Mapping and GIS Solutions Community

Is anyone else having issues with their TDC650 batteries swelling and going bad in the heat? We work on the beach in south Florida summers and we have now gone through at least 5 batteries because they keep getting too hot and bulging to the point where they no longer fit into the unit. We never had issues with the batteries for the old Geo 7X units. It seems like Trimble took some massive steps backwards in their field rugged gear from the Geo 7x to the TDC650. 

Sarah

Hi Sarah

Really sorry to hear this. 

If you haven't already, can you raise this with your local Trimble reseller and have them escalate it to the Trimble support teams through the normal channels? 

• Any contextual evidence like you have given here around storage, charging and operating conditions will help your dealer, including serial numbers of the units affected and batteries.
• We (Trimble) have robust processes in place to Investigate Issues like this and remedy them at a production level (if required) but only If they are brought to our attention

Thanks, Tom. We have been in touch with our local reseller. We were told that it could have been how we were charging the units (in a multi-USB port charging station). However, after switching to plugging each unit individually into its own wall out (inconvenient with 8 units to charge daily) we have still had batteries that swell. We are trying to narrow down when it occurs to figure out where the problem lies, but my current working theory is that the units just overheat in the field and it causes the batteries to go bad. We currently rotate the batteries because they don't last long enough for a day in the field so it has been hard to track what each battery is exposed to, how it has been treated, and how long we have had the battery.  We will track that with serial numbers once we get our new batteries purchased. Unfortunately, those batteries are currently on back order and not expected to arrive until mid-August so we have our fingers crossed additional batteries don't go bad because we don't have any spares at the moment and we are in the peak of our field season.

Sarah

Sorry to hear that you are having so many battery issues. Be sure to check with your distributor on a possible battery warranty. It was my understanding that the batteries are warrantied for 90-days at least. Also, make sure that you ONLY have the data collection app open during use and I would make sure that Bluetooth is off. If you aren't using WiFi in the field, I would recommend turning that off. Lastly, you may consider setting brightness to adaptive in the display settings. These are just a few things that can reduce battery drain and hopefully overall unit heat.

Hi Zach, 

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, all of the batteries are more than 90 days old at this point so they don't fall under warranty. We do try to minimize the power drain in the field as much as possible. It can be difficult with the touch screen because things sometimes get accidentally hit/opened and we don't realize it immediately. I have removed as many unused apps as possible and to lock everything I can to prevent those things from happening, but I haven't found a way to "child proof" everything. Let me know if you have any tips for that!

Sarah