The Darwin From Evolv!!!
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Hi, Welcome Back Boots!
Fellow Darwin lover here. I need to get a backup Darwin eventually too. I'm sure that you've seen that the Darwin comes with a blue screen and the arm now locks in two positions. (Somebody technical may want to explain this). Congrats on converting people - good luck w/ keeping them happy on a lesser mod. Just not gonna happen now.
Fellow Darwin lover here. I need to get a backup Darwin eventually too. I'm sure that you've seen that the Darwin comes with a blue screen and the arm now locks in two positions. (Somebody technical may want to explain this). Congrats on converting people - good luck w/ keeping them happy on a lesser mod. Just not gonna happen now.
Thanks 
It's good to be back.
My darwin has a light blue screen... did they darken it to a deeper blue, or is the same?
And the arm locks now? I'm intrigued... once I have a little more spare change, I think I'll pick up another Darwin!
Also thanks for everyone who told me about the Kick... that's going to be a must have!
It's good to be back.My darwin has a light blue screen... did they darken it to a deeper blue, or is the same?
And the arm locks now? I'm intrigued... once I have a little more spare change, I think I'll pick up another Darwin!
Also thanks for everyone who told me about the Kick... that's going to be a must have!
One thing I learned (at least on my Darwin) is that when the battery bar drops even one notch, it doesn't mean that you'll have 2 days of usage for each bar remaining (by my estimation) I usually find that once it starts to drop, it drops fast.
It has something to do with the type of battery, its not the Darwin's fault. Some cell phone batteries do the same thing, it was discussed somewhere in another thread and I have a terrible memory lol so I don't remember much about the discussion. I just remember that when it starts to drop, its time to charge it
EDIT: The battery life is still rather ridiculously long though lol
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The fuel gauge on the unit is probably based on battery voltage reading. Battery volts go on a steady slow decline then make a steep drop towards the end of their life, at least in stats for lithium ion batteries I've seen posted here.
From what I've gathered the Darwin has an automatic cutoff once the battery is fully charged so theres no harm in leaving it charging over night. My preference is not to have it plugged in but how long would it take to fully charge again if say the meter is at the halfway mark or slightly below? Does the full battery meter mean it is completely topped off or should I keep it plugged in for a while longer?
Thanks
Thanks
This is a long thread (searching should produce many discussions on the subject) and this has been been discussed a few times. It is best to charge these regularly. Running Lithium Polymer cells to cut-off on a regular basis can (over time) reduce the charge life per charge cycle. Charge Darwin regularly (I throw mine on the charger every night regardless of what it says on the gauge).
The gauge sticks at full for hours of use and, likewise, can show "full" before the charge cycle is complete. There is really no way to know for sure if the charge cycle is complete without using a charger that has a changing light to indicate when the current stops flowing. Darwin has smart-charge circuitry so it will stop drawing current when the battery if fully charged. You are best advised to just charge it regularly regardless of the gauge. If you get down to half on the gauge (remember that is actually less than half because it sticks at full for so long - just like some car gas gauges), and you are conveniently near a charge source - best to throw it on a charge cord. Otherwise, charge when you sleep.
"How long" it takes to charge is not a constant. The gauge reflects increments so each increment on the gauge is a range of battery charge and there is no way to know exactly how much re-charge time is needed (at least not with any consistency) as there is no way to know where within the increment your cycle is at in any given moment.
If you really want/need to know when the charge cycle is complete, you can get one of these AC/USB converters. It has 2 ports and a light for each. When you attach a Darwin, or cell-phone or any other USB charged device, the light for that port turns red and when the current stops flowing that light changes to green (indicating full charge cycle): Dynex - Dual USB Universal Wall Charger - DX-UAC22
Hope this helps.
Happy Sunday and Happy
The gauge sticks at full for hours of use and, likewise, can show "full" before the charge cycle is complete. There is really no way to know for sure if the charge cycle is complete without using a charger that has a changing light to indicate when the current stops flowing. Darwin has smart-charge circuitry so it will stop drawing current when the battery if fully charged. You are best advised to just charge it regularly regardless of the gauge. If you get down to half on the gauge (remember that is actually less than half because it sticks at full for so long - just like some car gas gauges), and you are conveniently near a charge source - best to throw it on a charge cord. Otherwise, charge when you sleep.
"How long" it takes to charge is not a constant. The gauge reflects increments so each increment on the gauge is a range of battery charge and there is no way to know exactly how much re-charge time is needed (at least not with any consistency) as there is no way to know where within the increment your cycle is at in any given moment.
If you really want/need to know when the charge cycle is complete, you can get one of these AC/USB converters. It has 2 ports and a light for each. When you attach a Darwin, or cell-phone or any other USB charged device, the light for that port turns red and when the current stops flowing that light changes to green (indicating full charge cycle): Dynex - Dual USB Universal Wall Charger - DX-UAC22
Hope this helps.
Happy Sunday and Happy
After doing some research on components for a series lithium ion battery charger for a mod I'm working on, I've found something interesting from TI. They use impedance tracking on some of their battery gas gauges.
Would be cool if evolv could integrate something like that into a future darwin model. Sure it would probably end up increasing the initial cost to produce the unit but the trade-off would be less warranty battery replacements if it results in customers putting their devices on charge more, as opposed to thinking its got 50% charge the whole end of its battery life.
Impedance Track Gas Gauge for Accurate Battery Management from Texas Instruments
Would be cool if evolv could integrate something like that into a future darwin model. Sure it would probably end up increasing the initial cost to produce the unit but the trade-off would be less warranty battery replacements if it results in customers putting their devices on charge more, as opposed to thinking its got 50% charge the whole end of its battery life.
Impedance Track Gas Gauge for Accurate Battery Management from Texas Instruments
That gauge looks cool. I suspect that the Darwin just monitors the voltage coming from the lipos. Since a lipo is good at maintaining a steady voltage until it is near cut-off then ramps down quickly it makes sense that the Darwin gauge would do the same.
Putting that chip in the Darwin would probably be a challenge given the available space, but I bet it could be done.
Putting that chip in the Darwin would probably be a challenge given the available space, but I bet it could be done.
You lasted a whole hour?! Dang, I prematurely nic-ulated on my first time . . .
In a word - no. As long as it is not overfilled (no juice pooling above the filler). Frankly, attys don't leak (for me) either unless they too are overfilled. I posted about this a while back and Drew called is "dripuversity" - you can search that term in this thread and find the post.
In order for the carto to be upside down (with the darwin closed) you would have to stand the Darwin on the charging port, which is not a good idea IMO. Just lay the Darwin flat (the carto will be parallel with the table top and should not leak...enjoy your new D'win....and welcome to Darwinia...
FWIW - when I pocket mine, I usually put it in my pocket head end down. But I never get leakage regardless of which way I pocket it. if attys/cartos are not overfilled, no juice should leak out.
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