Ugh,I got the four beeps

[wilke1969]

I just charged this for 20 hours on Friday,the battery icon showed charging and then the plug before I unplugged it. I read an hour this morning and it showed full charge,then this afternoon when I pushed it to unlock it just beeped and flashed the red light at me.
I played around with it and plugged it back in, and it did start up OK, I have it on charge again- it shows one bar down. But now I'm worried about this one starting to act up too. I already had to send back the one I received for Christmas because it froze up and died on me.
My daughter is begging me to buy her one, but I'm a little concerned about doing that now with it locking up and paint issues-this one is also bubbling up all over and paint flaking off{its a white one}.
I have not installed the latest firmware so its still running on the Decembers.

Susan

[theducks]

Originally Posted by wilke1969

I just charged this for 20 hours on Friday,the battery icon showed charging and then the plug before I unplugged it. I read an hour this morning and it showed full charge,then this afternoon when I pushed it to unlock it just beeped and flashed the red light at me.
I played around with it and plugged it back in, and it did start up OK, I have it on charge again- it shows one bar down. But now I'm worried about this one starting to act up too. I already had to send back the one I received for Christmas because it froze up and died on me.
My daughter is begging me to buy her one, but I'm a little concerned about doing that now with it locking up and paint issues-this one is also bubbling up all over and paint flaking off{its a white one}.
I have not installed the latest firmware so its still running on the Decembers.

Susan

Dec FW does not have a battery problem.

It may take 3 or 4 charge<-> use cycles to settle down.

Not mentioned before: Be sure the charger is plugged into an outlet that is always powered ON
USB ports on computers (or the whole computer) can go to sleep to save power :/ . Light switches turn off some table lamps

Don't trust that the the battery plug was seated tightly from the manufacturer
Seat it yourself (instructions are in the documentation).

[nimblem]

I just got the four beeps too... i am starting to hate my reader

[wilke1969]

After letting it charge for about 17 hours it seems to be back to normal. I don't know what happened. I wouldn't of thought it should of been a low battery when I just charged it Friday,and only read about an hour on that charge. I always charge with wall outlet not with the computer. I did take out the battery to make sure connection was secure-it seemed to be.
So I'm crossing my fingers that all stays good.

[rock]

Yeah my battery is completely dead, and I am waiting for a response. It dies after about an hour of use. Or gets low enough where it will freeze when I try to turn a page or something, and have to charge it for hours just to get it workable for the ride home from work.

Very disappointing as it is a good reader, but disapointing to see it is happening to other people.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by rock

Yeah my battery is completely dead, and I am waiting for a response. It dies after about an hour of use. Or gets low enough where it will freeze when I try to turn a page or something, and have to charge it for hours just to get it workable for the ride home from work.

Very disappointing as it is a good reader, but disapointing to see it is happening to other people.

Dear Rock:

The battery on the Pocket PRO is a good one. It should give you weeks of reading before needing a recharge. That being said... it is possible to get a bad battery.

Are you positive that you are charging correctly? People often press the "OK" button instead of any other key. Pressing the OK button will not start charging.

I know you are bright and conscientious. BUT... let us start with the basics. Have you read "how to charge" on the FAQ sheet? The FAQ sheet is at: www.theEZreader.com/html under "support".

Are you seeing the lightning bolt when you charge?

Are you seeing the blinking red/orange light when you charge?

If you start charging and turn the device fully off... do you see a very large lightning bolt?

If the device is off when you start the charging does the device turn itself "on" automatically?

Once you see the blinking red/orange light do you charge for 10-12 hours?

When you see thye green light do you continue to charge another 2 hours?

All of this can tell us something to help you.

[hidari]

The battery indicator has a mind of its own for a couple months.Mine has settled down now. I had a few full charge to low battery incidents in the beginning. Like others have said it has to work its own kinks out. Now It runs fine. I tend to do a 4 to 6 hour recharge every 15 days or so. It is usually at 80%... Seems to run fine. On many threads.... the general advice is to top it up ...the battery that is...will help the life of it..... Or So I hear...

Originally Posted by wilke1969

I just charged this for 20 hours on Friday,the battery icon showed charging and then the plug before I unplugged it. I read an hour this morning and it showed full charge,then this afternoon when I pushed it to unlock it just beeped and flashed the red light at me.
I played around with it and plugged it back in, and it did start up OK, I have it on charge again- it shows one bar down. But now I'm worried about this one starting to act up too. I already had to send back the one I received for Christmas because it froze up and died on me.
My daughter is begging me to buy her one, but I'm a little concerned about doing that now with it locking up and paint issues-this one is also bubbling up all over and paint flaking off{its a white one}.
I have not installed the latest firmware so its still running on the Decembers.

Susan

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Pressing the OK button will not start charging.
.

