Battery Life - Powertap CPU

Hi all,

I've had to replace the battery in my Powertap head unit twice in the past 400km. I only get about 200km before the heart rate starts blanking out. I've replaced the battery in the hr strap transmitter and I do not leave my Powertap head unit in the download cradle. How can I extend the life of these batteries? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

 

Grey or yellow PowerTap head unit?

Are you following the procedures here:
http://www.midweekclub.com/powerFAQ.htm#Q41

Also, where did you get your batteries? Sometimes you might get some older ones that have been sitting for a long time. From what I remember reading in Consumer Reports, Radio Shack actually has decent turnover in batteries so one could reasonably expect to get a non dud.

 

Grey head unit. Thanks for the link. I'll try that from now on. Coincidentally, I did get the last battery from Radio shack.

 

Good job on the batteries.

If I recall correctly, I got about 1000-1500 miles per battery with the grey head unit when I only downloaded every race, there's definitely something unusual going on here.

Slightly OT I think the PowerTap Pro head unit is well worth the cost to upgrade. The battery lasts much longer (and I download every ride now) and the downloads are much, much quicker, and IIRC I remember getting data dropouts (no power from hub) when shifting under load with the PowerTap grey versus PowerTap Pro head. Just the download part is worth getting it if you download much, in my humble opinion. I was really hesitant to buy it after shelling out so much for the PowerTap to begin with but it's been awesome.

 

I have had a PRO (yellow CPU), that I bought last Spring. I'm actually on the third one now, as I keep sending them back to Saris. I get about 40 hours of ride time no matter what I do. They've been good about replacing them for me, but they very consistently die after 30-50 hours. The hub and chest strap batteries work fine. I've tried a number of different brands of batteries. Anyone else having this trouble?

 

No problems at all, I estimate I'm getting at least 250-300 hours from mine, ie I replace batteries 2x a year.

40-50 hours battery life means something is wrong.