Appendix C: O-Lynx battery charging and monitoring.
Charging
The standard O-Lynx radios contain a lightweight
rechargeable Lithium battery that can usually power
the units for at least 16 hours continuously. Usually
this will mean 3 events can be done before the need
to be charged again.
To recharge the battery, the radios should be plugged
into a suitable USB charger using the USB to O-Lynx
charging cables as shown.
A blue light will be on while the charging is taking
place and go off when complete.
The master radios blue charging light may turn on during an event as it has been designed to charge
up via the computers USB port when connected. This uses a low power charging circuit to ensure it is
compatible with all USB ports.
O-Lynx radios with higher capacity batteries have also been used on adventure races. These provide
the ability to run continuously for at least 48 hours.
Monitoring
The O-Lynx radios indicate their state of charge when they are tuned on.
The 5 status lights initially light up one after another to indicate the unit is powered
up and working. Immediately after this they will show the battery level on the 5
status lights and give a beep. 5 lights means fully charged while 1 light means
nearly empty. Ideally when setting up an event you should have at least 3 lights
showing to indicate enough charge is available for the event.
The radios battery level can also be checked remotely from the
O-Lynx event software. From the main screen, open the O-Lynx
Settings window by clicking on the hammer and wrench icon
shown on the left edge of
the screen. Choose the “Test
Radios
”
tab to see a screen as shown.
Press the “Check Batter
ies
” to show current battery voltages. 4
volts or higher is fully charged, while less than 3 volts should be
considered low.
The “Check Batteries” button may have t
o be
pressed more than once before all radios are shown.
