RH1 not charging!

[Sparda]

Man I didn't think eventually this would happen to me too, but my RH1 is refusing to recharge. When i plug in the usb cable (which one end is connected to the ac adapter) to my RH1 all it says is "low battery" then it goes away and wouldn't go into charging mode which normally displays how much time is left. As if i didn't already know the battery is low....

I feel very sad that it is already not working well. Heh, any suggestions?

ps, my RH1 is about 1 1/2 months old, bought brand new, the battery is the same one that came with it, and i also handle and treat it as if my life depended on it.

Hey, what do you know, after heating it up a little its now charging! But the funny thing is that the manual says that if its too hot or cold it should say "CHARGE" but all it said was "low battery", I guess it's still worth it to try.

Edited November 5, 2006 by Sparda

[Sparda]

Sorry to bring this up again, but today is the second time in a row that my RH1 refused to charge properly. The exact same thing happened as described above, but this time instead of heating up the battery because it was cold on that day, today its not so I just took it out, inspected it, didn't know what to look for, popped it back in, didn't work, plugged in the remote, then it finally started charging. Now what troubles me is that I spent over $400 on the RH1, and one would expect for it to be more reliable at such a heavy price. Doesn't anybody else have this problem? Oh, and yes the battery is new and so is the unit. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

- Sparda

ps

My point is that the remote being plugged or unplugged shouldn't matter at all! After it started charging, I unplugged the remote.

Edited November 5, 2006 by Sparda

[philpem]

Here's the quick-fix I found:

Plug the USB cable into your PC

Plug the other end of the USB cable into the RH1

Wait for the RH1 to display "Low battery", then wait for the display to go blank

Remove the RH1 end of the USB cable, wait a second then plug it back in again

You should get the "whooshing circles" startup screen, then the battery-charge indicator.

You can probably do the same thing with the RH1 charger brick as well - replace "PC" with "charger" in the above paragraph

The Sony MZ-RH1. 'Tis a quirky little thing...

[Sparda]

Hmm, doesn't work. Believe it or not, but i think you need the remote to be plugged in for the charging process to begin. Thats how i got it to work these days, im definitely gonna give Sony a call soon.

Edited November 11, 2006 by Sparda

[The Low Volta]

that definitely is not standard behavior Sparda, my RH1 doesn't need a remote plugged in and it has never been attached while charging... better check with Sony

[Sparda]

Ok, so I finally found some time to call Sony Support. And i get this rep who can't even speak english. And then after asking a bunch of my personal info she finally gets to it, and tells me "did you connect the cable while charging?" I told her yes a bit agitated that she had just insulted me, and then she types some more into her computer giving me text book answers which i can find in my manual. Later she asks me the same question on 5 separate occasions "is the cable properly secured?" I keep telling her yes and explained to her that the cable must be attached securely in order for it to even say "Low Battery" so it means it is sensing a cable being attached, otherwise it would stay off and dispaly nothing. And then she gives me a bs answer, pardon my french, that she didn't hear me. And when i demanded a proper explanation she gave me the good-old "you have to send it to Sony to get it replaced, the shipping is not covered.......do you want me to process it now?" in my mind i was thinking no way, thank you very much i'll be hanging up now, and i did. Anyways i never knew Sony's customer service would sink that low. Anybody else had a difficult time talking to Customer Support?

[A440]

Anybody else had a difficult time talking to Customer Support?

Everyone who's ever called them has had a difficult time with Sony support.

[smkranz]

Anyways i never knew Sony's customer service would sink that low. Anybody else had a difficult time talking to Customer Support?

My experience was much different than yours. The remote on my RH1 was faulty out of the box. Rather than sending the whole thing back to Sound Professionals, I called Sony Support to get them replace it. Though they sent the wrong remote the first time (this was before the RH1 actually made it to the US Parts catalog so I got the remote for the RH10), as I recall it the people I spoke with sounded like English was their first language, and there was no question that they would replace the remote. They sent the right remote the second time, and when asked, didn't even care whether I returned the wrong one they sent the first time.

[Sparda]

My experience was much different than yours. The remote on my RH1 was faulty out of the box. Rather than sending the whole thing back to Sound Professionals, I called Sony Support to get them replace it. Though they sent the wrong remote the first time (this was before the RH1 actually made it to the US Parts catalog so I got the remote for the RH10), as I recall it the people I spoke with sounded like English was their first language, and there was no question that they would replace the remote. They sent the right remote the second time, and when asked, didn't even care whether I returned the wrong one they sent the first time.

I must say you are one of the luckier ones. Anyways now I know why people hate Sony, yes hate is a strong word...yet we all continue to buy products from them...

