Magic Band Battery

[Meglen]

Ok so this might be a stupid question... But the magic bands I have purchased over the years don't have a "pull" tab to start the battery. So how do we know when the ones you buy with die? They just hang there for who knows how long not used but the batteries are active.

Do they not "turn on" till first tap?

I like to buy a new band at the end of a trip and use it next trip or pick up limited editions. Anyone have insight? I know people say they work for 2-4 years for photos and forever at tap points. But this question is about the long range use.


Tldr: how do we know how long magic bands have been battery active while at the store thus dieing sooner than anticipated.

 

[HopperFan]

MB have two RFID chips. One passive and one active.

The passive one needs no battery and it is what you use to scan at the entrance to parks, scan to open hotel room door, scan to use LL, scan to charge back to room and scan when there was DDP. Mickey to Mickey. All that should work although if I had a Gen 1 I probably wouldn't use it.

The active one needs a battery and that is what picks you up without touching such as ride photos, your name on signs in Small World or RnR. It was to eventually be used for lots of interactive elements but Disney has kinds dropped the ball on that part. It is also the type of chip that can find your approx location, although Disney hasn't used that to it's full capability. It is estimated that battery lasts approx 3 years but am sure it depends on usage, storage etc.

If you want ride photos I would make sure someone is wearing one that is not too old. No way to check them and you won't know it's not working until no photos show up.

 

[Meglen]

MB have two RFID chips. One passive and one active.

The passive one needs no battery and it is what you use to scan at the entrance to parks, scan to open hotel room door, scan to use LL, scan to charge back to room and scan when there was DDP. Mickey to Mickey. All that should work although if I had a Gen 1 I probably wouldn't use it.

The active one needs a battery and that is what picks you up without touching such as ride photos, your name on signs in Small World or RnR. It was to eventually be used for lots of interactive elements but Disney has kinds dropped the ball on that part. It is also the type of chip that can find your approx location, although Disney hasn't used that to it's full capability. It is estimated that battery lasts approx 3 years but am sure it depends on usage, storage etc.

If you want ride photos I would make sure someone is wearing one that is not too old. No way to check them and you won't know it's not working until no photos show up.

Right I know this stuff but if they last 3 years and they sat on a shelf for 2 without a pull tab than they can potentially only have a year left.

 

[bcla]

Here's a teardown. It's clearly not designed for any kind of battery replacement. It's just all glued/sealed in, including the battery (a generic CR1620).

 

[bcla]

Right I know this stuff but if they last 3 years and they sat on a shelf for 2 without a pull tab than they can potentially only have a year left.

It uses a CR1620 battery. Not sure about the quality, but many are rated for a 5-10 year shelf life where it should theoretically still have about 70-80% of its original capacity. They're kind of small for lithium primary batteries, but I know some digital or digital/analog watches advertise a 10 year (working) battery life, which assumes both the run time and the self-discharge.

Not sure if a pull tab really matters depending on how it's constructed. I would think that they're far more concerned with one getting wet internally (especially at water parks and rides) than to install some way to preserve the battery life.

 

[HopperFan]

Right I know this stuff but if they last 3 years and they sat on a shelf for 2 without a pull tab than they can potentially only have a year left.

Oh. Well there is no answer to your question. You don't know.

 

[PrincessMati]

MB have two RFID chips. One passive and one active.

The passive one needs no battery and it is what you use to scan at the entrance to parks, scan to open hotel room door, scan to use LL, scan to charge back to room and scan when there was DDP. Mickey to Mickey. All that should work although if I had a Gen 1 I probably wouldn't use it.

The active one needs a battery and that is what picks you up without touching such as ride photos, your name on signs in Small World or RnR. It was to eventually be used for lots of interactive elements but Disney has kinds dropped the ball on that part. It is also the type of chip that can find your approx location, although Disney hasn't used that to it's full capability. It is estimated that battery lasts approx 3 years but am sure it depends on usage, storage etc.

