First Charge New Solar Watch ?

[Titanium Steel]

Dear guys,

Just recently I got myself a new tough solar watch protrek PRG 240T-7, I am really happy and satisfied with the features on it .



I want to ask about how long to charge my solar watch for the first time?
Here are the instruction in the manual:



I am kinda confused how to read the table .
Need a total of 18 hours to fully charging the battery under the sun (50.000 lux)? --> correct me if I am wrong...

I know that the watch will be better if I charge directly below the sun light, but because of my work I can't do it now (spent a lot of my time in the office).

I am kinda new to this kind of technology (like Tough Solar), but I have studied a lot about it .
And for the compesantion I use this kind of set up to charge my watch (desk lamp with phillips 15 watt 850 lumens on it):



I know that the temperature will be the main issue but as far as I know the temperature in the surface of my watch didn't realy hot (just warm). Will it be safe to continue using this kind of set up? I already run 8 hours and no blank screen in the display and will be planning to run it to another 70 hours.

For your information the first time I got my watch it show M in the battery power indicator, after 8 hours with my set up, my watch always show on H status

any kind of reply I really apreciate it

thx a lot

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[Queen6]

Simple, wear your watch and enjoy it, dont put it under lamps etc, best form of light is natural sunlight. i have more than 10 "Tough Solar" Protrek`s and the last thing i worry about is charging. The idea of "tough Solar" is little or no user intervention, wear the watch and it will charge, avoid rapid discharge and excessive heat 60C +

I have used mine in the sub Arctic to the equator, I wear them or just leave them in a place where there is indirect sunlight, all are fully charged, if they drop to "M" dont worry this is just the watches function ...

The cell is not a battery, more a capacitor and has a very long lifecycle, for the technically minded look here http://alumni.cs.ucr.edu/~amitra/ctl1616/spec.html

Q-6

[Titanium Steel]

I thought that for the best life span and capacity every rechargeable battery need to charge to the max for the first time (I did it to my every rechargeable battery)
And Queen6 thanks for the reply, how old were your oldest Protrek ?

I live in the equator line of country (tropical), so the sun here are realy hot and bright. Just 10 minutes under the sun and my watch got realy hot, the thermometer read 40 degree celcius... :(

Thx

[Queen6]

I thought that for the best life span and capacity every rechargeable battery need to charge to the max for the first time (I did it to my every rechargeable battery)
And Queen6 thanks for the reply, how old were your oldest Protrek ?

Thx

Oldest current is past 6 years and has been used in some of the most extreme environments on offer with frequent heavy use, now in the tropics, the watch performs as well as it`s newer siblings. The lifecycle of the cell is so long it is more likely the something else on the watch will give up first.

Like I say just wear and enjoy, that is what it`s designed to do, if you think about it the watch will charge as you wear it, and the cell has most likely been activated for several months already, dont need to over analyse Casio have already done the math

Q-6

[ThomAsio]

I got the Riseman, also Tough Solar, for a little over a year. No need for a full charge for a start, just wear it and it works fine.

I live about as close to the north, as London, so it's quite dark here through the winter. Long sleeves too. I've only managed to get it down to "M" twice, both was when I used A.EL during the dark winter. So now I only use A.EL when it's sunny times.

Based on my experience, I'd say it qualify for the name Tough Solar

A side note though, I really think Casio should rethink the batt-meter, because when it's always visible, it makes people beeing too concerned about it... Hide it away during normal use, and only show it in some kind of "check-screen" - the atomic sync status could be thrown here too. Or simply only show a symbol saying like "your batt is lowering, consider charging" - when its actually needed ! But Casio seems to think, the more (clutter ) on the display the better, so this will probably never happen...

[Titanium Steel]

I thought we need to charge the watch until full like a cellphone. I guess not :)

[ThomAsio]

It's another battery type in Tough Solar, CTL1616 is used by most common models, and CTL = Cobalt Titanium Lithium.

Here's a little info on it: Casio CTL1616 CTL-1616 Accumulator Battery.

[ThomAsio]

Stumbled over this tip - if your CTL1616 some day should be totally drained:

Hack: Manually Charge the CTL 1616 battery
For all of you who left the Casio PRG series watch without light for 6 month and now it doesn’t work, there is no need to buy a new CTL1616 battery. Just take the battery out of the watch and charge it with 1-2ma for 12 hours, put it back and reset the watch (by connecting with a wire the (AC) point to the (-) point for two second, and .. WOW, the watch works again like new.
Charging the battery is very simple. Buy a 4700 ohm or 5600 ohm resistor in your local electronics shop. Take a voltage source of 9 or 12 volts (can be a battery or AC adapter). connect the (+) of the voltage source to one side of the resistor, and the other side of the resistor to the (+) side of the battery (it is marked in the battery). Using a copper wire, connect the (-) side of the voltage source to the (-) side of the battery, and leave it connected for 12 hours or so. After that, return the battery to the watch and reset the watch (by connecting with a copper wire the (AC) point to the (-) point for two second) That it, very simple. Good luck, Amihai

Change a Battery - G-Shock Wiki | casio watch resources

[Titanium Steel]

Thanks a lot ThomAsio for your tips. Really much appreciated

[chrisbo28]

Dear guys,

Just recently I got myself a new tough solar watch protrek PRG 240T-7, I am really happy and satisfied with the features on it .



I want to ask about how long to charge my solar watch for the first time?
Here are the instruction in the manual:



I am kinda confused how to read the table .
Need a total of 18 hours to fully charging the battery under the sun (50.000 lux)? --> correct me if I am wrong...

I know that the watch will be better if I charge directly below the sun light, but because of my work I can't do it now (spent a lot of my time in the office).

I am kinda new to this kind of technology (like Tough Solar), but I have studied a lot about it .
And for the compesantion I use this kind of set up to charge my watch (desk lamp with phillips 15 watt 850 lumens on it):

That means excessive use of the watch "features" loweres the capacity of the battery much faster than stated in this chart.

I can't wait to see my "Wave Ceptor" solar watch comming in. I will submit a post in this forum when it arrives. Stay tuned.