Hi all,

I was wondering how often you folks are recharging your reader? I understand that the usage changes from one person to the other but do you recharge every day to keep it always on 4-bars? Or do you wait the battery to go down to 1?

Hi all,

I was wondering how often you folks are recharging your reader? I understand that the usage changes from one person to the other but do you recharge every day to keep it always on 4-bars? Or do you wait the battery to go down to 1?

On my Sony I usually wait until it is down to one bar.. then charge it.

BOb

once per week

I usually wait for the last bar before charging. I start thinking about charging it when it's down to the next to last bar, but I'm usually not in a position to charge it then (i.e. in a restaurant or curled up in bed).

Dreamer

I generally manage the books on the Reader two or three times a week -- more when I'm creating and testing books and want to see how they look beyond the PC viewer in calibre or the Sony software. The USB charging keeps the Reader topped off. I doubt that it has gone under two bars other than playing around with it and seeing how many pages it would really turn on a charge.

For trips I use the iGo Juice to recharge. I cannot remember when I last used the supplied charger.

Now, maybe I shouldn't, but I get worried about the battery life if I recharge regularly and partially.

However, I read Web pages, blogs, news etc. that I download from Internet so as soon as I connect the reader to my computer, it starts to recharge. Should I be worried about the battery life? I mean, have there been known problems with the reader batteries due to usage patterns?

I recharge about weekly (6-8 days).

I normally wait till I have one bar or even until the reader asks for juice. I use a PSP charger so I can read while I recharge.

If your usage pattern damages your battery life (I don't know for sure but I think new generation batts don't have these issues any more), you will notice them when you use your Reader in a different usage pattern. Shouldn't affect the way you currently use it.

The current batteries don't have the memory problems of the old batteries. Frequent charges are not a problem. We no longer have to drain the batteries before recharging.

I pretty much never deliberately charge. It gets charged while I am syncing content. Yesterday was the first time I needed to charge it because I had been editing the contents via my laptop at work rather than the desktop at home. I didn't realize that because it was plugged into a hub rather than directly into the computer, it wouldn't charge. So basically, it wound up getting drained completely. I hooked it up to the desktop when I got home and let it charge overnight and is now wonderful.

The current batteries don't have the memory problems of the old batteries. Frequent charges are not a problem. We no longer have to drain the batteries before recharging.

Thanks for clarifying it! ;)

It pops up a little dialog box saying "Battery low - shutting down" and then shuts down. So I plug it in and keep reading. EB-1150 lets you use the device while it is charging. I get 12-13 hrs per charge. I also got an extra power cord so that I'm able to charge either at home or work, after running out of batteries a couple of times when I didn't have a cord at work.

I'm in love with my cute little reader!:o

I charge it up whenever I am syncing content, and that's about it. This is about once a week though I am now working on some recipes to get more websites on the device. I rarely ever get lower than two bars when I happen to skip charging for a week.

I usually charge when I get to one bar because I was worried about battery memory but, based on what RWood says, I may just get in the habit of once a week.

I have been loading books ike crazy these past few days since I got it. What I find myself doing is leaving the device connected. If I'm not going to read right away I will leave it connected.

I usually charge when I get to one bar because I was worried about battery memory but, based on what RWood says, I may just get in the habit of once a week.

For lithium batteries it's actually better to keep them topped off.

I usually add more books once a week, which is often enough that I never get below two bars. I've noticed that Southwest has charging stations at each gate. These charging stations have 110AC and USB slots for charging. The rental car I have now also has a USB slot. Even if I couldn't get my laptop out and use it to recharge, I could plug into these USB charging slots and never bring the AC adapter.

It pops up a little dialog box saying "Battery low - shutting down" and then shuts down. So I plug it in and keep reading. EB-1150 lets you use the device while it is charging. I get 12-13 hrs per charge. I also got an extra power cord so that I'm able to charge either at home or work, after running out of batteries a couple of times when I didn't have a cord at work.

