Bose S1 Pro battery draining issue

[sam.spoons]

Originally Posted by DavidE

They've actually bent over backwards for me. Back for repair twice for the battery drain. Still didn't hold well.

The customer service staff I have dealt with have been very helpful but whether they 'bend over backwards' or simply do their job, failing to solve the problem after two returns is unacceptable IMO. Even if they can't work out what is wrong (which is pretty unbelievable in itself) it's pretty easy to test the units before returning them. My multimeter will measure current down to a few micro Amperes which would tell them if the unit is drawing excess current, clearly they haven't been properly testing the 'repaired' units before returning them to the customer.

After Covid they sent me two brand new units made after they "fixed" the design on the manufacturing line. Unfortunately, the batteries are draining faster than the old ones and yes, the firmware is updated.

Cuki79 makes a valid point, my first replacement (swapped in Sept 2019) was manufactured in Dec 2018. But, up until the point when I was banned from the forum, they had not said that they would guarantee that current production was free from the issue. That nearly prevented me from buying my second S1.

I've been speaking with one person from England for awhile and today I spoke to an engineer in Massachusetts. They're baffled as to why the new ones are dropping from 100% to 90% in 13 days and 10 days. These are worse than my old ones.

Baffled? I'm baffled, these guys are supposed to know what they are doing! The guy I spoke to in the UK was very helpful and did his job well but he was a customer service rep not an engineer.

The engineer has a theory that maybe the batteries were older and he's trying to get some brand new batteries recently made, but they make them in batches and he doesn't know how old the new batch is.

It has long been acknowledged that the problem is not with the batteries but with the S1 Pro draining them when it is switched off.

I'm working with them, and them with me. Slowly. I told him today that I don't want to end up with units that drain faster than the old ones and provided the information I learned here of old, non-"repaired" units not dropping to 90% until more than a month.

Still trying.

Tell them to replace them again, and keep doing so until you get a couple of good ones. It sounds like I've been lucky to get a two S1s that perform more or less acceptably after only six months of trying, If there was an alternative apart from the JBL Eon Compact mine would have gone back for refund months ago.

[DavidE]

I'm about done with Bose. After returning both units twice for repair, they stioll drained. I was told to exchange them for brand new units that were the first with the fix change made at the factory. These drain worse than the old ones.

I've spent many many months dealing with them on this issue. Luke in the UK was very kind and did what he could to help me, but now they sent me to a guy in the US who is essentially telling me to pound salt and just charge them before every gig. Was that the line for the old units?????

I'm pissed.

[sam.spoons]

That's disgraceful behaviour. Be sure to post on the facebook user pages and anywhere else you can. Have you tried to post on the Bose forum?

Did you check when the 'brand new units' were manufactured, the phone app tells you that info (will check my second later today)?

I dealt with Luke in the UK (he contacted me at the request of ST from the Bose forum) and he was great but all he could do of practical use was to arrange for me S1 to be collected and returned for repair. This was the second attempt sat repair after my dealer had replaced it then returned the replacement for repair (after which it was worse than before). After the second repair, which finally included a firmware update, it works as it should so I bought a second one......... which also had the issue. fortunately a firmware update 'fixed' that one (for a certain definition of fixed).

[wweiss]

I've had battery issues with my S1 pro
Bose is sending me a Free battery no questions asked! Happy with their customer service.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by wweiss

I've had battery issues with my S1 pro
Bose is sending me a Free battery no questions asked! Happy with their customer service.

They checked serial numbers and my batteries were from the last batch made in December 2019. They have not made any since.

[DavidE]

Here's what Bose has to say about the firmware updates and the cause of the battery drain problem. He's also claiming that the hardware was fixed in production in 2018. Based on what I was told by ST on the Bose forum and Luke at Bose England, this appears to be a lie.

"The amount of drain depends on the individual system and it was never acceptable to Bose.

A Field Effect Transistor is a device in the S1 that resists the flow of electricity through a circuit. We noticed that it was not shutting completed off in some rare circumstances which potentially led to battery drain. This was fixed in 2018. We also updated the firmware because it was possible for the software to remain in a low power state, this only happened below 5% battery life however. This was also fixed in the latest firmware update released in January 2020. The customer service rep was trained to field for these potential issues and make sure you received units that did not have either of these anomalies. I can assure you that your systems do not have either of these issues."

[sam.spoons]

Originally Posted by DavidE

Here's what Bose has to say about the firmware updates and the cause of the battery drain problem. He's also claiming that the hardware was fixed in production in 2018. Based on what I was told by ST on the Bose forum and Luke at Bose England, this appears to be a lie.

"The amount of drain depends on the individual system and it was never acceptable to Bose.

