HeartMate Universal Battery Charger IFU 21
4.0 Calibrating HeartMate Batteries
HeartMate 12 volt NiMH and 14 volt Li-Ion batteries use a “smart” technology
that measures available battery power and counts battery usage/charge cycles.
Periodically (approximately every 70 battery uses), the battery may sense that it
needs to calibrate its battery fuel gauge. Calibration helps keep the battery’s fuel
gauge accurate.
During calibration, the UBC drains the battery of all electrical energy and then
recharges it. The battery must be placed into the UBC to be calibrated. Battery
calibration can take up to 12 hours, and only one battery can be calibrated at a
time. During calibration, the other three HeartMate batteries can be charged as
usual.
If a battery needs to be calibrated, the UBC will tell you when that battery is
inserted into one of the charging pockets. The following occurs if calibration is
recommended:
•
The yellow light for this pocket blinks
•
A split battery symbol and the pocket number for this battery flashes on the
display panel screen (
Figure 18
).
Note
: The circled number will switch
between a filled and unfilled circle as the display panel screen flashes.
You have the choice of calibrating the battery when prompted or waiting for
another, more convenient time (e.g., at night while sleeping). If you choose to not
calibrate at the prompt, after ten seconds, the charger will continue with a normal
charge cycle for this battery (see Section 3.2,
Charging Batteries
). It is OK to use
a battery (once recharged) if you delayed its calibration. But, you should calibrate
it as soon as possible.
If you choose to calibrate the battery, and then decide to cancel it after the process
has already begun, you can cancel calibration by removing the battery from its
pocket.
If you do remove a battery before calibration is complete, make sure
to recharge and check the battery before using it
. Removing a battery before
Figure 18
Calibration prompt (in Graphics mode). In this case, the battery in pocket #4
needs calibration.
