Bluetooth speaker turns off by itself


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Old 10-02-22, 09:42 AM
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Bluetooth speaker turns off by itself

Looking for any speculation about the cause of this. I have a Venstar S404 bluetooth speaker. It's intended for bicycle use and includes a horn/bell button. If I push the bell button, it sometimes (75% of the time) makes half a "ding" sound, then a raspy sound, and the speaker shuts down, light off. The bell always operates at full volume, whereas audio input can be adjusted, of course.

This was not happening at all before I replaced the battery, which is a brand new 3.7V lithium polymer, and not easy to sub in something else. The speaker works fine for loud music or speech; that will play for hours and not shut it down.

The bell can be triggered with a wired multi-function remote. Bridging a 10K resistor over the contacts will sound the bell, as will pressing the button on the speaker unit. Regardless of which button is pushed, result is the same; most of the time, the speaker shuts down.

This unit is not made anymore. The newer version has terrible bluetooth and is currently out of stock anyway. So I am stuck trying to resuscitate what I've got. Any ideas welcome! Thanks.
 
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Old 10-02-22, 12:23 PM
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Well, I doubt it's a coincidence that this started after replacing the battery. I suspect the new battery can't deliver the current needed for the loud bell so the voltage drops quickly and that shuts down the speaker. First thing to check is that the new battery's terminals are clean and making good contact, or, if soldered in place, that the solder connections are properly made.

If you have a meter, you can monitor the voltage; you may be able to see it droop when trying the bell.

If that all seems good, you could temporarily hook up 3 AA (or c or d) batteries in series in place of the lithium. If that fixes it you know the battery is the problem.

 
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Old 10-02-22, 02:28 PM
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Very little technical info found. I saw an abbreviated user manual and in it I saw....
Power off: Automatic shutdown after pause without operation for 5 minutes

It sounds like the unit is powering off.
 
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Old 10-03-22, 05:16 AM
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And there are all the poor reviews. Maybe this device has issues. Many of the complaints seem to relate to the battery suddenly dying. That might be similar to your problem.
 
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Old 10-10-22, 06:41 AM
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Thanks for the replies.

CarbideTipped is correct! I thought about an easy way to test this, and just plugged in an external battery pack to the USB mini charging port. When I have the external battery connected, performance is 100%. But with just the new internal battery, on a full charge (unit says "battery full" to indicate it's done charging), it shuts down after just one or two dings. The battery connects with a small plug onto a receptacle on the circuit board. Hard to see, but no indication of corrosion such as green residue. I did spray it with electrical contact cleaner anyway.

The battery (size 153540) is only available shipped from China, as far as I can tell. No way will anything larger fit in there. The battery I got does not seem to have the same build quality as the original (shrink wrap looser, internally, wafers may be smaller). So I will try to see if the seller will send me another. The other option is doing a remote battery, which of course I'd like to avoid because this thing has been very water resistant and it's out in all kinds of weather.
 
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Old 10-10-22, 03:39 PM
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I've rebuilt hundreds of custom packs. Take a razor knife and carefully open the old one.
Measure and determine what the cells area.
Post what you see and we can help.

When you buy a "153540" you're getting whatever cells are around.
 
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Old 10-24-22, 06:53 PM
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Take a razor knife and carefully open the old one.
Measure and determine what the cells area.
Post what you see and we can help.
I've been looking all over the house for the old pack. Thing is, I took it out 18 months ago, took a photo or two, it traveled around the house and garage a bit, have not found it yet.

But, I did measure the replacement pack. As you know the nominal size is 15 x 35 x 40 mm. 21 cc.

The replacement measures 16 x 33 x 37. 19.3 cc. I didn't cut it open so that's approximate. But 8% smaller than nominal. Is that relevant?
 
 

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