A Field Effect Transistor is a device in the S1 that resists the flow of electricity through a circuit. We noticed that it was not shutting completed off in some rare circumstances which potentially led to battery drain.

Not so rare, they admit to 10% and there are loads of users who never experience the issue 'cos the routinely charge their S1's before use.

This was fixed in 2018.

Not in my replacement S1 it wasn't (manufactured in Dec 2018)

We also updated the firmware because it was possible for the software to remain in a low power state, this only happened below 5% battery life however.

Nonsense

This was also fixed in the latest firmware update released in January 2020. The customer service rep was trained to field for these potential issues and make sure you received units that did not have either of these anomalies. I can assure you that your systems do not have either of these issues."

Complete and utter rubbish, they clearly have not got a clue and are trying to hide the fact.

[DavidE]

I received an email from Liam, Luke's supervisor, containing incorrect information and again telling me to pound salt:

"After lengthy conversations with our engineers, technicians, and our executive office, they confirmed that the batteries are performing as expected, having lost only 20% of their charge after 112 days of usage. "

My response was that I would be thrilled with those results, but those weren't my results. (I think those were Archtoip Eddy's in the Bose forum) I only tested to a 10% drop and that took 8 days and 13 days at best.

Luke called me this morning to explain that Liam made a mistake, but that they still were telling me to pound salt. About the only correct thing he said was that Bose did not make anything better. In fact, what I have now is worse performance than the originals. I explained that I'm only looking to end up with similar performance to what others have with their repaired units or even non-repaired units after the firmware updates. I simply cannot understand why these brand new units have so much battery drain.

I had to remind Luke of some of the history here. My original speakers were sent in for repair twice because Bose failed to do any repairs before sending them back. Luke told me to not even open the second one (that was returned weeks after the first one) because it was not repaired correctly. When I received those back, the battery drain issue persisted. After the Covid lockdown, they sent me brand new speakers. After fully charging and updating, one of the speakers was down to 90% in 12-13 hours. I reported this to Luke. I recharged that battery and it went 8 days before dropping to 90%. The other dropped in 13 days. Now they tell me that's acceptable to Bose.

I'm currently testing a completely new set of batteries borrowed from a friend and am getting some better results. If it turns out that the batteries in the new units are the issue (both made in December 2019 which is the latest batch), Luke said they won't replace them, but to keep him updated.

They did offer me a "refund." Whether that includes tax, I don't know. But I have money invested in the bags (Arriba and Bose), special short stands, trs cables etc... So I'd still be in the hole.

Not the customer service I expect. Hopefully, it will turn out to be a battery issue and I'll end up satisfied. But man, they turned on me fast.

[sam.spoons]

That is appalling behaviour, I would send them back for replacement, again.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by sam.spoons

That is appalling behaviour, I would send them back for replacement, again.

They won't do it. They refuse.

I'm currently testing a set of brand new batteries borrowed from a friend. They're actually testing well so far. Ultimately, it may be an issue with the batteries that came with these new units. Or maybe I need to somehow reset the charge on those batteries. I'll see how far I get with the current set which I will have to return.

[sam.spoons]

Accept the refund then and then go and buy a new pair from a retailer, maybe online to benefit from the return option and test them straight away.

If there was anything else that did the same job I'd have bought them but the S1 is the only game in town just now (I discount the JBL 'cos they just don't sound good).

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by sam.spoons

Accept the refund then and then go and buy a new pair from a retailer, maybe online to benefit from the return option and test them straight away.

If there was anything else that did the same job I'd have bought them but the S1 is the only game in town just now (I discount the JBL 'cos they just don't sound good).

Right now I'm on day 14 at 100% with a different set of batteries. I'm actually satisfied with that. I need to figure out why the batteries that came with these S1s aren't holding their charges. Maybe a complete drain and recharge?

[sam.spoons]

If that's true (not doubting your word here BTW) then it's an entirely new problem. The batteries out if older S1 Pros would last for months without losing significant charge if they were removed from the speaker. Bose also said that there was not an issue with the batteries but with the S1 itself. It sounds to me that haven got a clue what is going on and they are finally trying to sweep the issue under the carpet. Where has their promise to ensure customers did not suffer as a consequence of this design fault gone?

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by sam.spoons

If that's true (not doubting your word here BTW) then it's an entirely new problem. The batteries out if older S1 Pros would last for months without losing significant charge if they were removed from the speaker. Bose also said that there was not an issue with the batteries but with the S1 itself. It sounds to me that haven got a clue what is going on and they are finally trying to sweep the issue under the carpet. Where has their promise to ensure customers did not suffer as a consequence of this design fault gone?

The batteries that came with these new S1s were made in December 2019 and that’s the newest batch.

[sam.spoons]

Definitely worth checking the run time of the new batteries too as well as the 'standby' time.