# Is my solar G-shock dead?



## DCOmegafan (Nov 2, 2010)

Gents,

I think I've killed my G-shock by leaving it in a drawer for too long. There's a little blip over the charge marking on the bottom right of the screen that still blinks, but I can't get the watch to revive after wearing it around and leaving it out. Would a strong dose of light fix it? Might I need to replace a battery?

Thanks.


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## Mike K (Dec 5, 2011)

DCOmegafan said:


> I think I've killed my G-shock by leaving it in a drawer for too long. There's a little blip over the charge marking on the bottom right of the screen that still blinks, but I can't get the watch to revive after wearing it around and leaving it out. Would a strong dose of light fix it? Might I need to replace a battery?


More information would be helpful, but unless it's a 10 year old watch from Casio's first line of solar-powered watches, I'm betting against it needing a battery change!

How long is "too long" in a drawer? Months? A year? Several years?

What model G-Shock is it? That would let us know more about the "little blip" that's blinking.

You say you "left it out" -- out of the drawer, or outside in the sunshine?

If the battery ran down enough, it might need a few hours of bright light (like sunshine) to revive it.


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## Crater (Sep 11, 2011)

It will take it a while on the sun to get on low charge. It won't happen just like that...

It's a long way to the top  I bet it's not dead, just really really empty.


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## Mike K (Dec 5, 2011)

Crater said:


> It's a long way to the top  I bet it's not dead, just really really empty.


Since we're not sure what model the OP has, here's the chart from a GW-6900:









From "almost dead" to "full" takes 26 hours of DIRECT SUNSHINE, or 123 hours of sunshine through a window, or 245 hours of daylight on a cloudy day through a window.

In mid-September in the northern hemisphere, that's "a little more than two days of sitting outside," "about a week and a half on the windowsill," and "about three weeks on the windowsill" respectively!

Luckily, after THAT, they're pretty easy to keep on "Full."


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## Crater (Sep 11, 2011)

Good chart :-!

I remember when I bought my first tough solar, G-5500. It came on medium, but I bet it was just barely medium. It took me forever to get to high, probably 6 days or even more on cloudy november weather :-d

I thought it will never reach high.

And like you said, once it's fully charged, it's easy to keep it on H.


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## DCOmegafan (Nov 2, 2010)

Thanks. I will update when i get home and can provide more specifics about the model.

It is about 6 yrs old. Solar/atomic.


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## Topher1556 (Aug 22, 2007)

The fact it's blinking and telling you to charge it, means it's almost guaranteed to not be truly "dead". It will take awhile even in full sunlight to get it back to low or medium charge, as the chart shown illustrated so well. I'd say leave it outside if possible in direct sun. _DO NOT_ place it in a car, leave it out in the open.


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## Ramble2 (Sep 10, 2013)

You can also remove the battery, and recharge it manually. Just grab 2 AAA batteries, some wire, and some tape. Tape them in series to each other, and connect the flat negative end of the AAA series to the negative pole of the the watch battery via a taped wire. Connect the positive end of the battery chain to the top of the rechargeable watch battery via the same method.

Wait about 6 hours, and put the coin cell back into the watch. With the kickstart recharge, you can 'recover' from the drained cell by letting the solar panels take over. They were not designed to recharge from zero, just provide a maintenance trickle charge.


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

Maybe it's time for a new battery.


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## stockae92 (Feb 10, 2006)

Give it some good sun exposure and see if it will come back to life

My GWM5610 arrived with no sign of life from the LCD, completely blank.

after some good outdoor time, now it sites on max and holding charge with no issue.


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## Mike K (Dec 5, 2011)

Ramble2 said:


> You can also remove the battery, and recharge it manually.


First I've EVER heard of recharging a solar battery "manually," and most rechargeable batteries (or devices with rechargeable batteries) come with chargers and specific instructions on how NOT to damage the battery by charging it in non-approved ways.



Ramble2 said:


> They were not designed to recharge from zero, just provide a maintenance trickle charge.


If they're *not* designed to recharge from zero (or at least Level 5, which is the lowest they can go and still function) why does every solar atomic manual show how long it will take to get from "minimum" to the other levels?!

Taking a solar/atomic watch apart to charge it just sort of defeats the whole purpose of buying a solar/atomic.


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## Raymond9010 (Aug 12, 2013)

I don't think you have much to worry about, i have a Casio PRG100 solar, had it sitting in a dark draw for at least 4 years, forgotten about it until i found it and took it out, it was completely dead, nothing blinking what so ever, had the same fear i might've killed it. i left it sitting inside of the window for a full 3 days. to my surprise, it received a full charge and holding it very well. everything works just like the day i bought it.


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## Ramble2 (Sep 10, 2013)

Mike K said:


> First I've EVER heard of recharging a solar battery "manually," and most rechargeable batteries (or devices with rechargeable batteries) come with chargers and specific instructions on how NOT to damage the battery by charging it in non-approved ways.
> 
> If they're *not* designed to recharge from zero (or at least Level 5, which is the lowest they can go and still function) why does every solar atomic manual show how long it will take to get from "minimum" to the other levels?!
> 
> Taking a solar/atomic watch apart to charge it just sort of defeats the whole purpose of buying a solar/atomic.


I'm guessing that their 'minimum' is just the minimum from where the watch will no longer function. There is still a residual charge, however, around 20-30% in the coin cell. Taking those below 20%, or any rechargable, for that matter, is not recommended. If the battery is truly dead, it may take a LONG time for a trickle charge to get it back up. I've recharged a few a few of the coin cells in 'broken' watches I've gotten secondhand, with the goal of resale.

It's always worked just fine after giving it that boost, and then letting the solar panels finish off trickle charging.

If you're going to be really careful about the charging, you need to get the datasheet for your battery model, yeah. But, on the other hand, if you were going to buy a new one, anyway, you may as well give it a try and see if you can save about $10. I dunno, to each their own.


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## DCOmegafan (Nov 2, 2010)

It lives! I returned home and found it in the window sill, alive and well. So it took time, as you all said.

Now I need to be better about letting it out of its drawer every now and then...


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

Reviving a completely dead solar battery is like gambling sometime, especially when the battery is aging.


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## Cabatisto (May 11, 2012)

It happened to me on one G and another Casio, a pro-trek. 
It was not the battery, simply the module gone. For me Solar is a not go.


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## james1787 (Aug 20, 2012)

On a full charge, how long will a solar G-Shock go without recharging? Mine is about a year old. I wear it a few times a week.


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## Ramble2 (Sep 10, 2013)

It differs per module. The old ML2020 in a Raysman will go about 18 months. The ML2016, used in only a few models, will get you 12 months. The CTL1616 is generally 6-9, depending on model.


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## james1787 (Aug 20, 2012)

Ramble2 said:


> It differs per module. The old ML2020 in a Raysman will go about 18 months. The ML2016, used in only a few models, will get you 12 months. The CTL1616 is generally 6-9, depending on model.


Thanks! My G-Shock doesn't get as much wrist time as my other watch but I do wear it a few times a week so that's good to know.


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## fresh eddie fresh (Aug 15, 2013)

My gwm500a arrived with a dead battery from Amazon. The same thing happened, I left it on the windowsill for a few hours and it slowly went from dead to limited features to medium. It took forever to get it high from there, but once it got there, it has remained high since. At first I limited using the light, but now it is on auto and I play with it all the time. 

Quite a few of mine arrived on medium, but they perk right up when they are in the sun for a little while.


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