[MarkParity]

IMHO, further to my post above I believe the Gryphon has a fundamental design floor with its battery and charging circuit.

Curiosity got the better of me, I do have a basic understanding of electronics, perhaps a little more than a basic understanding.

I took the battery out and tried to bench charge it, via its output terminals, that won't work either as I found out.

Further disassembly showed that the battery is made up of two cells, these in my case measured as follows, C1 - 4V and C2 - 1.3V. It would seem the charge circuit in its current form has no way to correct for this. The overall pack voltage measured 2.3V BTW.

Bench charging the low cell up to 3.8V and reinstalling the pack has allowed my Gryphon to charge again over USB.

@iFi audio and @Sebastien Chiu you really should consider withdrawing this product and reworking the H/W design, I can't see how this issue won't eventually affect all Gryphon's sold to date, perhaps as in my case sooner rather than later.

 

[gLer]

IMHO, further to my post above I believe the Gryphon has a fundamental design floor with its battery and charging circuit.

Curiosity got the better of me, I do have a basic understanding of electronics, perhaps a little more than a basic understanding.

I took the battery out and tried to bench charge it, via its output terminals, that won't work either as I found out.

Further disassembly showed that the battery is made up of two cells, these in my case measured as follows, C1 - 4V and C2 - 1.3V. It would seem the charge circuit in its current form has no way to correct for this. The overall pack voltage measured 2.3V BTW.

Bench charging the low cell up to 3.8V and reinstalling the pack has allowed my Gryphon to charge again over USB.

@iFi audio and @Sebastien Chiu you really should consider withdrawing this product and reworking the H/W design, I can't see how this issue won't eventually affect all Gryphon's sold to date, perhaps as in my case sooner rather than later.

I wonder if this couldn't be an indicator of the latest FW breaking the safe charging cycle as suggested above? If that's the case, a FW fix should remedy the issue?

 

[Audiophile PT]

IMHO, further to my post above I believe the Gryphon has a fundamental design floor with its battery and charging circuit.

Curiosity got the better of me, I do have a basic understanding of electronics, perhaps a little more than a basic understanding.

I took the battery out and tried to bench charge it, via its output terminals, that won't work either as I found out.

Further disassembly showed that the battery is made up of two cells, these in my case measured as follows, C1 - 4V and C2 - 1.3V. It would seem the charge circuit in its current form has no way to correct for this. The overall pack voltage measured 2.3V BTW.

Bench charging the low cell up to 3.8V and reinstalling the pack has allowed my Gryphon to charge again over USB.

@iFi audio and @Sebastien Chiu you really should consider withdrawing this product and reworking the H/W design, I can't see how this issue won't eventually affect all Gryphon's sold to date, perhaps as in my case sooner rather than later.

As I said on a previous post I've sold my Gryphon (because of all the issues already been discussed here).
Regarding battery and after only 3 days of inactivity I discovered that it was empty from full charge (this happened to me twice). I managed to charge it again to full charge (although this is not common discharge with other similar products...)

 

[MarkParity]

I wonder if this couldn't be an indicator of the latest FW breaking the safe charging cycle as suggested above? If that's the case, a FW fix should remedy the issue?

I don't think this is F/W related, there is no "balance tap" on the battery as is common with other batteries with more than one cell. Once the cells are out of balance to the degree mine were then there is no way to recover the low voltage cell. However...

As I said on a previous post I've sold my Gryphon (because of all the issues already been discussed here).
Regarding battery and after only 3 days of inactivity I discovered that it was empty from full charge (this happened to me twice). I managed to charge it again to full charge (although this is not common discharge with other similar products...)

...Perhaps a F/W fix can address the standby power drain issue so that a unit left than more than three days doesn't get into the state mine got.

I did see your post @Audiophile PT but you were able to recover yours, my unit left in standby for perhaps ten days was unrecoverable, I left it charging overnight, it was only drawing 30mA or so the whole time and didn't recover. I had to take it apart or else it was a useless paperweight.

I can't sell mine or return it now as I've taken it apart and voided the warranty for "science purposes".

I think I'm going to need quick-release fasteners on my unit though.

I've quite frankly never owned a £600 product as bad functionally as the Gryphon. Shame.

Still there is Mojo 2 to look forward too.

 

[gLer]

I don't think this is F/W related, there is no "balance tap" on the battery as is common with other batteries with more than one cell. Once the cells are out of balance to the degree mine were then there is no way to recover the low voltage cell. However...



