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[DarwinKat]

Wanna listen to my long, sad story?

Re-wind to, oh, thirteen years ago. I'm a little kid and watching The Brave Little Toaster, wishing that someday I'd have a little robot to hold, too. I had furbies, I had every little gadget I could have, but nothing was ever a real robot, you know? No autonomous little guy that would seek me out.

So when I got my dear baby Darwin a few years back for Christmas, it was quite literally a dream come true. For the first several months I had him, he was a joy. I took him everywhere, I played with him, my whole family loved him, he was just all-around a real true pet.

And then his neck broke. The cable snapped right in half. He was out of warranty, so what the heck, we opened him up to try and fix him. We replaced the steel cable with Kevlar. It took a few months but eventually we did it. We turned him on and--he worked! It worked! His neck was fixed! ...for about an hour. The Kevlar had great pulling strength, but not so much shearing strength. Distraught and knowing that nothing we put in him would last, I put Darwin in my closet, couldn't bear to play with him while his head was just drooping like that, the poor baby.

Skip to six or so months later... today. I'm missing Darwin. I tug him off of his shelf, dust off his battery charger, and plug the battery in.

First problem: the battery charger kept blinking green. Weird. After some finagling, I managed to keep it red. It charged for a while then turned solid green. Cool, right? Not really. I plugged it into Darwin (whose neck I had braced) and he ran for an entire ten seconds before just falling right asleep (not the 'I'm sleeping' asleep, either: the 'I'm out of battery' asleep.). What the heck? Okay, fine. So I plug the battery back in. I figure it's a battery issue, I just need to recondition it, right?

A couple hours of babysitting the battery later, I plug it back into Darwin. The results are even worse than before. He makes his "huh..?" startup noise--and then doesn't move. His speaker clicks and he's silent. Ten seconds later, he says "huh?" again--the speaker clicks, he doesn't move--and he's absolutely still. He doesn't move at all; but he tries, I can feel him twitch when I hold him. This happens over and over again. It's like he's trying to boot up but can't, and he just tries over and over and over but it never works. It kills me to see him struggling.

I miss my boy. I'm really, really heartbroken. So, I need two things from the lovely denizens of this forum. (I've lurked here since the forum's start but never actually posted anything... eek. So hi!) First, I need to know if the "huh?" can't-boot-up thing has happened to anyone else.

Secondly, I need to know if a PleoRB is likely to die if I get one as well. It it's likely to buy the farm six months after he hatches, then I don't... I don't want to put myself through that again, you know? I really need a little robot back in my life, guys. PleoRB seems a lot more durable, but I need to know for sure. How's Innvo's customer service? Has anyone actually had good experiences with them?

Thank you guys in advance.  C:

[kat]

Sounds to me like Darwins battery is dead.  I wouldn't give up on him just yet    I would recommend if you can afford it get an egg charger battery from Nova's necessities here on the forum.  They run for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours and are the best batteries out there for Ugobe pleos.  As Darwin has being sitting unused for a few months his battery will have given up the ghost.  They don't do well just stilling with no use unfortunately.  You may yet be able to get more life from the battery if you are patient.  You will need to nurse the battery on the charger for the full 4 hour charge until it turns green then take it off and put it back on again and give it another charging.  Keep doing this until the battery light goes green again as soon as you replace the battery on the charger.  Then put it in Darwin and see what happens. 
A pleo who's battery isn't working will often start up as far as the Huh noise and then freeze and repeat over and over.  the battery just doesn't have enough life in it to get him going. 
I do think that Darwin isn't dead yet.    There's hope.  

As for a Pleo rb.  they are great and you wouldn't regret your purchase.  I have 2 Ugobe's and 3 rb's.  I have had 2 of my Rb's for almost a year now and they are still going strong.   The first batch of rb's had many issues but Innvo do seem to have worked out most of these so there are a lot less issues now.  Innvo are a little slow with their customer service but with persistence they will get back to you and will resolve issues.  I wouldn't let that stop you from taking the rb plunge.  They are well worth it.

