have experienced this before, but now issue came back again, battery charge again 97%. 

[TeeJay74]

It is possible to display 86 lines of information about M1's battery and charging which clearly indicates that Netgear takes product safety considering battery very seriously.

[The_Mule1987]

I didn’t get your point , what are you trying to say ? Please clarify your statement.

[TeeJay74]

The industry has learned  lessons from Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery fiasco and manufacturers do not take any risks with Li-ion batteries. So with enough data from battery and charging process makes possible precise software control.

[The_Mule1987]

And what this has to do with the battery problem for not completing the charging to 100 % ?

[TeeJay74]

For best battery performance, life and safety, charging sequence cannot work anyhow. It has to work perfectly. This is not the situation right now, but Netgear has tools to fix the problem.

[The_Mule1987]

You are trying to say that my problem is actually normal ? . I don’t think so cause it doesn’t make any sense that a battery is unable to charge full 100% . Second thing , is the main cause of the problem a software or the hardware ?

[TeeJay74]

Wait for firmware fix, you are not the only one with this problem.

[ErnestTheGreat]

@The_Mule1987

Can you describe how you have your MR1100 setup, how devices are connected and in what type of environment are you using the device in? i.e. Do you have device connected to WiFi only or is there devices connected to Ethernet port and USB port as well. Do you have SD card inserted in your MR1100? Also when the MR1100 battery reached certain temperature it will stop charging for safety reason? Can you provide the screenshot of the battery and device temperature when you see the battery 97% charged? (You can find this on the same page where the battery charging level is displayed). It is possible that when you battery reaches 97% that it gets too hot to charge thus cutting the charging off?

[TeeJay74]

Today I have tested a  Netgear solution for this problem and it worked well.

It is device parameter thing, BatLevRechgNorm parameter has to be changed from value 99 to 96, then battery charge is back to 100%. This fix will be included into next firmware release.

[chosos]

is there an ETA on this firmware? Will it also correct the non-charging issue where the devices will not charge if they are at 44 degrees? 

My device is used heavily and it seldom charges full. My battery is typically completely dead. I have also tried other QC3.0 supported chargers. Nothing seems to help.

[TeeJay74]

I do not know when next FW is coming out.

Temperature limits:

BatCritTemp - 57

BatHotTemp - 45

BatColdTemp - 1

If battery is hot it is quite obvious that it affects charging. It is better be careful with Li-ion batteries.

[chosos]

i was able to resolve my charging issues. I simply set the nighthawk upside down on my desk with the back cover off. it now stays completely cool. I may try and build some type of heatsink for this or 3d print some type of solution, as it seems to clearly be tied to temps as it has maintained a full battery charge for the past week. 

[JSchnee21]

While I agree it's better to be safe than sorry with regard to Lithium Ion battery safety.  It seems the MR1100 is overly conservative.  My iphone can get warm, even hot in my hand while charging, as do several of my Anker batteries.  The MR1100 seems very fussy with regard to temp, if the battery is even the slightest bit above room temperature it often won't change unless I open the back and let it air out.

I wonder if the thermisters which are used to measure the temperature either aren't placed in a good spot or are not well calibrated.

-Jonathan

[chosos]

mine has been running over a week flipped over with the cover off, with the same or more usage as before and it is significantly cooler. it has ZERO issue holding a charge now.

I wonder if i could just drill vent holes into the battery cover to help it breath. the whole thing is sealed up with no venting. it seems to be a design flaw if it needs to actually breath - no wonder if it overheating.