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Vector 3 battery life - real world
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I was fortunate to receive a pair of new Vector 3 pedals recently. Every ride has been 'battery status: good'. Today? 'Battery status: low'. Nothing in between? And the spec is for 120 hr of use. Me? 31 hr of use. How about you? Is the 'low' warning super early (like, only 1/2 spent)? Are you getting 120 hr from a set of batteries in the V3? Not that I'm worried about the battery costs, but about the soundness of the pedals...still under warranty, of course...
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [giorgitd] [ In reply to ]
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I'm on set 2 of batteries. the ones that came with the unit got me about 25hrs... so you did better then me.
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [giorgitd] [ In reply to ]
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I use a lezyne head unit that provides a battery life indication and directly out of the box it indicated my vector 3s had 50% juice. At the same time the my garmin connect app was reading good. It still isn't clear to me if this reflects an issue with the original batteries or with the vectors.

I'm just over 30hrs in and last time I checked the garmin app was still reading good battery life, but the more I read the more I suspect many of the units arrived to customers with less than full batteries. So I would guess the 'low warning' does come on early but also that you were only starting with less than 1/2 charge.

A final thing to keep in mind is that the absolute battery life will can significantly depending on if you are using LR44 or SR 44 batteries. In general SR44 batteries will give you a longer life and, as Garmin itself acknowledges, this is especially true in the cold. So if you keep your bikes in an unheated garage in a cold climate the SR44 is much better choice throughout the winter.
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [giorgitd] [ In reply to ]
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Randomly today I visited the Verve folks. They make the Infocrank power meter. That's notable because they use SR44/LR44 batteries in their system, just like Vector 3 does.

We were chatting a bit about Garmin's battery issues as of late, and they shook their heads knowingly. Most notably about battery life and the variances they saw between even cells from the same company. One of the guys walked back to his desk and came back with two printed reports, from said battery company, showing the voltage differences in two different batteries that from a standpoint would have been labeled the same, save for a very slight OEM SKU difference. One lasted 20% of the other. It was mind-blowing to see the battery drain report.

Why does that matter? In their case what happens when a battery gets to the low battery threshold? Spikes (plus death of course). Not entirely all that different from Garmin actually.

I'm not entirely sure what Garmin's solution here is - aside from having a known list of vetted batteries. Not terribly unlike what both Power2Max used to do, and what Verve kinda does too.

I suspect over time they or others will figure out the right trends...but in the meantime I'd keep a spare set of batteries in your saddle bag.


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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [scott8888] [ In reply to ]
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Storing batteries in a cold place is OK, it's only when you use (discharge) them in the cold that you see the performance drop. So whether you keep the bike in a garage or inside a warm house during the winter should not make a significant difference - but if you ride it inside in the heat performance will be better :)
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [MTM] [ In reply to ]
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Here's my update...I rode on the original batteries for about 5 hrs after the first ride when 'low battery' was reported. Power reported from these rides seemed fine. Removal of the batteries was a snap. BUT, although these pedals have never been ridden outside, there was a fluid on them - slippery, like a light oil. Not sure why that was there, but true for both sides and the batteries did not appear to be leaking. Weird. I have an inexpensive battery tester that says 'replace', 'low' or 'good'. All four of the batteries I removed (VARTA, FWIW) were solidly below 'low' and into 'replace'. I has some older LR44 batteries laying around (Sunbeam brand, if you can believe that) plus some new ones purchased just for the V3 (from Amazon, Maxell branded). The older ones were at the edge of 'good' and 'low' on the tester, but I used them anyway. V3 reports them as 'good' and a 60 minute ride today was fine. I don't expect them to last very long - the new LR44 just purchased were solidly 'good' on the tester. They'll go in when the current batteries are reported as 'low' or before my first race of the season!
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Post deleted by windschatten [ In reply to ]
Last edited by: windschatten: Apr 1, 18 21:35
Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [giorgitd] [ In reply to ]
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Of note, the batteries that came in my V3's were low/dead after 2 rides. I talked to Garmin Support as I was having other issues (which after the fact seems due to the batteries dying), and they suggested I try DuraCell 357 batteries. I haven't seen this suggested anywhere else, but they have been working great for me thus far.

-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [giorgitd] [ In reply to ]
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on the Garmin support site it mentions that they (and you should too) use a light oil on the contact between the batteries to prevent contact points of the batteries from wear spots from vibrating back and forth that could cause battery shorts (battery fretting) There are pictures.



Support Page
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [b.will] [ In reply to ]
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Huh! I used Google to find the battery install page (which was pretty limited, not even revealing the battery type!). If Garmin is hoping that V3 owners will place a drop of oil on the batteries during the change, maybe they should make that information more evident. (thanks for the link!) Even a link to the support page from the battery install page would be helpful. But, really, shouldn't much/all of the 'support' page linked above be in the 'battery replacement' page in the online owners manual? Duh.

EDIT: typo fixed and page referenced clarified
Last edited by: giorgitd: Apr 2, 18 10:31
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Re: Vector 3 battery life - real world [windschatten] [ In reply to ]
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windschatten wrote:
Batteries isn't Voodoo science.

If you buy from an unreliable manufacturer, quality very well may fluctuate or be inferior.

If you are about selling a great product, wouldn't you make sure that is the case front to back?

What is preventing Garmin from testing (and possibly rejecting) the batch of batteries they receive from the manufacturer before inserting them into their product?

If a manufacturer skimps on components for the product (even if they are replaceable), does that really inspire confidence into the quality of the whole product?

I do not think so. It means that certain corners maybe cut, and certainly may raise a flag (as seen here).
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I have seen manufacturers not include batteries with their product, exactly for the reasons you stated. Definitely cuts costs and places the burden on the consumer.
Not necessarily a bad thing.
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Garmin includes batteries, so that's not really the issue. And for the vast majority of people, it's not the original batteries that cause problems - but replacements.

As for it being voodoo - actually, it really is. That report I mentioned? That was for one of the most respected battery makers out there - Renata - showing two batteries that were branded identically.

So it's not really as easy as Garmin saying 'just buy these batteries', without being super confident that whatever battery manuf/model is exactly the same each time (or close to it).


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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com
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