by Eric Sherman
Have you ever put a fully
charged AAA battery into your AB #Neptune processor and had it blink as if it
had full power and then shortly after shut down? When we found ourselves in a
similar situation, we would replace the battery with another fully recharged
battery only to have the same thing happen.
Right away you think, “oh no, my processor is bad,” and then next thing
you know, you are on the phone with customer service looking at replacing your device.
The beauty about the AB
Neptune Processor is that it’s waterproof and very durable. People participate in all kinds of extreme
activities with their Neptune Processors and they continue to work. Last year, we shared a story about a father who
found his child’s Neptune at the bottom of the ocean (after three days) and the
processor still worked. For many
recipients and their families, it’s disconcerting to see their processor shut
down unexplainably. Well, it may not be a processor problem at all.
Our son has been wearing the
Neptune Processors every day since he received them in 2012. We have found that the processors will shut
down if the battery drops below 750 milliamps (mAh). Recently, our son’s processors were shutting
down. We identified the batteries and did a refresh cycle in our smart
charger. After being refreshed, the
batteries could barely make it to 500 mAh and the result was the processor
would turn on, beep once and then shut off.
Most rechargeable nickel–metal
hydride (NiMH) batteries that are available in stores are 850 mAh and come in
packs of 2 or 4. If you are buying
rechargeable batteries that are not 1000 mAh and you’re not using a smart charger
(see blog story “Making Your Rechargeable Batteries Last Longer For YourCochlear Implant”) you may be misleading yourself into thinking your processor is
bad.
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| Batteries for Cochlear Implant Processors |
We buy our 1000 NiMH batteries
online and have found that these brand batteries last at least a year or longer
if refreshing and charging them with a smart charger. The ones we recommend are Powerex, Sanyo,
Panasonic or FDK.
If your processor is shutting
down or doesn’t seem to power up when you put in a fully charged battery, do
this simple test:
- Take a brand new alkaline Energizer battery, place it in your processor and see if it powers up and works for the day.
- If it does, you have a rechargeable battery problem not a processor issue. Often people will replace a bad battery with another bad battery unknowingly and think it is a processor issue.
- Lastly, try refreshing new batteries as it will help them properly hold a charge. You can get over 1,000 uses out of these batteries if you take care of them in the right way.
