Quote: (Originally Posted by henckell)
I have had some restart problems with all the versions I have used, but only on the primary. Never the secondary.
I have had it happen on the new secondary..
The restart due to battery voltage (not a bad contact), will usually only happen when the solenoid AND backlight are on together.. In fact, a unit that restarts, will still maintain SP (for a reasonable time) as long as you don't activate the backlight and solenoid at the same time.
This only happens on Rev B and Later, the original Rev A units were immune to this problem, without the charge pump, the voltage supplied by the batteries (2 x 3.6v cells) were always able to supply enough voltage to keep the processor running, however the display would dim, especially when the solenoid tried to fire.. You would reach a point where the controller was still on but couldn't get the solenoid to fire.
Solution for continual "restarts" due to low battery and NOT usually contact problems.. (but it is worth trying the procedure anyway since there IS a chance there is continuity, just not enough to supply the necessary current)
DO NOT attempt to press any of the buttons to change the SP (it will reset to the default setpoint on powerup, not the target) while the system is starting up..
once its ready MANUALLY bring the SP above the target (.1 above is a good point), then quickly change the sp to the desired target and stop pressing the buttons once its confirmed, now avoid using the buttons until the dive is completed.... If you dont do it this way, the solenoid WILL fire before the backlight goes off and the unit will RESET again.
If you MUST get into the screens, manually raise the SP above the target, high enough to cover how long you anticipate being in the menus (and keep it there).
The lower the battery supply voltage the greater the demand for current placed on the battery.. Think of it this way, if the backlight needs 100ma at 5v, and the battery voltage is currently 1V, that means the instantaneous demand could be 500ma at 1v.
Also some of these buck/boost converters can put high initial power demands until stable.. A draw of 3A-5A is not unheard of The HH is not this high (I have measured over 1A though)