# Sno-Way wireless remote battery - not impressed



## rswojo

Every time I use my plow the battery is dead in the wireless remote so I have to plug it in and it becomes a wired remote. The manual says charge it every 3 months, hell the thing won't hold a charge for 3 days. I went to my dealer and they replaced the battery. Different battery, same ****.

From here it looks like a design problem. When the remote is disconnected from the charger the display is still active. That little LCD display probably doesn't draw much but it is apparently enough to drain the battery in several days.

I had to shell out another $20 for a house charger. I'm going to call Sno-Way and ***** about this and see what they say.


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## Whiffyspark

Stupid question but is the remote able to be turned off?


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## rswojo

Yes the remote is turned off but the LCD display still displays,"PLOW OFF" and the time.


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## lawn king

I agree, the battery life does not impress me!


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## rswojo

Now I am even less impressed with this remote. I keep it on the wall AC charger 24/7. A few days ago when I used the plow the remote said, "Charge Failed". Today I go to use my plow and the remote is dead. AC charger and DC charger don't work. It is a good thing we only had a light snowfall and I can get out of my driveway and to my dealer. It is a bad thing that the remote and battery are barely out of warranty.

Am I the only one having all these problems with this damn remote? Maybe when the second battery wouldn't stay charged I should have made them replace the remote to see if that made a difference.


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## Rick547

I am so glad I went with the wired remote.


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## stone74

No your not the only one, bought my plow last year and have gotten a new battery same thing, got a new controller same thing. I think it is just some sort of flaw with the controllers...


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## rswojo

I took the cover off the battery compartment. I left the battery plugged in, connected the AC charger and the remote came to life. It looks like the China men Sno-Way hired to make this battery don't know how to solder. If it acts up again I will employ the soldering iron to fix their cold solder joint.

The whole thing looks like a *REALLY* Mickey Mouse setup. Sno-Way could have done better by spending a few less nickels and installing some off the shelf rechargeable (Eneloop) batteries in a compartment to hold them (ya know, kinda like a TV remote?). The current battery can shift around a little and that is not good for solder joints. If you are going to make a remote it might help to look at proven techniques.....TV remotes.....to see what works.

Letting a proprietary battery with soldered connections float around in a case undergoing extreme temperature changes is incredibly stupid. Also using a proprietary battery is the greatest dis-service possible to inflict on your customers. I am sure that battery pack is way more expensive than some off the shelf batteries.

Bad Sno-Way.


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## snow4me

Snoway Pro Control batteries suck!

The batteries and their first version Pro Control are both are the definition planned obsolescence. 

Their crappy remote intentionally designed with a "constant on" LED display wears out their battery.

The Stealers then charge you $50-$60 for the same battery pack you can buy off Ebay for $4-$8 if you are good at pinning wires into the proprietary plastic male plug end.

I am not good at that crap so I have had to fork over an extra $250 for batteries to Snoway over the last 3 winters. It's really starting to piss me off.


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## Bill PLOW GUY

rswojo said:


> Every time I use my plow the battery is dead in the wireless remote so I have to plug it in and it becomes a wired remote. The manual says charge it every 3 months, hell the thing won't hold a charge for 3 days. I went to my dealer and they replaced the battery. Different battery, same ****.
> 
> From here it looks like a design problem. When the remote is disconnected from the charger the display is still active. That little LCD display probably doesn't draw much but it is apparently enough to drain the battery in several days.
> 
> I had to shell out another $20 for a house charger. I'm going to call Sno-Way and ***** about this and see what they say.


------------- You need to hold the ON/OFF switch down for 10 seconds while it is in the ON position to turn the remote completely OFF including the display screen.


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## Bill PLOW GUY

Bill PLOW GUY said:


> ------------- You need to hold the ON/OFF switch down for 10 seconds while it is in the ON position to turn the remote completely OFF including the display screen.


--- I totally AGREE... those batteries are CRAP !!!!!


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