Battery Charging and Percentages

[HoneyTimBer]

I have a fairly large area to snow blow and two of my projects always need to perform a recharge in the midst of a task.

I have the standard 20% “recharge battery level” (where it quits mid job and returns to the charging pad) and 80% “Undock Battery Level” (where it recommences the task). I believe these settings provide the best charge:time performance (if you don’t know why, think of charging like a parking lot. When there are fewer cars in the parking lot, it’s easy to find an open spot to park. But as the parking lot fills up past 80%, it is harder for the electrons to find an open parking space. 80% is a sweet spot before the battery charging rate starts to really slow down.)

I recently noticed that the charging process was taking forever! Maybe a watched pot never boils, but a charging battery is even more mysterious. So I’d see the battery hanging around 75 or 76% and check back 30 minutes later and it would be 77 or 78%. Since far less than half of the project remained, I sent Yarbie out manually to finish the task. A week later, same issue. Grrr.

So I went into the software and set the “Undock Battery Level” to 70% (let’s get this show on the road!). But with the new setting, the long delays in charging to that threshold continued. But this time the long delays started happening the 60s. This time I had taken a few screencaps as I anticipated a posting here. Again, I manually launched Yarbie to get the job done. Then I looked at the battery charge level and, lo and behold, it was at 100%. Hmmmm.

So, I’m thinking that something weird is going on. It is possible that “Undock Battery Level “ setting is mis-behaving and there’s a bug that has been introduced.

I attach a few screenshots where you can see the time and the battery level during charging and then a couple more after Yarbi embarks on completing the task. It goes from 59% to 62% in 14 minutes of charging. At 11:00, I got tired of waiting and manually launched him. This time I noticed that the battery started reporting 100% battery charge. At 11:12, the battery is reporting 86% (roughly a bit more than a percent per minute of operations in 4 inches of snow and snow projection at one step below max with an outdoor temperature of around -15C. I didn’t think that was an outrageous drain rate since the battery also needs to keep itself warm at that temperature. My battery was probably reporting in the 4-7C range but I don’t have that information verified. Just a guess from frequent visits to the data report page.

So. Is this something others are seeing? Is the “Undock Battery Level “ setting causing the software to distort the actual charge level of the battery?

[HoneyTimBer]

And tonight, there’s a job waiting to be completed. He was working away and then needed to go get a little juice. But four hours later I check in on him and notice that the battery has been charged all the way to 100%. Yarbie blew right through the 70% target and is just sitting there chilling. Not a care in the world. Like a teenager sitting on the couch!

Why do I have to launch him manually when there’s work to be done?

[bryan.wheeler]

This is a common known issue right now and this was actually just sent out today in the weekly newsletter. Give it a shot. If it first doesn’t work, plug in the wired charger for 2-3 hours to the back of the core after you’ve first unplugged the battery for 4 hours and then reconnected it.

[Yarbo-Forum]

Hi there — thanks for the detailed write-up, that’s really helpful.

This behavior may not necessarily be related to the “Undock Battery Level” setting itself. As a first step, could you please try Bryan’s suggestion:

Power down the unit

Unplug the battery and let it sit for about 4 hours

Reconnect the battery and check whether the charging and undocking behavior returns to normal

Sometimes this process can help recalibrate or reset battery-related readings.

If you still see abnormal charging or undocking behavior after this test, please go ahead and submit a support ticket. When you do, include:

A description of the issue

The screenshots you mentioned

And the troubleshooting steps you’ve already tried (including the battery disconnect test)

That information will help the support team investigate more effectively.

[HoneyTimBer]

I can confirm that the task of removing the battery for 4+ hours and then reinstalling it has solved the undocking issue I was experiencing. This may not be the only solution, but it has proven to be successful for my situation.

Added tip: in a cold environment, it may be worthwhile bringing the battery into a climate controlled location like you house or basement while waiting for the 4 hours to elapse.