New SRM, rechargeable via USB?

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

Looks like it to me

Image

If true...

Image

BdaGhisallo
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by BdaGhisallo

I think I would rather have the 3,000 hour battery life of the DA9000 version, rather than the USB port. What are the chances that water will find its way into that port and corrode the internals over extended periods of time? I would imagine that the chances are good. Don't Garmin head units have issues with that? SRM powermeters in the normal form are very water and weather resistant. And 3,000 hours of battery life is a long time for the average user. That's at least three years for a heavy user and probably six or seven for those that use it less.

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veganeric
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by veganeric

Gold plating any exposed connections would solve the corrosion problem. Given SRM's reputation I'd be surprised if production versions don't incorporate this...assuming it's necessary.

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strobbekoen
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by strobbekoen

where did you find that picture ?

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

I'm not sure what's wrong with the Quarq design?

Replaceable CR-32.

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CBJ
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by CBJ

strobbekoen wrote:where did you find that picture ?


http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/04/21/soc ... xx1-model/

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strobbekoen
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by strobbekoen

umm i dont know but it doesn't look like a good idea to me.
why not just use a replaceable battery that's property sealed .. seems to make more sense.

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HammerTime2
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by HammerTime2

Any idea how long a single charge of the rechargeable battery would last, at least when the battery is new?

It would be ironic if the rechargeable battery had a limited number of recharge cycles which gave it a lifetime capability of less than 3000 hours, and required sending back to SRM for replacement.

uraqt
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by uraqt

If I remember correctly, Apple batteries are a 1,000 cycles and still 75%. I can't imagine that SRM is using/has access to better batteries than Apple.

C

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shoopdawoop
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by shoopdawoop

This was posted to the wattage forum a few days ago and I have been considering why they are doing this; I have come to the conclusion that it is for firmware and diagnostic reasons. To interface with a quarq you need a wahoo key or a ANT+ usb thing. So this allows recharging, which will probably be about as frequent as say Di2 (hundereds of hours of riding) and will allow almost anyone to connect directly to their powermeter for updates and repair. I think that waterproofing of these systems have become very good, visa vi di2 and SRM themselves.

Also do you really think that a powermeter has the same power draw as an apple computer?

uraqt
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by uraqt

obviously not, but last I checked ( a few years ago) there were two choices when it came to "new in production" batteries use.

1,000 cycles or double the run time. Apple picked 1,000 cycles and there was a Sony laptop that ran 16 hours, but not sure if anybody body else used the long runtime. I am reasonable sure that Apple worked with a third party for the chemistry and was the 1st to market with it.

I would guess that they use very close to the same chemistry in all their batteries, tuning it for the end device. If I keep pushing my thinking I would bet that the battery in the iPhone 5/ipads are the most advance battery in large to medium production.

And if I read in to your comment, SRM has the resources to have a "magic" battery that nobody else does, I would guess that they are buying it off the shelf just like 98% of the companies do. If they had the "magic" battery, they would/should be in the battery business and giving away power meters.



C

KWalker
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by KWalker

I wouldn't copy Quarq considering the battery door is where a lot of units developed moisture damage issues.

SRM has consistently strived for durability and accuracy and I cannot honestly see them abandoning these principles and losing their well-carved niche in the market.

Quarq strives to have some cool features and gadgets at an affordable price, but lots of drift/durability issues. The low price point hooks most people that don't want a powertap and its a completely different kind of customer.

Then there are the Stages, Polar, and Rotor customers that think that their units are actually worth the money they pay and will accept a lot of flaws to satisfy a low price point.

SRM has never needed these other kinds of customers and probably never will so long as their brand name lives up to its hallmark and pros continue to purchase SRMs over all other systems (this actually mattered quite a lot to users I talked to, who would rather buy a used wired SRM over a brand new Quarq).
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sungod
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by sungod

i'd have thought the usb port was there for development, so they can rapidly update firmware/extract data for testing without opening the thing up every time, and by the time it becomes a production unit there'll be no (external) usb

re batteries, imho srm's current choice is a good one, the cells used have excellent performance over a wide temperature range and a very low self-discharge rate, and the weatherproofing is superb

the only downside is the official replacement process requiring return to srm, but it's easy enough to do for anyone able to handle a soldering iron

some people complain about returning to srm to replace the battery, but i do wonder how many calibrate their srm, perhaps everyone is happily doing calibration and feels no need to mention it? or maybe there're a lot of inaccurate power figures being logged...

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

sungod wrote:some people complain about returning to srm to replace the battery

I have a wireless SRM and there is no one in Australia who can change the battery.

It therefore is required to be shipped to New Zealand by all of us here - which is extremely costly.

I'd say we're pretty justified in our complaints.

Squint
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by Squint

Already been done...

Image

Anyway, it's possible a rechargeable battery may cause more problems than it solves. If the battery has a protection circuit, it's entirely possible to discharge it to the point where it permanently cuts off. This is what happens when your Garmin or other device stops taking a charge, something that can happen in less than the two years a primary (non-rechargeable) battery can last.

It also doesn't make sense to increase the battery capacity and make it rechargeable. The service life of the battery is longest when given regular but incomplete charges.

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