Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello team, I hope everyone is doing well. I just purchased the Vagabond Mini. I charged it until the light on the power supply gets GREEN but everytime I power it up, I can never see the battery charged to 3/4+, I can only see it 1/2...

Will it change after a few charges? Or it could be an issue?

thank you very much in advance and have a great day!

Is this after 30 seconds and with nothing plugged into it?

well if I leave it on for 30 seconds or 1 minute and more, it doesn't go up 1/2.
I have connected one of my AB800 and I've taken maybe 100 shots and it's still 1/2 :)

I will try to charge it again until the light gets green and check to see if the LED 3/4+ light up... who knows could be a glitch...

I never fully discharged the battery before recharging it, should I try that?

VMLs I have tested will go up to the 3/4+ light. It takes about 30 seconds initially because the charge meter integrates over time to keep the meter lights from bouncing around.

One obscure possibility that I don't think is likely is that the light on the charger is turning green before the battery is fully charged. You might try leaving the battery charging for an hour or so after the charger light turns green.

We have not seen this issue before in several thousand VMLs in the field. Possibly a problem in the battery gauge circuit.

No need to fully discharge the battery . . . it won't help. The battery manufacturer tells us charging the battery frequently, before it is fully discharged, will extend the battery lifetime.

I charged it all night long and now all the lights are up so it's now fully charged! :) So all good. I guess when the green light is on, it doesn't mean it's fully charged!

tks and have a great day!

Good . . . now we know. Actually, the battery manufacturer suggests optimal long term battery life will be obtained by charging to about 80% and recharging before batteries are depleted. Of course, if you are doing a shoot that requires a lot of shots, I would charge overnight to make sure you have a 100% charge.