Those exposed contacts? Not a good idea

[George H Martin]

Its only a thought but could this issue have something to with people who hairy wrists? I've seen plenty of pics of peoples wrists who have this problem and in every single one of them, the wearer has hairy wrists. I don't have hairy wrists and don't suffer from this issue.
Just a thought......

 

[zavandiver]

Its only a thought but could this issue have something to with people who hairy wrists? I've seen plenty of pics of peoples wrists who have this problem and in every single one of them, the wearer has hairy wrists. I don't have hairy wrists and don't suffer from this issue.
Just a thought......

I would think that the hair would insulate the contacts from the skin. My wrists are hairy, but I haven't noticed the issue yet.

 

[editorkid]

I think it had more to do with sweat having enough ions to serve as the electrolyte needed to conduct the charge. It took quite a while for my watch to update, but now that it has, I'm glad to say that my wrist is healing and the watch charges every time I put it into the cradle. I haven't gone hiking since then, but I plan to do a little this weekend, so we'll see what happens afterward.

 

[Jlav78]

Ow. Rash on my wrist now even after fix. Contacted support again, would not be surprised if I end up returning my watch and buying a 360 or G Watch R instead (I'm sure they'll be more willing to refund if I state that I'm purchasing the G Watch R lol)

 

[Aglet]

I was assuming the 'R' stood for 'round'. Maybe it means rash-free? We can only hope.

 

[Jlav78]

Replacement is then the other title XD

This is considering that they actually give me a refund and that the g watch r comes out in the uk at a reasonable price AND the g watch r doesn't have the stupid charging placement. If it isn't released in a reasonable time but the 360 is, then I might get it despite it not being a perfect circle

UPDATE: Google Play is issuing a refund. G Watch R seems too expensive and the Moto 360 seems a little fancier now that proper photos were released...now shut up and take my money moto

UPDATE 2: No further response from Google..sent another email

 

[Tyrbiter]

I received the KMV78Y update this morning, and finally got round to checking the contact voltages after applying it.

The centre contact is now at 0V as it should be, the one next to the ground contact (reset switch end) is showing 1.755V and I can feel a tingle with my tongue across those contacts. That doesn't seem right to me. Originally both these contacts measured 1.7-1.8V, so the centre one is definitely powered off now.

I will be interested to hear what you get from them about a replacement, the 2 contacts on mine, especially the centre one, are pitted and missing not just the gold plating but also noticeable amounts of the base metal.

I have been provided with a replacement by the Google Play store, and have been using it for about a 10 days, unfortunately the replacement is behaving the same way as the original. I applied the KMV78Y firmware update as soon as I received the new watch, I did not wear it at all without the data pin voltage 'fix'.

The contact next to the ground (nearest the reset button) is still showing 1.755V on a high impedance voltmeter and I can see today that the gold on this contact is partially gone and the metal below is starting to pit and corrode away. This is really very disappointing.

Some more investigation reveals that the contact next to the ground is the spare contact on a micro USB connector, sometimes known as 'ID' and used for various purposes. In this case, a similar Qualcomm design I found on the web has the signal connected to this line called FORCE_USB_BOOT, so it's used to put the SoC chip inside into a mode where it boots differently. I suspect that means that there is no way to turn off this voltage without a hardware change inside the watch.

Checking the charging dock reveals that it is a simple straight through design, the matching pogo pin is not connected to either ground or apparently anything else. Shorting the ground contact on the watch to this adjacent contact via an ammeter reveals a current of 8.8uA flowing, so shorting the pins together would reduce battery life by a bit less than 0.1%. A better solution is to carefully cover the ID contact with something non conductive, glue or paint, and prevent it from touching the skin.

This means there is a simple fix if people are prepared to make this small modification; in my case the contact is being corroded away so it is worth doing it.

 

[MC_A_DOT]

I have been provided with a replacement by the Google Play store, and have been using it for about a 10 days, unfortunately the replacement is behaving the same way as the original. I applied the KMV78Y firmware update as soon as I received the new watch, I did not wear it at all without the data pin voltage 'fix'.

The contact next to the ground (nearest the reset button) is still showing 1.755V on a high impedance voltmeter and I can see today that the gold on this contact is partially gone and the metal below is starting to pit and corrode away. This is really very disappointing.

Looks like I will have to get back on the phone and try to resolve this, unless Google can really turn off this voltage with a new firmware update then the whole concept of pogo pins and contacts on the watch is flawed.

Hmm weird..I've had mine for a while now and I still don't see this problem...

Good luck.