9960 Kameleon won't sleep after JP1 upgrade

[Rubank]

When I upgrade my Kameleon 8 in 1 through a JP1 cable it will not go to sleep after the upgrade. The buttons work as they should. The light will not turn off though. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

[Mark Pierson]

There's 2 versions of the 9960 with the basic difference being one has a 2k EEPROM and the other is 4k. The RDF for the 2k version is "NAK0NAK0 (URC-9960 One For All Kameleon).rdf", while the 4k uses "KASAKAS0 (URC-9960 B01 One For All Kameleon).rdf". If you have the 2k version, there's a setting on IR's Genral tab under "Other Settings" called "Backlight Timer" that you may want to check.

[Flipper]

That backlight timer is set to "1" for me. What numbers equal what setting (what will changing this number do?)?

Hope this isn't considered a thread hijack.

[Rubank]

Thank you for the response. My backlight time is set to1. I have the 2k eprom. Actually the light turns off now but the problem has transformed. Now it most of the time goes black as soon as I press a button. Especially when I press power. This makes the remote completely useless.

[Mark Pierson]

I'm not positive about the 9960, but that could be the low-battery warning. You might want to try a fresh set.

[Rubank]

I'm not positive about the 9960, but that could be the low-battery warning. You might want to try a fresh set.

Thank you for you comment. You were correct. The battery was low.

[Flipper]

I got my Kameleon on Monday. The next purchase I made was a 16 pack of AAA batteries!!! That ought to last me a month! Hehehe. I'm thinking that NiMH batteries are going to be the way to go with this thing.

[jerma]

Hi all.

I'v noticed that a good (read expensive) normal AAA battery lasts a lot longer, that the 800 mAh rechargeable batterys. I thing that this is cause the rechargeables are 1,2 volts, and the normal batterys are 1,5 volts.

As we are on the subjects, can 4 AA size batterys be fitted in the URC-9960 with some modification. Anyone tryed this out ? If one could fit 4 AA size 2300 mAh rechargeadle 1,2 batterys on there, they would go on for a ½ to 1 year

[johnsfine]

good (read expensive) normal AAA battery

I've seen NiCad batteries priced like they were NiMH and within each of NiCad and NiMH there seems to be a wide range of prices uncorrelated to capacity or other measures of "good". So for "good" do do not read "expensive".

800 mAh rechargeable batterys.

Most retail batteries don't list the capacity. Comparing capacity among those that do list it is a good idea. For those that don't list capacity, it's pretty safe to assume the capacity is lower than is typical for those that do list it.

I thing that this is cause the rechargeables are 1,2 volts, and the normal batterys are 1,5 volts.

NiCad batteries are lower voltage than NiMH or rechargable alkaline (or normal non-rechargeable alkaline). Since the device has a low battery detect that isn't accurate for NiCad, don't use NiCad.

As we are on the subjects, can 4 AA size batterys be fitted

Seems like a lot of trouble. NiMh AAA wouldn't need to be recharged so often as to be worth such trouble to beat them.

[jerma]

I'v used some AA and AAA rechargeable batterys, and i'v notices that the "nameless" or some less known batterys (cheaper) tend to be poor in quality compared to, lets say, GP. Even they are the same capasity.

For excample, i used some cheap 800mAh rechargeable batterys on my old URC-8060, and they were empty after 2 weeks. When using the same capasity GP rechargeable batterys, they lasted for 2 monts.

The same applys to my A70 digital camera, that uses AA batterys, except the times were 3 months vs. 6 months.

About fitting AA batterys into a remote your self, well maby that is a bit far fetched. But maby it would be a good idea to make the change to the next model, sence that would make the capasity grow from 800 mAh to 2300 mAh with rechargeadles. This would extend the time you can use the remote with one charge, wouldn't you say ?

[The Robman]

There are 2 other factors that remote makers have to think about when designing a remote. One is the weight, people don't like heavy remotes and the other is size, people prefer thinner remotes. So for 6v remotes, it's preferable for them to use 4 AAA batteries rather than 4 AA batteries, as they are smaller and lighter.