Chord Mojo fails after 18 months - Battery, Warranty, Defects Liability

[awaltz]

 

I bought a Chord Mojo in a Hifi Store in Berlin, Germany in February 2016. About 18 months later the Mojo stopped working. I wasn’t able to turn in on anymore. I brought it to the store and they sent it to Chord´s representative in Germany. Two month (!) later, they want me to pay about 220 Euros (260 US$, 195 Pound Sterling) for a new battery, which is almost half the price of a new Mojo. 

 

Chord grants a 1 year warranty for the battery. But in Germany we have a 2-year-defects liability. I think Chord should fix the Mojo on account of the  2-year-defects liability. If the DAC not usable after 18 months, there must have been an issue when I bought it. But they argue Chord´s batteries never fail. Since my battery failed, I must have used it wrongly (which I did not do). I think it´s outrageous. Rude. I am  dealing with a major hifi producer, but it feels like a dodgy internet retailer operating from some back room. 

 

What is your opinion? 

[ElviaCaprice]

Seen this problem coming for a long time.  Same issue with the Hugo.  At least now the Hugo 2 Lipo batteries are not hard wired in, so they can be easily replaced.    I would raise a stink over on the Head-fi forum where Chord reads all related posts and comments.

[awaltz]

 

 

3 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Seen this problem coming for a long time.  Same issue with the Hugo.  At least now the Hugo 2 Lipo batteries are not hard wired in, so they can be easily replaced.    I would raise a stink over on the Head-fi forum where Chord reads all related posts and comments.

 

Thanks for your reply. 

Here is a comment from Chord´s John Franks, its chief designer commenting on the durability of Chords battery. 

https://www.head-fi.org/goto/post?id=12030202#post-12030202

 

Comments on battery life in general. 

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

[Norton]

Agreed, while Mojo is a relatively inexpensive product, I still think it is unreasonable to expect you to spend that amount to replace  batteries  after just 18 months.   A couple of years at least  seems more reasonable.  As I understand it, consumer law in the UK operates on the rough  principal that something should have a service life in proportion  to the initial outlay, I guess German law is similar?

 

Then again , I've always found Chord's service to be excellent when dealing with them direct..

[ElviaCaprice]

I agree, Chord was being disingenuous with their battery claims.  I pointed this out to them on more than one occasion.  Thus I have long since moved on to the 2Qute, powered by 12V DC external.  

[awaltz]

10 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

I agree, Chord was being disingenuous with their battery claims.  I pointed this out to them on more than one occasion.  Thus I have long since moved on to the 2Qute, powered by 12V DC external.  

 

What are you experiences? 

[ElviaCaprice]

2 hours ago, awaltz said:

 

What are you experiences? 

Besides failure of my Hugo batteries and protection features @2.5 years, I've handled many Lipo batteries and never would hobby folks suggest what Chord was telling their customers to do with their DAC charging.  Plus I think their shelf life suggestions were way over the top.  

Also Chord's intricate design to power and charge from the Lipo batteries is a big problem, if it gets blown out, which it can easily enough, then your going to need to send the unit back to Chord for repairs.  So now you have a two fold problem, is it the over riding power protection or the LIPO batteries at fault.

[awaltz]

 

6 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Besides failure of my Hugo batteries @2.5 years, I've handled many Lipo batteries and never would hobby folks suggest what Chord was telling their customers to do with their DAC charging.  Plus I think their shelf life suggestions were way over the top.

 

What did you pay for the Hugo batteries, if I may ask? 

 

Apple charges 89 Euros for a iphone battery replacement and they are notoriously scolded for the steep price. 220 Euros for a 500 Euro product are something else.  

 

What do they tell customers about charging their DACs?  

 

 

[davide256]

Hmm. I don't think you have a case for free replacement. But the charge seems ridiculously high. Is there something "special" about

this battery that makes it cost a lot? An iPhone is a bitch to replace the battery on but Apple only charges $95 to do that... I think a $260 charge

deserves a big stink about overcharging.

[awaltz]

Chords chief developer argued the batteries are easy to replace and they should last for 10 years 

mojo ideas said: ↑

No the batteries are expected to last far longer than three years. The batteries in our designs are not subject to damaging deep discharge cycles or anything more than very light current demand .... Batteries used for power tools are quite a different matter, but in our units expect a life of greater than ten years. Mojo has a plug on it so it's just an easy replacement for a shop technician Hugo batteries will need soldering in place though but this is also a low skilled job which would be require rarely if ever.
John Franks.

[hdo]

3 hours ago, awaltz said:

Chord grants a 1 year warranty for the battery.

Rechargeable batteries last for 400 ~ 500 times recharge. If you charged every day, 18 months seem reasonable period to replace. I avoid buying DACs with internal rechargeable battery.

[ElviaCaprice]

3 hours ago, awaltz said:

 

 

What did you pay for the Hugo batteries, if I may ask? 

 

Apple charges 89 Euros for a iphone battery replacement and they are notoriously scolded for the steep price. 220 Euros for a 500 Euro product are something else.  

 

What do they tell customers about charging their DACs?  

 

 

I didn't pay anything.  I bitched over on Head-fi and got a free new unit form Chord courtesy of John F.  

