UPDATE: Dual Bose S1 battery test concluded - Results in top post

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

Every time I want to use mine the battery is completely dead. I use it only every couple months. And it takes some time plugged in before it starts to work again. What's with an electric cord attached, so I am always worried at first that something real is wrong with it.

The battery goes into sleep mode after 30 days. You have to wake it up.

[Chickee]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

Every time I want to use mine the battery is completely dead. I use it only every couple months.

Every couple “months”? And the battery doesn’t have a charge? Wow!

[tadol]

I use a lot of battery powered tools, and I have yet to find anything battery powered that will hold its full charge for a month. I always assume that I should charge all my batteries overnight before going out on a job - plus, I always take an extra battery, and a battery charger to any big job, just in case -

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by tadol

I use a lot of battery powered tools, and I have yet to find anything battery powered that will hold its full charge for a month. I always assume that I should charge all my batteries overnight before going out on a job - plus, I always take an extra battery, and a battery charger to any big job, just in case -

I hear you. I have several Dewalt cordless drills. Great tools. The pack always comes with two batteries. One battery always dies before the other. I have two old drills sitting in their case with two dead batteries (about 4 years old). Went to buy new batteries and they were $90 each. A new drill with two batteries and a charger was on sale for $99.00. None of these drills rarely was holding a charge for one month without being plugged in. And their batteries were close to the same price as the Bose. So no, I Don’t fault Bose for any battery issue. Mine has lasted a lot long than I expected.

I had mine on my deck playing music from My iPhone Pandora playlist all day Saturday while I worked outside. It must have played for 10 hours. It never quit. I finally turned it off and came in for dinner.

[jwellsy]

Does the S1 have a low voltage cutout that prevents the battery from being discharged low enough to damage the battery?

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by jwellsy

Does the S1 have a low voltage cutout that prevents the battery from being discharged low enough to damage the battery?

I assume so. I remember when I first noticed that one of mine had gone completely dead in a short period of time that it did charge right back up and work fine so that is my reason for saying there is a mechanism in place for that. Or maybe it's just lithium battery performance in generally. They don't develop 'memories' like the old nickel cad batteries.

As for a few other comments about all batteries having some discharge over time, sure, that's true. But going completely dead that fast with no activity certainly was an issue and this is from a guy that is a big fan of the Bose S1 and who always leaves his S1's plugged until he uses them.

Regardless of that, let me say that this thread is strictly meant as a test of the firmware update and keep it to that. The one thing I don't want it to turn into is another back and forth between a few people with opposite opinions. If you have questions or comments about the firmware update, by all means jump in. Otherwise, start your own thread.

Thanks for your understanding.

[Methos1979]

Testing concluded. Results in top post.

[Akousticplyr]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

After reading a recent post about the Bose S1 and the known battery issues I decided I'm in a unique position to run a test since I own two of them. On that thread I believe someone said that after running a firmware update their battery drain issue seemed to be fixed. I figured I'd test that theory!

I have two Bose S1 units. I bought the first one early on in March of 2018. I bought my second on in April of 2019. At some point I did find that I have the battery drain issue on at least one of them after finding that one was dead from leaving it unplugged for an extended period of time. I'm not sure which one.

Since that time I've just left both of them plugged in always except of course when I'm using them for live use at which time I run them only on battery. I have never sent either back to Bose to correct the issue with the battery drain since I had no reservations with leaving them connected to power at home.

So for this test I went in and connected both to the Bose app and updated both to the latest firmware. Both are fully charged. I have now unplugged both and will leave them unplugged and I'll monitor their power levels daily. I may or may not use one of them from time to time to practice at home.

I'll report every day or so what their current battery levels are on this first post below so check back to see how that goes. I'll change the title from RUNNING to DONE when complete.

Date, time, battery level, usage (in minutes if any):

Bose S1 Pro A

3/23/20, 1200, 100%, 0
3/24/20, 1200, 100%, 0
3/25/20, 1215, 90%, 70
3/26/20, 1215, 90%, 0
3/29/20, 1230, 90%, 0
3/31/20, 1430, 80%, 65
4/01/20, 1215, 70%, 90
4/05/20, 1530, 60%, 55
4/06/20, 1030, 60%, 35
4/10/20, 1700, 50%, 60
4/11/20, 1300, 40%, 55
4/13/20, 1400, 30%, 60
4/16/20, 1300, 20%, 60

Bose S1 Pro B

3/23/20, 1200, 100%, 0
3/24/20, 1200, 100%, 0
3/25/20, 1215, 100%, 0
3/26/20, 1215, 100%, 0
3/29/20, 1230, 100%, 0
3/31/20, 1430, 100%, 0
4/01/20, 1215, 100%, 0
4/05/20, 1530, 100%, 0
4/06/20, 1030, 100%, 0
4/10/20, 1700, 100%, 0
4/11/20, 1500, 100%, 0
4/13/20, 1400, 90%, 60
4/16/20, 1300, 90%, 0

Test RESULTS:

So although we're not even a full month in I think I can state that for me at least the battery drain issue has been resolved with the most recent firmware updated. In three-plus solid weeks of testing unit B did not drain at all until it was finally used for an hour. Control unit A generally exhibited an approximate battery usage of 10% per hour powered on. After over 9 hours of use I still had 20% of remaining power. That's pretty darn good in my book.