...Perhaps a F/W fix can address the standby power drain issue so that a unit left than more than three days doesn't get into the state mine got.

I did see your post @Audiophile PT but you were able to recover yours, my unit left in standby for perhaps ten days was unrecoverable, I left it charging overnight, it was only drawing 30mA or so the whole time and didn't recover. I had to take it apart or else it was a useless paperweight.

I can't sell mine or return it now as I've taken it apart and voided the warranty for "science purposes".

I think I'm going to need quick-release fasteners on my unit though.

I've quite frankly never owned a £600 product as bad functionally as the Gryphon. Shame.

Still there is Mojo 2 to look forward too.

Very sad to hear, hopefully it's not a widespread issue, because performance-wise I can't fault it

 

[MarkParity]

Very sad to hear, hopefully it's not a widespread issue, because performance-wise I can't fault it

Yes I 100% agree, Gryphon is a very nice sounding unit that to me seems to have been rushed to market before it was properly tested.

I can't see how my battery issue will be unique, I've done nothing different with Gryphon than any other battery powered device. If anyone wants to test this, put a unit away for a couple of weeks, start with a low charge state and don't charge it during this time, I'm confident it will behave the same when recovery is attempted.

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Still there is Mojo 2 to look forward too.

18 days to go.

 

[Ichos]

@MarkParity
Since you have disassembled the device, can you identify the size of the battery?
Thank you.

 

[MarkParity]

@MarkParity
Since you have disassembled the device, can you identify the size of the battery?
Thank you.

Do you mean capacity? From the picture I posted one of the cells is 1250mah 3.8V 4.74Wh the other one, I'm not sure because I didn't completely remove the wrapping. Its bigger than the 1250mah cell though so perhaps its 1500mah but that is just a guess.

I did observe that given two cells of the correct size and voltage it would be possible to unsolder the little circuit board connecting the cells together and rework the battery if Ifi was unable or unwilling to provide a replacement battery service.

 

[Ichos]

Do you mean capacity? From the picture I posted one of the cells is 1250mah 3.8V 4.74Wh the other one, I'm not sure because I didn't completely remove the wrapping. Its bigger than the 1250mah cell though so perhaps its 1500mah but that is just a guess.

I did observe that given two cells of the correct size and voltage it would be possible to unsolder the little circuit board connecting the cells together and rework the battery if Ifi was unable or unwilling to provide a replacement battery service.

Yes I meant capacity, thank you very much for answering.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

IMHO, further to my post above I believe the Gryphon has a fundamental design floor with its battery and charging circuit.

Curiosity got the better of me, I do have a basic understanding of electronics, perhaps a little more than a basic understanding.

I took the battery out and tried to bench charge it, via its output terminals, that won't work either as I found out.

Further disassembly showed that the battery is made up of two cells, these in my case measured as follows, C1 - 4V and C2 - 1.3V. It would seem the charge circuit in its current form has no way to correct for this. The overall pack voltage measured 2.3V BTW.

Bench charging the low cell up to 3.8V and reinstalling the pack has allowed my Gryphon to charge again over USB.

@iFi audio and @Sebastien Chiu you really should consider withdrawing this product and reworking the H/W design, I can't see how this issue won't eventually affect all Gryphon's sold to date, perhaps as in my case sooner rather than later.

Just wanted to note we saw this, and I'm looking further into it on our end.

if Ifi was unable or unwilling to provide a replacement battery service.

We are *always* happy to provide battery service whether someone's unit is in warranty or not. There will never be a case of us not being happy to work with folks on that.

 

[MarkParity]

@Sebastien Chiu Thank you for your reply and reassurance that you are investigating my battery issue. I look forward to reading the results of your investigations.

 

[MarkParity]

Just a little heads-up for anyone who is experiencing the wobbly, rattly button issue, if you want you can tighten this screw a 1/4 turn but don't overtighten it:

I found after I'd reassembled mine today I hadn't tightened it enough and my buttons were rattling too, another 1/4 turn and it was perfect again.

 

[PROblemdetected]

Just wanted to note we saw this, and I'm looking further into it on our end.



We are *always* happy to provide battery service whether someone's unit is in warranty or not. There will never be a case of us not being happy to work with folks on that.

Did u notice after firmware update this?
- mute button is not working anymore
- the same to the safe charge mode

 

[McCol]

Safecharge still working on my unit after update