I then sold the unit and bought a new 2Qute for the same price I sold the new Hugo.  Good riddance.  Personally I think the Lipo batteries are a detriment to SQ.  If you only need a desktop, then go the 2Qute route.  I won't buy a Hugo 2.  I'll wait for the desktop version without batteries.

 

The reason they charge so much is probably because of the delicacy of the power protection design and it's ability to go faulty.  

 

Chord would tell everyone to keep it plugged in at all times.  Keeping the LIPO batteries fully charged for any length of time is not good for the life of the battery, LIPO battery 101.  Also their life cycle projections we're far too generous.

[cfisher]

Unfortunately, my Mojo battery failed right after my Poly arrived and two months outside the one year warranty. I think I paid $190 to replace it. I was pissed about that. The battery should last longer than that or it should be cheaper to replace.

[zettelsm]

On 12/22/2017 at 4:25 PM, cfisher said:

Unfortunately, my Mojo battery failed right after my Poly arrived and two months outside the one year warranty. I think I paid $190 to replace it. I was pissed about that. The battery should last longer than that or it should be cheaper to replace.

After pursuing my problems with my Mojo not turning on unless connected to an external power source and the battery apparently not charging -- both with the US distributor and Chord Electronics UK the answer I got was, "It's out of warranty". This despite pointing out the statements made by John Franks and Rob Watts about expected ten year battery service life. Statements that could reasonably be construed to constitute an implied warranty, since the statements were made by company officials in a public forum. At the least, those statements are now apparently worthless, despite the fact that people might rely on those statements when making purchasing decisions.

 

I'm done with Chord. Does anyone have information about the Mojo battery so I can buy one myself and install it?

 

TIA,

 

Steve Z

[One and a half]

Chord most likely approached a number of vendors with the specification for the batteries. A decision was made to purchase XYZ type based on the 10 years or whatever the time period was. It takes a while for these problems to surface, since the internal resistance of the battery increases with no obvious signs to the user until the battery won't take the charge any more.

 

What Chinese vendors cannot say is no, we can't, but say yes, yes, yes. Well the word no does exist, the Chord name is now dragged through the mud since it's the name on the product, not the XYZ battery that's causing the problem. Chord is not the only manufacturer with poor battery performance, Apple, Samsung, HP, come to grief, let alone leaky and copied Nichicon capacitors, melamine in milk, fake rice, the list goes on doesn't it.  So when is enough, enough? Yes, yes, sorry, sorry, heard it all before. I'm voting with my wallet from now on, I've had enough.

[Miska]

Challenge with Mojo is that it is draining it's battery all the time even when not in use. Whenever I pull it out for use, the battery has drained. This kind of constant drain will also wear out the battery faster...

[monteverdi]

7 hours ago, Miska said:

Challenge with Mojo is that it is draining it's battery all the time even when not in use. Whenever I pull it out for use, the battery has drained. This kind of constant drain will also wear out the battery faster...

I agree. I am using Mojo only when traveling but each time I pull it out of my drawer it is discharged even I left it fully charged. I think one should buy only products with user replaceable batteries, so one could pull out the battery when one does not use a device for weeks provided there is no memory which requires power.

[Frojo]

I have just had a battery failure with my chord Hugo....

Contacted Enix for replacements - told they were exclusive for Chord electronics and therefore they cannot supply them to me.

I asked for a similar size/ spec battery - told that the chord batteries have a 'bespoke chip' and therefore other batteries not suitable.

Contacted Chord - service/repair/battery replacement- £150 + carriage or  batteries (pair) £102 supplied via retailers.

RS electronics (uk based)  supply batteries of the correct size and voltage etc, at £23 each, but as i was unable to ascertain exactly what chords 'bespoke chip' controlled or affected I felt obliged to fit Chords replacements.

The whole experience, which has taken a couple of weeks to resolve, has left me rather upset with Chords customer support and not very impressed with their commitment to existing users...YMMV

 

[buonassi]

On 2/13/2018 at 3:49 AM, Miska said:

Challenge with Mojo is that it is draining it's battery all the time even when not in use. Whenever I pull it out for use, the battery has drained. This kind of constant drain will also wear out the battery faster...

That is the first I've read about this.  Very helpful.  I chose to steer clear of the mojo because I had heard of battery problems (life span), didn't know it trickled energy from the batteries constantly.  That sounds like a major engineering "miss".  Or perhaps it was intentional to keep the circuits warm (for SQ?).  Either way, thanks for the info.

[siriusg]

A month ago, my Hugo's batteries died and it could not be turned on at the time. I ordered these from Mercateo (http://www.mercateo.co.uk/p/2794E-615(2d)2472/ENIX_Energies_3_75V_Rechargeable_Lithium_Battery_Pack_2200mAh.html?redirectedFrom=rsmgl2811), and replaced them by myself. So far, My Hugo has works with no problem at all. Hope this helps Hugo users in the future.

 

Best regards,

Siriusg

[seeteeyou]

FYI - those Enix batteries are also available here

 

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lithium-rechargeable-battery-packs/6152472/

http://export.rsdelivers.com/product/enix-energies/rsmgl2811/enix-energies-375v-rechargeable-lithium-battery/6152472