Hi,

On another thread, which I can't find right now, I complained that my Reader would hold a charge for only two or three days.

Now I think I've found a solution. Four days ago, after recharging the reader with the AC adaptor, I left it plugged in because I had added a number of books, and wanted to check out my extensive collections without running down the battery. I left the 505 plugged in all day long, while I periodically checked it.

I had put in a new memory card, switching from a Sandisk 1 GB to a Sandisk 2 GB.

After the Reader was plugged in for around 9 hours, I unplugged it and began to read. Now, four days later, I still have all four memory bars showing! :p This has never happened since I bought the 505. I have not shut the reader off with the software during this time, but simply used the on/off switch.

Since the memory cards were both the same brand, I don't think that was the reason for the renewed battery life. I think what happened was that the Reader never had built up a full charge previously, even though the light had duly gone out and 4 memory bars showed.

Anyone have any ideas about this?

It may be a fluke---but I'm hoping it isn't. A number of people have complained of low battery life on their readers, and I'm hoping this might be an answer to the problem.

Starfish

The battery meters have shown a tendency to need a couple of full charging cycles to calibrate themselves. It's possible that yours thought it was fully charged when it was nothing of the sort, and when you left it charging for 9 hours it figured out what a full battery really looks like. :shrug:

That happened some with the 500 model in the early days too. It's probably why we kinda fell into the habit of suggesting that folks charge the things overnight before they tried anything else. :nice:

NatCH,

Thanks! I somehow missed that "plug it in overnight" suggestion.

Would you suggest that the next time I recharge I leave it plugged in for 8 or 9 hours, so as to reinforce the "full charge" idea?

Starfish

No, not really, just leave it 'til the charge light goes out should be fine. :shrug:

I believe HarryT had posted to someone in the last month that the battery drain from SD cards could be significant. You might want to search for that or ask him about it.

NatCH,

Thanks! I somehow missed that "plug it in overnight" suggestion.

Would you suggest that the next time I recharge I leave it plugged in for 8 or 9 hours, so as to reinforce the "full charge" idea?

Starfish
That suggestion was made about a year ago so don't feel bad about missing it. It also helps on some devices if you do a full charge from the wall (rather than from a USB) every so often. I know that my 500 started to turn fewer pages than before and after an overnight on the wall charger it was back to its new pup many page turns youth again.

Question: is it possible to over-charge the Reader?

Starfish

There are detector circuits in the Reader to prevent overcharging of the battery. When the red light goes out the battery is full.

Thanks.

Starfish

fyi, if you are going to store any device with a LiIon battery for an extended period of time run it down to around 40% charge. It will actually help extend the life of your battery. Because of the chemistry of a LiIon battery they prefer to be stored below a 50% charge and when being used a lot of shorter charges seem to help reduce the rate of loss of storage capacity (run time).

I use this method on my laptop batteries and get almost double the useful lifetimes. After 2-yrs my batteries still hold about a 75%-80% charge. And I use them every day for hours at a time. But when I am leaving for a while I run the batteries down for the systems I am not taking on the road.

Thanks! That's good to know.

Starfish