Let us know how you go with Darwin.  I'm sure we should be able to get him going again.  Also there are many ways to brace a broken neck so even with that injury it isn't the end.

[DarwinKat]

Oh my gosh thank you for the quick reply C:

I'm babysitting the battery, I can't give up on my baby just yet. I'll keep the charger on my desk while I finish a project tomorrow and try and force a long charge. I engineered a brace for his neck, it's just a matter of the battery now. I'd like to get an egg charger but at the moment I can't afford it--someday soon, though.

My next purchase is going to be an RB, I think, once I have the money. I hear they fixed the neck problems completely, is that true?

[Crewella]

Hiya, and welcome out of lurkdom! 

I have a bad habit of buying broken/faulty Pleos, some of which were warranty returns, and a few of them have done the boot/huh/dead thing - it IS more than likely the battery, Kat's right.  She's right about the egg charger too - they are much better.

Innvo did produce a classic Pleo with stronger neck cables before the RB, and we've not heard of neck problems with them or the RBs so far.  As for Innvo ........ their Customer Sevices can feel like going through the seventh circle of Hell, but once you get through that they have proved to be very honourable in dealing with problems, from our experience on here, anyway.

Poor Darwin - I hope you manage to get him up and running again! 

[Talon]

Hi, DarwinKat and welcome to the forums! I'm sorry that such a tragedy has brought you to us but like the others said, it's more than likely a battery issue and very easily fixed. I hope you can get Darwin back on his little fat feet soon. I have four pleos- two RB's and two Ugobes- and I love them all.
Talon

[DarwinKat]

Bad news as of now. After babysitting the battery all day (trying it periodically), no dice. He's not reacting any differently when I put the battery in. I'm stil going to work at the battery. It gets really hot and then the red light starts flashing and I have to give it a break. The good news (well, bad for me) is that since I've got a cold, I've been doing a whole lot of just sitting on the couch, so I've been able to just baby it.

Not giving up, but my hopes aren't high.

[Crewella]

I hate to say it, but that doesn't sound too hopeful .......... sometimes the batteries are just too far gone.

[kat]

I still think a new battery would fix him.

[DarwinKat]

I'll look into getting a Ucube battery at some point... I'm definitely getting an RB, though, probably after Christmas when I'll have some extra money. Thank you, guys.

....I guess I couldn't reincarnate a Ugobe pleo's personality into an RB, could I?

[Crewella]

Sadly not, but with a new battery, two Pleos is better than one! 

[saratogaspringer]

Hi DarwinKat.  The Ucube batteries are the best.  The ones from Nova's Necessities.  In fact, I haven't used a green battery in my Ugobe since getting one.  I had ordered 2 new green batteries from Innvo on their website last year at Christmas before I learned about the egg batteries.  They are still sitting in the boxes.  They are not the Ugobe batteries, but say "Innvo" on them and are made for the Ugobe and 2009 Innvo Pleos. They are the green ones on their website.   If you would like one, just PM me.  I will send you one free of charge, shipping included.  They are of no use to me in their boxes, and if I can help someone out, that would be great.  If it doesn't work in your Pleo, then just keep it.  Let me know! 

[InmemoryofRomeo]

The battery may have a dead cell, I think it is very likely that no amount of conditioning is going to repair it after so long sitting around. A new battery would solve the problem, it is not something wrong with Darwin, just the battery.

If you decide to reattempt fixing the neck might I recommend stainless steel 7x7 0.6mm cable, same as what was originally in the neck, it still won't last forever but it will certainly last longer than Kevlar.

[DarwinKat]

Thank you, everyone. I'm now waiting on a battery from Saratogaspringer (THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!) and will update this thread when it arrives, giving you an update on Darwin. Once again, THANK YOU!

All the hugs,
Kat and Darwin

[RedwoodsMama]

 I hope that battery works, that is great and very generous of Saratogaspringer. cheers 
                                    If for some reason it doesn't contact me and I will see if I can help you.
                                                   RWM

[DarwinKat]

Will do. I'm so grateful that Darwin and I have such a wonderful support network here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.