If you want ride photos I would make sure someone is wearing one that is not too old. No way to check them and you won't know it's not working until no photos show up.

That's interesting. Thank you!!!

 

[gharter]

MB have two RFID chips. One passive and one active.

The passive one needs no battery and it is what you use to scan at the entrance to parks, scan to open hotel room door, scan to use LL, scan to charge back to room and scan when there was DDP. Mickey to Mickey. All that should work although if I had a Gen 1 I probably wouldn't use it.

The active one needs a battery and that is what picks you up without touching such as ride photos, your name on signs in Small World or RnR. It was to eventually be used for lots of interactive elements but Disney has kinds dropped the ball on that part. It is also the type of chip that can find your approx location, although Disney hasn't used that to it's full capability. It is estimated that battery lasts approx 3 years but am sure it depends on usage, storage etc.

If you want ride photos I would make sure someone is wearing one that is not too old. No way to check them and you won't know it's not working until no photos show up.

this is how the first 2 generations work.
The new magic Band + looks to be rechargeable.
But with the current bands, the best guess is about 2-3 years (but you don't ever know when the band was made.

 

[cobright]

Right I know this stuff but if they last 3 years and they sat on a shelf for 2 without a pull tab than they can potentially only have a year left.

I’ll give you some info that might help a little.

Inside the magic and there are actually 3 separate radios and one microcontroller.

The MB has 2 distinct unpowered RFID systems. A near field system 13.56 MHz, just like the tap to pay credit card chip and most rfid hotel keys. It’s actually a MiFare rfid standard tag and you can read it with a cel phone app like nfc tools.

It also has a UHF 915MHz rfid system similar to that used to track marathon runners. It had a range of ~20’

Then there’s the microcontroller and integrated 2.4GHz radio. It’s sort of like Bluetooth, or more like BLE but not exactly.

The MCU is a Nordic nRF24 variant. A simple computer with a built in radio.

Now, the software running on that chip is locked down but one of the really special aspect of the chip is it’s ability to enter a deep sleep mode. In deep sleep, the computer draws so little electricity, that battery would probably last 10 years.

In deep sleep, the only code running is a very simple timer and a service to monitor for something called an interrupt. An interrupt could be triggered by that timer…

Or… and this is an educated guess… it’s possible the nRF chip could receive an signal from the NRF passive rfid chip. Such as when it’s scanned at any of the touch points.

If its main program is actually written this way, then the MB could theoretically sit for a decade maybe or be woken up by first scan in the park.

 

[lanejudy]

Right I know this stuff but if they last 3 years and they sat on a shelf for 2 without a pull tab than they can potentially only have a year left.

Short answer: You don't know.

There have been reports on these boards of people using MBs that were 5 years old and still worked perfectly, even for the distance (photos, etc.). What I have not read is any reports of someone saying their older band didn't work -- but it's highly possible very few people even try to use an older band. It is to WDW's benefit to perpetuate any myth that the bands will only work for a couple of years because they want you to keep buying a new one. They aren't going to tell you "buy one and it'll last for 10 years worth of trips."

 

[Meglen]

Thanks for all the info.! @cobright that is kinda nuts but would make sense. Would really like magic band + to launch soon so this is no longer a thought on my mind heh.

 

[lanejudy]

Would really like magic band + to launch soon

Supposedly next month...
https://www.disboards.com/threads/magicband-debuts-at-walt-disney-world.3881804/

 

[_19disnA]

In simple terms, MB serve 2 different functions. One needs battery power and the other doesn't. As with any item that uses a small battery, how long the battery lasts depends on how often it is used, quality of the battery, how it is stored, etc. Even if the battery dies, the function that doesn't require battery power will still work. There is no 'pull tab' to initially activate the battery, current MB's are sealed units and aren't designed to allow for battery replacement. Whether future versions operate differently is anyone's guess until they are actually put on the market.