Geo 3 Battery life?

[efine]

Hey guys, really quick question, does anyone know if the battery life of a geo 3 is particularly small, or is it suppose to last for a long period of time??

OOOOORRR does anyone know problems as to why the board wont turn on?

I believe its something to do with my battery but that does not make sense since I only used it twice so far, and always turn it off at the end of the day.

[Trogdor]

What batteries are you using? And have you done an experiment like taking out the battery overnight to see if it has the same problem when you put it back in the next morning? I don't really know much about the engineering, but if your board is leeching power from the battery when it is turned off, I do not think that is a good thing.

[Lo]

Well, first things first:

Is this at room temperature? Electrochemical reaction, heat is a major process driver, etc, etc.
Tried multiple batteries? Even the name-brand batteries will have some short mean time before failure cases. (They all are produced by essentially the same process, but get sorted by some quick initial tests on their capacity, ability to hold a charge, etc. Unfortunately, there's little way to know how long a battery will last without using it up.)
Any moisture (visible or simply high humidity) in your board? If there has been the possibility of moisture, it may be a good idea to open up the grips and set a desiccant packet in there for a bit. (Note, don't put it inside a closed gripframe, and don't use one while the marker is on).

Voltage leaks are inevitable for most circuitry. Without a true circuit-interrupting switch (like the Mokal Aura), you'll always have some miniscule current flowing over adjacent board traces.. and while the current is tiny (since the board isn't designed to carry current from trace to trace this way), the resistance is proportionally larger -- which means you still are generating heat, and burning energy. Of course, a high-quality manufacturer can minimize this "phantom loss", and a new, undamaged and unworn board will perform better than a board which has been exposed to the elements, nicked, scraped, etc.

All of which is to say that there are many causes -- and if it's a significant problem after eliminating the battery/temperature/humidity as the culprit, it's usually easiest to replace the board.

Lo

[Erik Cromer]

If it is the stock green and white battery that comes with it, they die fast.

[efine]

ok cool thanks guys. i left my geo back in CO so I cant really find out what the reason is exactly... but I'm thinking cromer is right sicne it was the stock battery