Although I've drained 10% out of unit B with an hour's use I might just let that one sit since it's my backup anyway and maybe check in once a month or so to see if the power levels hold indefinitely although based on the other post from Mr. Spoon I suspect to see maybe a 10% drain once a month or so even with non-use. Still pretty darn good.

Thank you very much for doing this. It was extremely helpful and reassuring.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Akousticplyr

Thank you very much for doing this. It was extremely helpful and reassuring.

You're welcome! I noticed when I went in to use my primary S1 today that there was another firmware update. No idea what it was for though. Anyone know? I've only installed it on unit A at this point.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

You're welcome! I noticed when I went in to use my primary S1 today that there was another firmware update. No idea what it was for though. Anyone know? I've only installed it on unit A at this point.

I don't. I installed it on both last night, mid battery test.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

You're welcome! I noticed when I went in to use my primary S1 today that there was another firmware update. No idea what it was for though. Anyone know? I've only installed it on unit A at this point.

From the Bose forum:

There is a new firmware release 7.1.8 that was available on April 12, 2020. All firmware updates are cumulative. All prior updates are included in the most recent version. Bose recommends that you keep your firmware up to date.

Release Notes

Maintenance Updates
There are no customer-facing changes just minor changes to ensure compatibility with the Bose Connect app.

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by tadol

I use a lot of battery powered tools, and I have yet to find anything battery powered that will hold its full charge for a month. I always assume that I should charge all my batteries overnight before going out on a job - plus, I always take an extra battery, and a battery charger to any big job, just in case -

I'm the one who said his S1 was always dead. I have many battery-powered tools which seem to hold their charge quite well if not being used. the record is a DeWalt angle drill that I found lying on the road 5-7 years ago. I almost never use it, but the battery still has not needed charging. I have no idea how much of a charge it had when I found the thing. Which demonstrates where I am coming from.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

...we rarely every even need the dual S1 setup. I've only used it twice so far - once at an outdoor gig where we needed to throw music in both direction (front and back) and another outdoor gig when we used one as a monitor in front on the ground and the other on a stand out in front of the tent facing out. But for the vast majority of our gigs - inside and outside - a single S1 on a stand behind us is enough.

Thanks for going through all the effort to do such a nice presentation for the benefit of the undecided buyers out here.

This post has me wondering how well I could get away with doing the same thing you are and just getting two units for the bigger outdoor gigs and just one for indoors. How many people would you guesstimate one or two to be good for in indoor/outdoor settings?

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

I'm the one who said his S1 was always dead. I have many battery-powered tools which seem to hold their charge quite well if not being used. the record is a DeWalt angle drill that I found lying on the road 5-7 years ago. I almost never use it, but the battery still has not needed charging. I have no idea how much of a charge it had when I found the thing. Which demonstrates where I am coming from.

I'm with you there. Good design saves us from having to worry about dead batteries and most of the people suggesting that there's anything wrong with expecting batteries to hold a charge for months at a time are used to cheap batteries, and probably older technologies.
Most of my rechargeable items (wireless, stage lights, power tools) are just fine after months of sitting in storage. I'm far more interested in getting an S1 that has the new firmware rather than having to make sure it's always plugged in so that I don't have to plug it in!?!

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Nama Ensou

Thanks for going through all the effort to do such a nice presentation for the benefit of the undecided buyers out here.

This post has me wondering how well I could get away with doing the same thing you are and just getting two units for the bigger outdoor gigs and just one for indoors. How many people would you guesstimate one or two to be good for in indoor/outdoor settings?

Crowd estimation is a difficult thing for me. I think it depends more on size of the open space and also how densely packed in they are. Then there is the type of outdoor gig. Are we talking a fair with people walking all over the place and a lot of things going on or more like an outdoor show where people are seated nearby listening specifically to you. Last, just how loud you need the music to be.

The total overall volume with the Bose S1 is more about the preamping. As long as you have something preamping the signal (and you should), the Bose S1 Pro gets VERY loud. Having a second one then is more about dispersing that sound very wide, even 360 degrees if need be. If you haven't seen any of my reviews you should check them out as I have video demos of the Bose S1 outside.

In all honesty, for a strict solo or duo acoustic act playing acoustic music I've come to feel that the Bose S1 Pro (using a preamp) is more than enough to get our music out to your average outdoor gig of say 150 people. If you need louder for more rock type music or 200 or more people then I'd go with something with more power like a couple QSC k10.2 powered speakers or similar.