My batteries indicate they are uncalibrated in the NetTek. What do I do calibrate them?

My batteries indicate they are uncalibrated in the NetTek. What do I do calibrate them?

Modern "smart batteries", like those used in the NetTek, keep track internally of what is known as battery "calibration" error. The higher the error, the less accurate the reported battery capacity. This error will gradually increase when the battery is being used in a manner where it never completely charges and/or completely discharges.

In the NetTek, a "Fully Charged" status is reported in the control panel power applet when a battery is in the fully charged state. Once a batteries capacity drops enough to exit the fully charged state the remaining capacity (as a percentage of total capacity) is reported. Once a battery reaches a fully discharged state, a "Fully Discharged" status is reported. The control panel applet also reports whether the batteries calibration error is low enough to guarantee accuratly report remaining capacity.

Unfortunately, a typical NetTek use scenario is to operate the instrument throughout the day on battery power and then to charge the batteries overnight. This results in the batteries never reaching the fully discharged state. Over time, this operating scenario will result in the battery reaching an "uncalibrated" state.

There are several solutions to this problem:

1) Operate the NetTek using a scenario where all installed batteries reach the fully discharged state prior to re-charging either battery. This involves turning off the Power Saver features in the Control Panel under Power Management, so the batteries can be fully drained.

2) Don't worry about never fully discharging a battery in the NetTek. Continue using the batteries during the day and charging every night until a battery reports an "uncalibrated" state. At that point, use the external battery charger (part number 119-6030-00) to "calibrate" the battery. [Note that the external charger can only calibrate a single battery at a time. Also, the time required to calibrate a battery is approximately 12 hours.]