Do Chip Readers have planned obsolese\cence? We got 2 new ones in 1/2016, both died 10/2017.

[Konaiceccs]

One chip reader stopped altogether.  Only get one red light when pushing the button.  Won't even take a charge.  A few days after that happened, the other one stopped pairing with iPhone.  It took a charge, but when I push and hold the button to pair it, nothing happens.  Phone doesn't see either chip reader.  

[RHatch]

Hi @Konaiceccs,

Sounds like one may have one with a bad battery.  I would think that it would still work if it is plugged in.  Here are the pairing instructions. You don't hold the power button on the reader to pair it.  Just turn it on.  If it was connected to a device make sure you select forget this device on your blue tooth settings so that it is not trying to connect to another.  Also, you can hard reset the reader by holding the power button for about 20-30 seconds.

[Konaiceccs]

In our work environment, the readers can get wet.  Not soaking wet, but there is a lot of ice being shaved and it tends to get wet.  I'm sure the battery or internal electronics may have been damaged as a result.  I was just surprised how both readers went bad.  The second reader wasn't used anywhere near as much as the first, but died in the same manner - a day or so of being slow to pair as well as slow to process card transactions, and then after a day or two of that, stops working all together.  

We will just swipe the mag strip for now.  But when we buy new chip readers, thinking of using velcro to attach it some place where it will be usable, but protected as much as possible from getting wet.

We are not heavy users of credit cards, but was wondering if others noticed that batteries tend to stop being able to take or hold a charge to see if their life is normally under 2 years.  

[Konaiceccs]

OK, this is weird.  After typing my previous reply, I thought I'd give it another try on the first reader - the one that wouldn't do anything but give one red light.  I was going to hold the button for 30 seconds to see if it would do the hard reset.   After about 3 seconds it gave me the amber lights.  I quickly opened the app on my phone and went to pairing mode - and it worked!  I then plugged the reader in, and it appears to be charging.  

I don't have the other reader here, but will see if I can get that to come back to life as soon as I can.

[RHatch]

We run ours in a car wash.  Water is one thing but mostire and humidity are just as bad on electronics.  We have ours in a booth seperate from the wash so we don't have a problem with that.

Sounds like you might be back in business..   

[Konaiceccs]

Just to follow up - the second chip reader also came back to life on its own.  I can only surmise that it was caused by water or moisture and just took this long to completely dry out.,  I've decided to use velcro on the back of the reader to attach it on the window alongside our serving window in our food truck.  Keeps it out of the way of getting splashed, but easy to detach when it needs to be charged.  Plan on getting one of those iPhone mounting devices to put it next to the chip reader.  It will make it so much easier to handle credit transactions and still protect both from getting wet.  

[EJ_]

Glad to hear everything is working for you now @Konaiceccs

While those readers can have issues, they're pretty durable. 

I've seen them survive days in the dessert covered in dust and spilled drinks. 

Always try the hard reset, as that's usually what resolves most issues. 

Let us know if you run into any more trouble and great job troubleshooting 👍🏼