Random Musings Archives

Are you suffering from your either or both of your Powerbeats pro not having charge you pull it out of its case? I think I have a workaround just for you.

Problem:

I have been having this issue of the right Powerbeats pro not having enough charge just when I go out for a ride or a run. It has been annoying me like crazy, especially given the price I paid for these and I chose to buy them over the AirPods Pro just to make sure they are really good for workouts and I didn’t need the noise cancellation on my runs/rides due to safety reasons. I have been having these issues inconsistently since October.

Only my left Powerbeats pro would be charged 100% consistently while the right would have drained completely or was at a useless charge percentage most times I would like to use them. This was so inconsistent that I would just bail and go out with the left one or with both with weird charge states etc. There was no predictable behaviour on how /when the right one would be charged completely etc.

It got so frustrating that I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I first thought it was a firmware problem (some forum threads suggested it was) and then there were a few firmware updates that seemed like they fixed it, but apparently the issue came back again in Jan or Feb.

More forum research got me thinking it was some hardware issue as well and yes there were recommendations to clean the contact points on the case and the pros with a baby wipe or alcohol. I did that but that didn’t fix the issue completely.

Solution:

Here is what worked for me, So after making sure the contacts were cleaned, now I make sure to place them consistently by looking out for the lights on the case. Regardless of the order, I place them in the case after my run/ride, I watch for the lights on the case. I make sure the case blinks (doesn’t matter red/white) right after I place the pods. So one blink for each pod for a total of two blinks. I close the case with as little movement as possible.

If for some reason the light doesn’t blink when I place my right Powerbeats pro, I remove it and place it again. I keep repeating this until it blinks once. The light blinking is an acknowledgement from the case that the pods are in place and charging.

I have been doing this for almost a month now and so far, no issues whatsoever. Both the Powerbeats pro have been consistently charged or at 100% every single time. Agreed that it is outright annoying to do this every time you place the pods back and its Apple’s fault for making them this way, but hey I am stuck with them because I bought them in the US and I can’t ship them back for replacement or exchange etc.

Sometimes I randomly check the battery widget on the iPhone or the iPad with the case nearby to see if both the pods are in fact charging. But this is just an unnecessary habit now, one that I picked up from reading the forums in Jan.

If you have been having similar issues, do try this lights workaround. Hopefully, they will help!

This is a recent #lockdownlearning that started in the early days of the lockdown with this video.

If I am not wrong I watched this video on the 1st of April in the morning and immediately started to write in a journal that I had lying around nearby.

The idea of morning pages intrigued me and here I am about 45 days later with over 40 days of writing a page every day. I have strived to write something or the other almost every day and almost all of it in the morning, but on a few occasions I have written it down in the evening to make this a habit. I have stuck with keeping the streak of missing the morning pages to 1, which I’m really happy about.

Just to give a brief about what this habit is (if you haven’t already heard/watched videos, etc), every day in the morning after morning duties and you write your mind into 3 pages (I have mostly done at least 1 page per day). Consider this a morning brain dump into the paper just like how we visit the washroom in the morning.

Some of the benefits that I have personally seen are

A sense of accomplishment, (big boost of confidence especially first thing in the morning)
A sense of clarity and focus, just like how one would feel after a good meditation session.
Improvements in managing my thoughts.
Improvements in writing.

While the lockdown was stressful for everyone, doing the morning pages was a real help to stay a little less stressed and anxious about. After a few weeks, it became something I longed for. It felt really good that I was looking forward to doing some writing the following day in my morning pages. While most of what I have written in my journal is crap, I do feel that my writing has improved and to my surprise, a very few of the journal pages can be turned into blog posts 🙂

While I will recommend putting pen to paper in the morning, you can do a digital morning page as well. Consider something like 750words.com. A private safe place to do your morning pages with a bunch of analytics and motivational badges to keep you engaged. Every time you finish 3 pages/750words You get elaborate metrics like this which is fun to review and learn.

I am not writing on 750 words at the moment as I am rediscovering writing on paper and enjoying the distraction-free analogue experience, but if I were to switch/experiment into digital morning pages, I would really use 750words.com.

To sum it up, I have enjoyed my morning pages so much that I am here writing a post about it. I can’t recommend it enough. If you don’t currently do this, you should give it a try.

Are there any such habits that you love that I should be trying out? Let me know in the comments.