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I have stopped diving for about 14 months now. My OSTC 2 (hwOS tech) battery was completely empty, the computer didn't react anymore to any push on the 2 red buttons.
I connect the charger on my laptop, the charger starts flashing green.
I put my computer on the charger and the computer reacted by showing me a menu to select which battery I had inserted.
As I have not changed the battery, I select the 1st option: "Keep old" and press enter (right button).
The screen of the OSTC returned to black and the charger started flashing red during 10 to 15 sec.
Then after this period the led became green (no flashing) and nothing seems to happen.

The OSTC is not reacting to any action on the button.

What is here the advise ?

thanks

Hallo,

The battery inside the OSTC 2 is protected by a small circuity (hardware-only) that disconnects the actual battery cell from the rest of the OSTC circuit in case the battery is emptied to much. This is added to protect the cell itself. The unit sometimes then does not wake-up when placed on the charger since the charger does not "see" the battery since it's disconnected. For this we have a magnetic switch inside the unit to temporally disabled the protection circuit and reconnecting the cell to the charger circuit. So, a small magnet (See attached image) placed on the unit and the unit on the active charger should help here. This was added to the hardware intentionally like this.

regards,
Matthias

with or without the magnet
during or not during the laoding ... nothing is happening, the screen remains black

Hi,
I had the same problem. I believe it is adviseable to have a separate lithium battery charger, and a battery tester. This is cheap.
Once you charged the battery, you can check its load, and replace it in your OSTC. Then, place it again on your round shaped charger to synchronize your recharged battery with your OSTC.
Normally, it should work. If not, then the problem is inside the OSTC, but probability is low.
Have a try.
Yves

Hi,

I.ve the same problem. didn't dive for 6 month. The computer didn't start. When putting it on the pad it start, then ask for battery type. If I chose T4, he start with battery 99% and didn't charge. When coising "old" battery is 0% but also didn't charge (blinking red) . Any case after a while he turn off on battery failure and I've to set date and time again.
I will try with a magnet and keep you posted.

Brs

Ghislain

Hi,

Check the manual page 44: The % display is only correct (after such a "cold start") when the battery is recharged until the battery % display is green.

BlupBlup wrote: ↑Sunday 18. April 2021, 16:23 I.ve the same problem. didn't dive for 6 month. The computer didn't start. When putting it on the pad it start, then ask for battery type. If I chose T4, he start with battery 99% and didn't charge. When coising "old" battery is 0% but also didn't charge (blinking red) . Any case after a while he turn off on battery failure and I've to set date and time again.

It may be that your dive computer is in a deep sleep mode because the battery (before charging) has run empty. Then the battery gets separated from the rest of the electronics to protect it from deep discharge. Please try a magnetic reset. Magnetic reset only works when the dive computer is on the charger and charging. Then you place a strong magnet in the middle of the display. You have to wait a bit for your dive computer to respond. Attached is an image to show the magnet placement.

When your OSTC turns on please choose the correct battery type (for the internal battery in the OSTC 2 (mod. 2017) that is T4) and let the dive computer charge over night.
regards,
Matthias

How "strong" does the magnet need to be?

I managed to select the wrong battery type (I think it was "old one" or something like that) and now the charging takes an absolute age...maybe 4% added overnight.

So far all magnets I have are not triggering a magnetic reset.

And should the computer be resting (screen off) when the magnet is applied? Or fully awake?

Hi,

Check the manual, attached, page 44. When you set a wrong battery you can change the setting in the "Reset Menu" -> "Reset Battery". The magnet does not trigger a reset in all hardware versions, this is intentionally implemented to re-enable the battery protection circuit in case the battery was disconnected to protect it from deep-discharge.

Slow charging is usually an insufficient USB wall adapter. See our recommendations here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21023

Some Details about the required USB adaptor: The charger can sink up to 2A (In almost all cases an adaptor with 1.5A is sufficient), especially when the battery is very low. Since no communication with the USB adaptor takes place (The charger just sinks the current), "fast-Charge" or "intelligent" USB adaptors may not work properly with our charger. Is the charger indicating green and then after a short period of time red, it's usually a charger that can not supply sufficient current. We offer a suitable adapter in the Webshop: https://heinrichsweikamp.com/index.php/ ... aptor.html

regards,
Matthias

better take that link
https://heinrichsweikamp.com/index.php/ ... aptor.html

Hello,

I belive it's ok now. I've to use a very powefull magnet (so strong that it stick on the computer). I put it on the charging pad. It turn constant green and start charging. I let charge up to 20% this way. Then i remove the magnet and it continue to charge normaly (blinking green) until full (99%). It was very hot during charge about 35°C according to display. 3 days after this charge it still turning on normaly, indicate battery 98% and 4.1v (before it was more 3.1-3.4v). I've maybe an opportunity to dive this weekend and try. (Don't wooried I still have a loyaal MK2 as backup this one has no issue)

Thanks for the feedback. It's really just a reed switch on the PCB, no need for a monster magnet or so. 35°C is normal.

Regards,
Matthias

Hi,
Im having the same issue.
How long did you have to leave the magnet on?
I've kept it on mine quite a while but nothing seems to be happening.... I had to tape the magnet on the display, as it otherwise would immediately slide of to one side...
Is this placement correct?
Thanks for your help!

Charger is active and showing that it's charging? This only works when the battery is charging.

A few seconds is usually enough. Try the position by moving the magnet around if it does not start right away.

regards,
Matthias

Hi Matthias,

Charger indicator blinks a few times when plugged in, putting the computer on the pad, the indicator turns solid blue.
Computer and pad are warming up, so something seems to be happening.

I'll try moving the magnet around tonight again, maybe I didn't leave it in place long enough when moving it around.

Thanks.

The OSTC probably needs some minimum of charge in order to (re-)start the CPU.

The OSTC 2 (2015) is 6 to 7 years old. Maybe we need to service the battery? If this magnet reset does not work contact us, please.

info@heinrichsweikamp.com

Regards,
Matthias