Dovo Riva Battery draining

[Peter_Silie]

Hello,

I can use a little help on a problem with a brand new Dovpo Riva DNA250c.

After a few days I noticed that the batteries dischange without any use.

Scenario:
Brand new batteries (true) fully charged, device in Lock-Screen, just standig nothing done with, not even being moved.
After 24 hours  5% battery power lost.

I contacted the seller and described the problem. I was offered a check and an exchange in case of a defect.
After a few days, the dealer stated that there was nothing wrong with the device and that it behaves the same way as the others on the shelf. The device was sent back.

Of course, I can't leave it like that. So I did a test setup with a loose DNA250c board I had lying around to see if it would behave the same way. Of course it didn't.
The test setup uses only 1% battery charge per day. That's not what I expected, because that's still much more than I'm used to from DNA75c/DNA100c, but still much less than the Riva.

Does anybody have similar experiences on that?

I would appreciate any hint on how to solve that.

Thanks in advance

 

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Peter_Silie

[Wayneo]

Short Answer - Nothing wrong with the board, your dealer was right.

Longer Answer
All 3 board types (75C, 100C, 250C) use different BMIC's. All 3 behave differently.

Each board type also has different screen on, quiescent and power down 'current draw' rates, and internal timers.

The 250C with the latest firmware powers down after 24 hours of waiting for a button press or an atty removal. That's usually at most .1 volt per cell. 
That timer has been adjusted over time and IIRC ~SP33 it was at 12 hours. But on the 250C, once it powers down it completely rereads the temperature and coil Ω's on startup.

[Peter_Silie]

Hello Wayneo,

thank you for your quick answer.
We have a bank holliday in Germany today, so I finaly have time to come back here.

I have observed the problem when the device is in Locked Mode with no attomizer attached, so it should be in sleep mode. In this mode should nothing more be active than the (useless) clock and the waiting for a button click and the BMS. The BQ76925 USB/BMS/charge controller has ultra power consumption, about 40µA and should not be responsible.

Anyways, 5% power loss with 24Hours is not acceptable, I have never seen that on any other device not even on the cheapest one.
 

but I have some news on that, on sunday when I started here, I also interchanged the two PCBs with each other. That means: My better working tinker board moved inside the Riva and Riva board into my test setup for better access. And now  - guess what!?

The problem is still inside the Riva. Since the case is not connected anywhere and the wiring is double-tripple checked and rebuild as well, there is only one thing left: that's the display.

Now I'm going to get  this out (of it's frame) as well and on my table, that I can get a closer view on that, too.
Maybe there was a firmware change in the display controller, somehow the DNA does not interact propperly with it anymore...

We'll see, I will report

Sincerely

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Peter_Silie

[dwcraig1]

Just a question, are you using the same cells to power the test setup as used in the mod?

My 250C dropped 7% in just under 3 days just sitting which I expected.

[Peter_Silie]

Hi dwcraig1,

thank you for your answer 🙂

yes, these are four brand new molicel, that I bought for this device. And interchanging the batteries does not fix the problem, I also checked with older paired batteris as well.

Your device consumes abot 2% a day, that is not what I am used to, but quite better than 5% within 24H.

You should not expect that. I have devices sitting several weeks and they are still fine when I grab them...

Sincerely

[BillW50]

Say Peter. I've heard this complaint about the DNA250C many times. And I have tested the DNA250C boards many times. I have 25 DNA250C mods and 5 spare boards. And I get the same results every time. Here is how they work.

If using any firmware higher than SP33.xx, the board will take 24 hours before it goes into deep sleep. And every time you wake the screen up, the 24 hour timer restarts back to zero. So if you just wake the screen up just once every 24 hours, it will continue to drain the batteries at a high rate. Because the board will never enter deep sleep.

Now if the screen doesn't light up after 24 hours, the drain will stop since it is now in deep sleep mode. You will know this by pressing the up, down, and select buttons and the screen doesn't light up. If it does light up (you didn't wait 24 hours) and the deep sleep timer starts allover again. How much it drains the batteries depends on the battery capacity. But for most, it drains about 4% in 24 hours.

Want to instantly put it into deep sleep? Here's how I do it. Disconnect the batteries for about 10 seconds. Then reconnect them. The board will be in deep sleep mode. Press the up, down, or select button and the screen won't light up. And the batteries won't drain. Or wait 24 hours and it will also be in deep sleep by then.

Don't like this 24 hour wait? I sure don't and neither does Vaperz Cloud who sells the HOG DNA400C (it's using a DNA250C board). As they sell all of them with SP33 firmware installed. And all of my DNA250C mods, I too only run SP33 firmware. As SP33 only waits an hour then it enters deep sleep mode. This drains the batteries 24 times less in 24 hours.

I've left some DNA250C mods with batteries installed for years and I check them about once a year and the battery charge is still fine. By the way, nice finding a new Dovpo Riva DNA250C. I have two of them myself and they are a very nice mod. I haven't seen anybody have any in stock for at least two years now.

[Peter_Silie]

Hello BillW50,

👍👍👍

thank you very much for that information! That's want I wanted to know. I'm going to change to SP33, actual running SP46.

Interestingly this does not affect singel cell mods?! I am using DNA75c/100c in common, and did not see this behavoir.

Did I understand that right, that this timer is independent from the 5clicks lock mode? There is also an auto-lock-mode timer, this is not that timer you mentioned, right?
This seams to me to be a bug. Deep sleep mode should be entered immedeately after lock sequence. So far I was thinking it was so...

The RIVA was the first DNA250c device, that I really wanted. I like devices like Thelema Solo and Odin Solo and not that box shaped style that dual cell mods usually have.
The Riva is compromise I can make. Here in Germany they are selling it for 84 Euro, that's ok for an DNA250c, so I ordered one.

AND: We are allways 6 Months behind the world 😉

I will try that SP33, i have it on my HD

Sincerely

Edited November 1, 2023 by Peter_Silie

[BillW50]

Hi Peter. Yes that 5 clicks to lock is something else entirely. That just prevents the buttons from doing anything like accidentally firing or changing the settings while in your pocket for example. The deep sleep timer is totally independent from the lock screen. And the deep sleep timer gets reset to zero every time the screen lights up. The up, down, and select buttons does nothing if the board is in deep sleep mode.

If you have trouble finding SP33, let me know. I'm sure it is here somewhere. And don't quote me on the subversion numbers, but there is more than one. Something like 33, 33.1, and 33.2 I think. But all of them deep sleeps in an hour.

Yes, as far as I know... all DNA75C and DNA100C firmware versions enters deep sleep after an hour.

[Peter_Silie]

Hi Bill,

I found the SP33.2 INT when entering "apply sevice pack" available and installed it. My favorite theme seams to be working with it.

THANK YOU, for the Information and prevent me struggling with that issue any further.

Do you know what the official reason for this behavior is? I really want to ask the software developer that!
But I would have some questions more ...

😉

Sincerely

 

 

[BillW50]

Officially I never heard why they went with a 24 hour timer for deep sleep. Although from an engineering standpoint, I would guess they went to 24 hours to prevent excessive writes to the flash memory. They can only handle being written to so many times and they are done. And I am thinking that the flash memory is only written to only before it enters deep sleep (or firmware updates). If that's the reason, I think they are just over protective.