One of the best benefits of my sons newer
cochlear implant processor (he received several years ago) was that it uses a AAA
battery to power it. No longer did we have to depend on a proprietary
battery and charger. We could pick up
either 1000 milliamp hours (mAh), Nickel-Metal Hydride
(NiMH) rechargeable, or alkaline batteries at any store and it would power the
processor. Although using a rechargeable battery was more expensive, it made
more economic sense to use on a daily basis than burning
through alkaline batteries.
Rechargeable batteries should last up to
1000 charges. We don’t really keep track of how many times we charge our
AAA batteries, but we went from replacing batteries every few months to maybe
once a year… if not longer.
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| Smart Charger |
We extend the life of our rechargeable
batteries by investing in a smart charger.
A smart charger is designed to protect and prevent from
over-charging your batteries. If your batteries feel very warm or hot
when pulling them out of the charger, it’s likely you’re not using a smart
charger and over-charging and shortening their life span.
The smart charger we purchased allows us to
charge, discharge, refresh, and test the batteries. The batteries definitely
don’t feel warm after charging. In addition to extending the life of the
batteries, we found that when a battery tests below 700 mAh on
our smart charger, it will only power our son’s processor for a short length of
time… which is less than a day, randomly shutting off the processor before
signaling a low battery. In general we refresh our batteries with the
smart charger, which is a process of discharging and recharging several
times. We do this especially if the battery tests below 800 mAh. This assures that our
son’s processor will be powered throughout the day. If we can't refresh
the batteries back above 800 mAh,
we will no longer use them in the processor.
Also, not all rechargeable batteries are
the same. Do a little bit of homework before you buy. We
found some batteries lasted longer than others. Also, we found it best to
charge a new NiMH rechargeable battery before using it.
These batteries will self-discharge, so who knows how long they have sat in some warehouse or on a store shelf.
There are many resources on the internet; Michael Bluejay (http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/)
put together a battery guide on his blog that you may find helpful.
If you have battery or charger suggestions,
please share your comments. Lastly, remember to recycle old batteries.
#cochlearimplant #ciwear #CIbattery
Ci Wear is a patented shirt designed to secure and help protect cochlear implant (CI) processors and other mobile listening devices. Use as a rash guard, swim shirt or an exercise apparel. For more information visit www.ciwear.com