[1kyle]

Everyone who's ever called them has had a difficult time with Sony support.

Ever tried calling a Bank or almost any other service you care to name these days. As soon as i hear the dreaded words "Your Call is Important to us ......" I immediately hang up as I know I'll be paying money on a premium line for typically 20 mins and eventually when you do get hold of a human the chances are you'll know much more than the person at the other end of the phone - even if they do speak some sort of English (or other language depending on where you are calling from).

The chances are that your battery has gone -- replace it. You should be able to get a new one from your warranty if you only purchased the equipment a couple of months ago.

The Charger itself is very unlikely to be faulty -- if you have a Motoralor RAZR type of phone the same charger works so you could see if your charger charges your phone. This will eliminate a fault with the charger if the phone charges up.

The batteries have a certain shelf life -- Once the shelf life has been exceeded they need replacing.

Cheers

-K

[Sparda]

@.@ my battery is already dead? i certainly hope not. I've been having better luck these days, must say it has to do with two things: the ambient temperature, and not letting the battery drain itself too much. Anyways i just wished Sony could have given me a better answer then "spend all your money on shipping and possibly have your RH1 get lost along the way to them". And i am buying a new battery for it, well actually a spare, for those times where you didnt have time to recharge your RH1 .

[Riccardo]

@.@ my battery is already dead? i certainly hope not. I've been having better luck these days, must say it has to do with two things: the ambient temperature, and not letting the battery drain itself too much. Anyways i just wished Sony could have given me a better answer then "spend all your money on shipping and possibly have your RH1 get lost along the way to them". And i am buying a new battery for it, well actually a spare, for those times where you didnt have time to recharge your RH1 .

I also hope your battery isn't dead already. Sony reaps a pretty penny from the LIP-4WM. Cheapest I've found is $49.99 from Audiocubes. The battery is one of my main gripes with the RH1 (the other being too much dependence on the remote for display and functionality.) I also don't like the way the charging count-down only brings the battery to 80% full, to top it off requires manually timing the rest of the charge cycle with no indication, two hours I believe according to the instructions.

[plucas]

I have found the RH1 tricky to recharge from day one, and have seen it get confused if I unplug the charger unexpectedly.

The exact symptoms you mention have shown up twice so far, the first time only lasting about 30 minutes, the second time 24 hours. The second time the battery was already fully charged the night before, but still came up 'low battery' when I tried to turn it on in the morning. Admittedly it was a bit cold, but if cold was the problem, why couldn't Sony have just put 'TOO COLD' on the display, or something similar? The second time I lost a whole day of interviews in a village in southern China... now that was a big loss for me.

If you get any more specific information on what is really happening inside that little box, please do post!

Man I didn't think eventually this would happen to me too, but my RH1 is refusing to recharge. When i plug in the usb cable (which one end is connected to the ac adapter) to my RH1 all it says is "low battery" then it goes away and wouldn't go into charging mode which normally displays how much time is left. As if i didn't already know the battery is low....

I feel very sad that it is already not working well. Heh, any suggestions?

ps, my RH1 is about 1 1/2 months old, bought brand new, the battery is the same one that came with it, and i also handle and treat it as if my life depended on it.

Hey, what do you know, after heating it up a little its now charging! But the funny thing is that the manual says that if its too hot or cold it should say "CHARGE" but all it said was "low battery", I guess it's still worth it to try.

[Sparda]

I have found the RH1 tricky to recharge from day one, and have seen it get confused if I unplug the charger unexpectedly.

The exact symptoms you mention have shown up twice so far, the first time only lasting about 30 minutes, the second time 24 hours. The second time the battery was already fully charged the night before, but still came up 'low battery' when I tried to turn it on in the morning. Admittedly it was a bit cold, but if cold was the problem, why couldn't Sony have just put 'TOO COLD' on the display, or something similar? The second time I lost a whole day of interviews in a village in southern China... now that was a big loss for me.

If you get any more specific information on what is really happening inside that little box, please do post!

Actually instead of TOO COLD the manual says the RH1 is supposedly to say CHARGE if it's too cold or too hot. Funny thing is I think the temperature has a great deal to do with it, but it never displays CHARGE. And I am very happy to report that it has been charging normally since the last time I posted here. What I've been doing now is charge it while it still has one bar left, I've found charging it when it starts to flash is too late and starts to cause charging trouble. To sum it up, based on my experience the temperature has too be room temperature or else it will not charge properly and also charge it while you still can, don't wait until its too late. Hope this helps anyone whos frustrated.

