Powerscan 9100, 9300, 950x Battery Analysis

🧾 Description 

Procedure that explains how to perform a battery analysis of PowerScan  9100, 9300, 950x

First of all it is important to inform the end user that the capacity deterioration is noticeable after one year of service whether the battery is in use or not, the replace is suggested after 1-3 year depending on the usage. It is difficult to precisely predict the finite life of a LI battery, but cell manufacturers rate them at 500 charge cycles. In other words, the batteries should be expected to take 500 full discharge / charge cycles before needing replacement. This number is higher if partial discharging / recharging is adhered to rather than full / deep discharging. In terms of operating autonomy we declare that, in continuous reading mode, the battery is able to substain, typically, 30,000 reads of an EAN13 code. 

After the first communication it could be useful to proceed in technical analysis of the battery data.

USING ALADDIN

• Be sure the user has installed Aladdin latest version and the USB-COM drivers (https://cdn.datalogic.com/Download?iddwnfile=22082).

• Launch the Aladdin software

• If the interface is set equal to RS232 or USB-COM access directly by clicking: Device Autodetection --> Search for One Device then select the device when found.

• Otherwise, if the interface set is equal to USB-KBD/USB-OEM use the option: Tools --> Force Device Connection. In this last case please follow the next steps:

• do not browse the com port and do not click connect device if one port (e.g COM6) is seen by the software

• disconnect the external power supply if connected

• disconect the USB cable from the computer

• keep pressed the button of the cradle while re-connecting the USB cable to the PC

• when the dialogue window changes to “USB HID”, click on “connect” while keeping pressed the button

• when the Wait loading bar appears release the button

Once inside Aladdin use the Terminal tab in order to exchange information with the cradle:

• type $S and send --> cradle feedback is $>, the service mode is on
• put the scanner in the cradle, on or off it doesn't matter
• type $Eb0 and send --> cradle feedback is $> and the battery log, as indicated in the next screenshot

• then type a $s and send --> the cradle quits the service mode and restarts
• copy and paste the result in a document 

From a first analysis it is important to check 4 parameters: 

• PID = 0xF0
• Capacity = 2187 (or 3187 new batteries capacity from 06/2020)
• Imax = 1200
• Rsens = 39

If these 4 parameters are not respected then the battery is probably defective and needs to be replaced. Other values can indicate that battery needs to be replaced, such as high values, about millions, of Start Low and Start Gun. e.g:

For a further analysis of the log data contacts the L3 department.

USING COM TEST SERIAL 

In this case it is mandatory to use the RS-232 (@115200 baudrate) or the USB-COM interfaces and a terminal program, for example, ComTestSerial (free from Microridge web: https://www.microridge.com/comtestserial.htm).

The steps to get the information are the following:

• After setting the proper interface open the terminal program and claim the COM port assigned
• type $S and send --> cradle feedback is $>, the service mode is on
• put the scanner in the cradle, on or off it doesn't matter
• type $Eb0 and send --> cradle feedback is $> and the battery log, as indicated in the next screenshot
• then type a $s and send --> the cradle quits the service mode and restarts
• copy and paste the result in a document 

• if the program is sending local commands, please remember to use the terminator CR for each command. For example --> $S\x0D, $Eb0\X0D, etc..