Product Changes for 2017

Two different ways.

  1. overheating. I mentioned this primarily because some people have reported that their hub seems physically hot.

  2. Once a battery has gone dead, it can start to corrode. if a device operates on both battery and mains power where the battery is intended as a back up, but the design is such that the device continues to draw a little bit of battery current all the time, and the battery is completely out of power, then the ongoing attempt by the device to draw current from a dead battery can eventually cause a battery leak with some brands of batteries. The following post details this:

In this case, it appears that at least some of the V2 hubs may be draining the batteries much quicker than you would expect, which then would lead to this dead battery problem because people wouldn’t realize the batteries had gone dead and would leave them in the hub, that’s leading to the leaking problem.

edited to update: originally I thought both issues had already been discussed in this thread, but they were discussed in the other batteries thread. My bad.

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With respect you do understand what UWP apps are right? It is the common app platform available on every device that runs Windows 10. So developers don’t need to determine any longer if it’s worth to release for the phone like you are stating. When a developer releases a UWP app it runs on any Windows 10 device automatically including the phone.

FYI: How are you liking your 950XL? Mine was acting a little finiky with the mobile app. I use a Windows 10 tablet as the home interface with SmartTiles which I found more convenient then having to pull out a phone and load the app, etc.

I just purchased my hub over the holidays. Mine were not Rayovac batteries. I didn’t read the manual but I am curious if lithium AA batteries can be used? Either way, may have been a bad batch of batteries from Rayovac?

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@slagle

Is ST following this battery issue? An announcement should be made to at least check your batteries!

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I fully agree. I just checked mine after reading this form and found they were starting to corrode also. I purchased my V2 hub In November 2016.

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I last checked by batteries about a month ago, they were perfect.
I checked a week ago and found they were leaking.

It’s interesting that many others are experiencing this also! I did not realise that this is a known issue!

I purchased my hub in Dec 2015 and had the original Rayovac batteries still in mine.

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Purchased mine Dec 2016
 again, they weren’t Rayovac

Rayovac here and that’s what mine looked like. Glad I saw this thread. I’m just leaving mine out now, not sure what good the backup does anyway with very little local execution options.

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My ST is running along with the PI and the router and the nas and the security system and the (why am I listing them all?!) off of a 1500VA UPS so it has no batteries in it. The UPS can run everything for about two hours when power is out


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Rayovac here. Just checked. Horribly corroded. Took a while to clean off cover (no permanent damage thankfully) and even longer to clean the terminals. I put Duracells back in but hope this doesn’t happen with all batteries.

@slagle I have a feeling you can’t say but I am curious if the announcement is due to a newer version hub launching?

Thanks for the response!

For those of us who don’t stare at code for a living and/or understand Groovy, v3 should be for the stupid people, like myself. :joy:

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I just pulled 4 leaking rayovac batteries from my v2 hub as well. I’ve had it since the v2 hub launched.

I did the same thing just now from my 14 month-old V2. It’s a good thing I read this thread.

No leaky batteries, but then again I took them out when I first got the hub and had to do a reset in the first month. Didn’t put them back in as if I lose power to my hub, I also lose internet so I do not see the point. Not sure what make they were though.

Never put batteries in, so glad I did not!

That is not how it works at all. Each developer chooses which platform to target. It’s why Netflix UWP is available on PC but not phone. The same for Nextgen Reader UWP. And Sketchable. And Drawboard PDF. And tons and tons of other PC-only apps. Just because an app is UWP doesn’t mean that it is automatically available on all platforms. And moreover, it often requires extra UI design to optimize for the smaller screen unless you’re using only the most basic interactions.

As for my thoughts on the 950XL, I wouldn’t buy it in 2017, that’s for sure. I still prefer the W10M UI, and there’s a few small things I like better about Windows over Android. But I wouldn’t get a phone that even Microsoft has little intention of supporting unless it was under $100. And with more and more developers who are (rightfully) leaving behind their barely-used WP apps, the situation is going to only continue to get worse. UWP is not going to magically fix any problems.

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Well I stand corrected. It has always been my understanding from reading the Microsoft marketing machine dribble that was the whole intent of UWP was to make it more desirable for the developer so that his efforts didn’t need to be duplicated.

I changed my mind after reading some more. Took the Duracalles out. It seems any battery is at risk in the hub.

As others have said, if I lose power I lose Internet anyway. One advantage with batteries is faster recovery as the boot time on the hub is not exactly fast.

I thought I had mine on UPS anyway but after looking I only have it in a surge protected outlet, not a battery-fed outlet. I need to get an outlet saver to move it over as the only free battery-fed outlet I have is obscured by a wall wart.

Very glad I saw this thread. Thanks.

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I;ve had two hubs one with Panasonic batteries , no leaking and one with Rayovac , 3 out of 4 leaking


My bet is on cheap batteries causing the problem.

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