[Sparda]

Great, I jinxed myself. Me and my big mouth. Just 5mins ago I was gonna charge it and it displayed "Low Battery" when I tried to give it a charge, and in reality it actually had 1 strong bar left. So I really don't know why its acting up, I had to unplug and replug the usb cable like almost 20 times, no kidding. On my final try I tried the other end and it finally worked, but I know that it has nothing to do with that, could my usb cable be frayed? Oh, and just to confirm, with Li-Ion batteries I can charge it any time I want right? Even if it is half or almost full. And the RH1 should let me charge it when I want right? Thanks for reading.

[sector001]

did u ever get another spare battery? i bought one on ebay for like 1/2 the price sony sells it for. though they might be fakes. but they do work. except the 1st battery i got it didnt work. i asked for a replacement and the 2nd 1 works great. btw, i never have problems with my rh1.

[Sparda]

No, I still haven't gotten around that. The high price is driving me away from it. I intend to go down to the States to hopefully get a better price then we do in Canada. This is really annoying, does anybody else experience anything similar to what I am describing?

[jay209]

sorry can't help on that one. i either charge via the computer or via the power supply. both charge without a problem. i dunno how the remote is affecting your charge though.

[sector001]

No, I still haven't gotten around that. The high price is driving me away from it. I intend to go down to the States to hopefully get a better price then we do in Canada. This is really annoying, does anybody else experience anything similar to what I am describing?

the prices on the battery here in the states isnt that cheap either. if u can even find them in stores that is. online is still $50-$60.

[Sparda]

Why are corporations so greedy? It doesn't cost that much to manufacture a battery for goodness sake! Also I have to mention that I only charge via power adapter, because my computer is rather unstable, so sometimes I have to reboot. Hmm, I can't return it too late for that, don't want to send it in... no darn way! I guess I could always buy another and return my current one.

Edit: I must point out that I suspect its not charging normally when the main unit does not display anything or when it displays "Low Battery".

Edited December 24, 2006 by Sparda

[sector001]

Why are corporations so greedy? It doesn't cost that much to manufacture a battery for goodness sake! Also I have to mention that I only charge via power adapter, because my computer is rather unstable, so sometimes I have to reboot. Hmm, I can't return it too late for that, don't want to send it in... no darn way! I guess I could always buy another and return my current one.

Edit: I must point out that I suspect its not charging normally when the main unit does not display anything or when it displays "Low Battery".

if your RH1 is still within the warranty period, i would just send it in.

[Sparda]

I've noticed I'm quite paranoid when it comes to my RH1 for some reason. I'll just pay my local Sony Store a visit, hoping they would pay the shipping, and I also need some blanks real quick.

[sector001]

I've noticed I'm quite paranoid when it comes to my RH1 for some reason. I'll just pay my local Sony Store a visit, hoping they would pay the shipping, and I also need some blanks real quick.

good luck.

[floz23]

Geez, I have had my Rh1 for a whole week. Twice I have had charging funniness.

Is this a general issue with this unit? Should I send it back to be replaced?

-Adam

[sector001]

Geez, I have had my Rh1 for a whole week. Twice I have had charging funniness.

Is this a general issue with this unit? Should I send it back to be replaced?

-Adam

i never had problems with charging my battery.

[raintheory]

I haven't had any issues with my RH1 either...

[floz23]

Thanks for the responses guys, this is a nice community!

One more quick question though, when the RH1 is attached to the computer via USB (On the machine itself, not through a hub) do your charging bars always come on? I just drained my battery half way with a 3 hour recording session, now my unit is plugged into my usb port, and I'm not getting any charging bars.

-Adam

[raintheory]

With my unit, when its plugged into the PC and the battery has been discharged some, the battery symbol does show as charging.

Have you tried this with a different USB port? I suppose it may be possible that the power supply to that particular USB port on your PC may be faulty...

Edited February 18, 2007 by raintheory

[Sparda]

With my unit, when its plugged into the PC and the battery has been discharged some, the battery symbol does show as charging.

Have you tried this with a different USB port? I suppose it may be possible that the power supply to that particular USB port on your PC may be faulty...

But in the end your battery is still getting charged?

I haven't been having this problem as often now, but it still occurs from time to time. I have observed that the connection between the cable and mini-b port is very loose and thus sometimes comes partially unconnected, this leads to the bars not showing. But other things affect charging too, such as temperature and how dis/charged the battery is. So far its just annoying but not a main concern. I wish they had a cover for the usb port too, there's some dust in my.

[floz23]

Its a bit weird. Yes, I think the battery is charging. I believe that what might be happening is that the battery may be already charged to 80% and the unit is "trickle charging."

Last night, I plugged my unit into the wall charger, nothing was displaying, but I ended with a 100% full battery in the morning.