Is this correct? I thought it was charging even when you press OK. Why wouldn't it charge at the same time as you have it connected and are transferring files to it?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by jusmee

Is this correct? I thought it was charging even when you press OK. Why wouldn't it charge at the same time as you have it connected and are transferring files to it?

Something is amiss if this is true.

The PEz pops the lightning bolt, even if you press OK and later shows the plug.

There is a HUGE error in the charge interface, that reports false charging if Roberts statement is 100% true.
Personally, I think Robert got this wrong
My PEz behaves like it has been charged while uploading the library. I have not done a simple "charge" in months of reading and mny cycles of 1 or 2 bars down<->Attach to computer, fiddle with library (a few hours). See 4 bars and read for a week.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by jusmee

Is this correct? I thought it was charging even when you press OK. Why wouldn't it charge at the same time as you have it connected and are transferring files to it?

there is only so much current available in a USB port. If you use it all running the device there is none left to charge the battery. As a matter of fact it is possible for the battery to run down while it is plugged into a computer if there is not enough current available to keep up with the activity. The AC charger will output 1000 mA while a Computer only does 500 best case and depending on additional loads from other devices it might have only 100 mA left available.

Dale

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

there is only so much current available in a USB port. If you use it all running the device there is none left to charge the battery. As a matter of fact it is possible for the battery to run down while it is plugged into a computer if there is not enough current available to keep up with the activity. The AC charger will output 1000 mA while a Computer only does 500 best case and depending on additional loads from other devices it might have only 100 mA left available.

Dale

Well, like theducks says, the device reports that it charging, and mine went from 3 bars to 4 bars while I was playing around with transferring files to it. That seems proof enough that it does charge after you have pressed OK. If you aren't changing pages, or actually transferring files, the device doesn't need to draw ANY significant power - probably no more than if you pressed "any other key" and it was showing the charging screen and light.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

there is only so much current available in a USB port. If you use it all running the device there is none left to charge the battery. As a matter of fact it is possible for the battery to run down while it is plugged into a computer if there is not enough current available to keep up with the activity. The AC charger will output 1000 mA while a Computer only does 500 best case and depending on additional loads from other devices it might have only 100 mA left available.

Dale

You are correct. A USB port must have a by design limiter at 500mA.

Repeatedly draw 500 Ma from that 1000mAHr Li-ion battery in the PEz and you will probably damage it in the short run.
Maximum recommended charge is on the order of C/10, even if you were reading a book, the page turns probably draw less than 100mA momentarily, that still leaves 400mA (which is 300mA over recommended rate) for charging if the USB port is up to spec.
Reading should only slow down the charge, not stops it.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by theducks

You are correct. A USB port must have a by design limiter at 500mA.

Repeatedly draw 500 Ma from that 1000mAHr Li-ion battery in the PEz and you will probably damage it in the short run.
Maximum recommended charge is on the order of C/10, even if you were reading a book, the page turns probably draw less than 100mA momentarily, that still leaves 400mA (which is 300mA over recommended rate) for charging if the USB port is up to spec.
Reading should only slow down the charge, not stops it.

I was under the assumption that it was 500mah per USB hub, so if you have 2 USB ports on your computer running off one internal hub, the 500mah was shared between the ports. So if you are running a USB mouse drawing say 50mah and you plug in your PEZ, that would leave 450mah for the PEZ to draw on.

I could be wrong but that was the impression I got with USB, mah output is per hub, not port.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

I was under the assumption that it was 500mah per USB hub, so if you have 2 USB ports on your computer running off one internal hub, the 500mah was shared between the ports. So if you are running a USB mouse drawing say 50mah and you plug in your PEZ, that would leave 450mah for the PEZ to draw on.

I could be wrong but that was the impression I got with USB, mah output is per hub, not port.

mah is the wrong term. That's for batteries where it is current over time. For a voltage source, it's just ma, which it delivers continuously. Another way to put it is that they are rated at 2.5 watts (5 volts at half an amp, i.e. 500 ma)

Computer motherboards can have multiple USB controllers, so it will depend on the particular design. Chances are, that the ports on the back, where you usually put your mouse and keyboard, are independent of the ones on the front of the case.

and anyway, as theducks says, you still have more than enough spare current, and in practice it DOES charge.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

I was under the assumption that it was 500mah per USB hub, so if you have 2 USB ports on your computer running off one internal hub, the 500mah was shared between the ports. So if you are running a USB mouse drawing say 50mah and you plug in your PEZ, that would leave 450mah for the PEZ to draw on.

I could be wrong but that was the impression I got with USB, mah output is per hub, not port.

The spec is per Port, but you are not alone with the per hub thinking.

per hub is lots cheaper to build

The Point of Sale Industry wanted more power and more voltages to run all that stuff you see at the cash-wrap.
Enter USB+Power
That added a side-car to the USB plug with: More 5V current and 12V (green) for displays, big scanners, credit terminals and 24V (red), typically printers .
Some consumer devices now come with a 5/12V port version that will run an external (Optical) Disk drive.