Nortek has recently identified a potential issue impacting Eco batteries during long term storage.  In summary, if your Eco is unused for a long time (typically more than one year), its battery may stop working and cannot be recharged, and therefore your Eco cannot be used.  To prevent this from happening, Nortek recommends you fully charge your Eco using the Nortek-supplied charger prior to any long term storage.  If your Eco presently is in long term storage, we recommend you fully charge it as soon as possible.  

Below are further details concerning this for your reference.

Your Eco uses rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries.  As you will notice with for example, mobile phone batteries, all rechargeable batteries, can lose charge on their own over time, even when not used.  Eventually, the battery can no longer be recharged and therefore cannot be used to power your Eco, even if you place it on the charger.

The self-discharge rate is approximately 0.1% of the charge’s capacity per day.  For a fully charged Eco battery, this means it will last about 1000 days (> 3 years) in storage.  However, for caution, Nortek recommends annually recharging any Ecos that are in storage for more than one year.

• What is considered “long term storage”?
  • Any period of time longer than one year (12 months) where the Eco is not used or recharged.
• How do I prepare my Eco for long term storage?
  • Fully charge the Eco’s battery by placing it on the Nortek-supplied charging base until the Eco’s light turns solid green indicating it is fully charged. At this point you can store your Eco for 12 months unused.
  • Follow the guidelines included in the Eco Video Manual concerning rinsing and drying of the Eco prior to any type of storage, as well as removing the AA batteries from the Eco Release (if applicable).
• What if I need to store my Eco for longer, say, three years or more?
  • In addition to fully charging the battery prior to the start of the storage period, also fully recharge the battery once every year (12 months).
• How do I fully recharge the Eco’s battery?
  • Place your Eco on the Nortek-supplied charging base and leave it there until the Eco’s LED light turns solid green. This indicates that the battery is 100% charged.
• I use an induction charging pad to charge my mobile phone. Can I also use this to charge my Eco?
  • No! You should only charge your Eco using the Nortek-supplied charging base and AC power adaptor.  Other chargers might appear to work, but they do not provide the right conditions to properly charge your Eco.  If you do not have a charger for your Eco, you can purchase one here: https://www.nortekgroup.com/eco-webshop/p3.
• Does temperature affect the storage period?
  • While temperature does impact the self-discharge rate, the impact is not strong enough to alter the guidance provided here. Therefore, you should continue to recharge annually for every year of long term storage).
• How do I prepare my Eco for short term storage?
  • “Short term storage” means different things to different people (i.e. “few weeks”, “several months”, etc.). Therefore, it is recommended to fully charge the Eco both before and after every deployment.  This will guarantee your Eco is always ready to go.  However, we do realize that field conditions are not always predictable.  It is possible to store your Eco for a short time even though it is not fully charged.  The important thing to remember is that, the longer your Eco goes without use, the less capacity the battery will have.  So NEVER store your Eco with low battery capacity, especially if you are unsure when you can recharge it again.
• Should I charge my Eco after every deployment?
  • Nortek recommends always recharging your Eco after every deployment where possible.
• If my deployment is so long that the battery dies during the deployment, will that damage my Eco?
  • The self-discharge condition discussed here only applies when your Eco is not being actively used.  Your Eco can collect data continuously until the battery runs out, as the  firmware will automatically stop the deployment prior to the battery reaching a truly depleted state.  However, it is important to note that, once the deployment ends, the self-discharge cycle will start.  So if you run your Eco until the battery dies, the Eco should be immediately recharged as soon as possible after retrieval.  NEVER store your Eco with a low battery capacity.