-Adam

[timonoj]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I also have that very same problem. I also think it might be related with the temperature, but i'm gonna ask sony about the issue and see what they say...

[Avrin]

15 minutes ago my new RH1 with a fully discharged battery refused to charge from any USB port of my computer (showing LOW BATTERY instead), but now it is charging happily from its own power adapter.

I have already seriously readjusted its laser, completely eliminating READ ERRORs with legacy MDs, and prolonging the laser life. Probably it is time to also readjust its charging settings to eliminate the LOW BATTERY issue.

Edited February 22, 2007 by Avrin

[Sparda]

I am quite curious about the tweaks you have done, care to share how to prolong laser life? And the "Low Battery" issue is exactly same as my.

[Avrin]

Well, it is slightly offtopic here, but I solved the READ ERROR with MD discs problem by decreasing the value at address 124 by 4. Then tried decreasing the value by 4 more, and the unit still reads OK. This means that the laser is now emitting 0.40 mW less (when playing standard MD discs in any mode), which will certainly prolong its life.

As for power settings, the service manual gives some details on these. But in this case we have to be really careful, since tweaking the laser can only make the unit stop reading discs, and is reversible, while tweaking power/charging settings may damage the unit permanently.

[dbs]

I'm a very new owner of an MZ-RH1. So far I'm supremely impressed with the unit, but I too am puzzled by the 'charging' or 'not charging' situation. I haven't actually plugged it into the wall outlet for charging, I've only connected it via USB cable, but I have never actually seen it say 'charging'. However, I have seen it blinking he battery indicator [ #] like that, but not actually saying 'LOW BATTERY'. Maybe I don't have the proper display set?

I'm going to try and leave my unit plugged in all night to see if it does in fact top out the battery, but I'm a little concerned about whether I'm getting a decent charge out of it.

So far I'm extremely impressed with the unit. I'm transferring some older recordings I did on a borrowed MD recorder to see about converting old formats now, but last night I piled on a couple hundred meg of MP3's onto my 'play' disk. Worked like a champ.

Thank you Sony for getting off your asses and making a useable unit!

[Sparda]

I'm a very new owner of an MZ-RH1. So far I'm supremely impressed with the unit, but I too am puzzled by the 'charging' or 'not charging' situation. I haven't actually plugged it into the wall outlet for charging, I've only connected it via USB cable, but I have never actually seen it say 'charging'. However, I have seen it blinking he battery indicator [ #] like that, but not actually saying 'LOW BATTERY'. Maybe I don't have the proper display set?

I'm going to try and leave my unit plugged in all night to see if it does in fact top out the battery, but I'm a little concerned about whether I'm getting a decent charge out of it.

So far I'm extremely impressed with the unit. I'm transferring some older recordings I did on a borrowed MD recorder to see about converting old formats now, but last night I piled on a couple hundred meg of MP3's onto my 'play' disk. Worked like a champ.

Thank you Sony for getting off your asses and making a useable unit!

What you are describing is what is normal. That is what is supposed to happen. Whereas in my case and others, we are getting these ridiculous "Low Battery" messages and the blinking battery does not show up and refuses to charge.

[dbs]

What you are describing is what is normal. That is what is supposed to happen. Whereas in my case and others, we are getting these ridiculous "Low Battery" messages and the blinking battery does not show up and refuses to charge.

Okay, I'll buy that. To just followup, I woke up this morning to a totally full battery (all blocks lit up) when I turned on the unit. So I guess it did charge

[Avrin]

This may or may not be applicable here, but the manual for my Sony Ericsson mobile phone (which uses a Li-Polymer rechargeable battery) says, that it may take up to 30 minutes for the charging process to start, after connecting the adapter.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Avrin

[Ellen]

Well, it seems I also have a charging problem with my RH1.

I don't use it that much and it's always connected to the computer (or is it best to not do that?)

Now it seems the battery is completely drained. The unit just seemed really dead :-(

It didn't respond to anything. Not with connecting (again) to the pc. It also didn't gave any sign of life

when connected to the wall adaptor.

Luckily I own a EH1. This one uses the same battery and there was still a bit of energy left.

I switched the batteries and now the RH1 is loading from the wall adaptor.....

Any ideas how this problem may have occured? And what's best to avoid this in the future?

[Avrin]

From what I was able to find out:

1. Avoid fully draining the battery. When the indicator just starts blinking - it's time to charge.

2. If you got into the LOW BATTERY situation - disconnect the unit from the computer, or from the adapter, wait a few minutes, and then connect the adapter (not the computer). Insert the adapter connector firmly.

3. If this does not help - try removing and reinserting the battery before reconnecting the adapter.

4. All this is utter craziness.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Avrin