I'm in love with my cute little reader!:o

There's no reason to let it drain all the way down before charging. BTW, noticed it's not a Reader you're referring to. (This is the Sony forum!) Does the EB-1150 really have such a short battery life?

Li-Ion batteries on laptops need recalibration every 30cycles just to ensure the OS reads the battery level correctly. (A full cycle is defined as a complete drain from 100%. For Li-Ion battery, partial cycles are acceptable and accumulated to form a complete cycle)

Assuming this is true for Sony Reader and assuming that it is charged weekly (when it drop by one bar or roughly translated 25%) this would require 30 months before the battery requires a calibration. If the usage is 2 bar/week, then it will roughly requires 15months before recalibration.

Even if you miss a calibration cycle, it is no biggie since the inaccuracies is minimal.

Bottom line - just charge it whenever you want.

I usually add more books once a week, which is often enough that I never get below two bars. I've noticed that Southwest has charging stations at each gate. These charging stations have 110AC and USB slots for charging. The rental car I have now also has a USB slot. Even if I couldn't get my laptop out and use it to recharge, I could plug into these USB charging slots and never bring the AC adapter.

Have you actually tried charging your device from the USB ports? I've seen them but I have always been afraid they would drain instead of charge.

Have you actually tried charging your device from the USB ports? I've seen them but I have always been afraid they would drain instead of charge.
If you have a 500, it will not charge from a USB port unless it detects a "friendly" set of drivers. I hear this is fixed in the 505. It is also not possible to charge a "dead" battery from the USB port. If you let it get to the point where it shuts down, you have to use the Sony/PSP power port.

I know these things because I often leave my reader too long in my briefcase. I have a 500, and the cute desk stand. I thought I'd keep it in the stand, always charged up. In practice, it takes a couple of weeks for the battery to run down. I keep it in my briefcase unless I notice that the battery is down to one bar. If I don't notice, then I see the boot screen when I turn it on. Sometimes I can get it to charge off the laptop, but more often than not I have to get my PSP battery backup out to charge it up. All my fault, I can't blame the device.

I'll give it a shot next time I am in BWI. I'll use it down to two bars and then plug it in to see if it charges. I usually end up with nothing to do at the airport except read for a couple of hours, so it should be able to charge it up pretty quickly.

I recharge my 505 every 10-14 days, reading about 150-300 pages/day. I keep the active reading content on the internal memory to save battery.

anyone notice if warm/cold weather has any effect on a charge?

I'll give it a shot next time I am in BWI. I'll use it down to two bars and then plug it in to see if it charges. I usually end up with nothing to do at the airport except read for a couple of hours, so it should be able to charge it up pretty quickly.

I'd be VERY careful with that., Actually, I would recommend NOT doing that. I have a 505 (yes, a 505, not a 500) and plugging it into a couple of general USB wall chargers has DRAINED the battery. So, you might find yourself with a dead Reader and nothing to read. :(

BTW, this draining effect has been discussed previously on this forum.

I have a sony 500..

I noticed I am able to read and listen to music for about 6 hours max. After this time, my reader display battery low message and freeze the screen, but I am still able to listen to music and change tracks for about another 3 hours!

Then the system conks out. So about 9 hours total.

Thanks,
Fabian.

I've gotten in the habit of doing just that and it seems to work fine.

me too, once I hook up to add books I let it recharge for a bit

I usually add more books once a week, which is often enough that I never get below two bars. I've noticed that Southwest has charging stations at each gate. These charging stations have 110AC and USB slots for charging. The rental car I have now also has a USB slot. Even if I couldn't get my laptop out and use it to recharge, I could plug into these USB charging slots and never bring the AC adapter.

Note that the critical point being warned about is the use of USB chargers/charging stations, as opposed to a USB connection to a computer.

AIUI, the Sony doesn't recharge unless it's sucessfully 'negotiated' with the charging device - again, AIUI, this is part of the USB protocol, ensuring that devices don't take more power than the chargers want to allocate them. A computer will support this but a basic 'USB power adapter' probably won't. Other devices might just ignore the failure & charge anyway, so you can't assume a charger does or doesn't support it if other devices work.