Troubleshooting What is your K3 power drainage when just reading? My data included.

[dmalovic]

Hi!

could someone, esp, those who boasts with a long battery life please check what the average power drainage is when you are simply reading with WiFi off and the possible lighted cover light off on your Kindle3? I am guessing it doesn't matter if it's 3G or WiFi Kindle, as the wireless should be off.

Here is how you do it:

After a period of steady reading, maybe 30 minutes (1h plus would be better) go through these steps:

• go to home screen
• press del and type ;dumpmessages
• press enter or OK and wait until you see a log file appear as a new document
• wait for a few minutes for the log file to get indexed
• open the log and search for the word volt
• check what the common current=XX mA value was in the period when you were reading the book, ie. at the end of the found items.

It is easier to analyze the log file with Notepad++ or some other text editor on a PC. Please note that every log line you find starts with the time stamp in the format of YYMMDD:HHMMSS. I drop 1% of capacity every ~40 minutes. Just find the period when you were simply reading for your own test

I get average values of -20 to -50mA. With the 1750mAh battery, one should get about 40 to 50 hours of reading. If you do 10 hours of reading a day, the battery could go down in 4-5 days it seems, even quicker if one uses WiFi much.

Thanks for your findings! I hope we can learn what the normal power usage is this way!

Domi

P.S. Here is what it looks like in my log:

110103:222204 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=24%, mAh=455mAh, volt=3735mV, current=-20mA, temp=73F, bp=3735mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:223134 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=24%, mAh=451mAh, volt=3733mV, current=-20mA, temp=78F, bp=3733mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:224135 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=24%, mAh=447mAh, volt=3730mV, current=-20mA, temp=78F, bp=3730mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:225135 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=24%, mAh=443mAh, volt=3730mV, current=-20mA, temp=78F, bp=3730mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:230128 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=23%, mAh=435mAh, volt=3717mV, current=-162mA, temp=78F, bp=3717mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:231128 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=23%, mAh=430mAh, volt=3727mV, current=-27mA, temp=77F, bp=3727mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:232128 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=23%, mAh=425mAh, volt=3727mV, current=-28mA, temp=77F, bp=3727mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:233129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=22%, mAh=420mAh, volt=3725mV, current=-31mA, temp=78F, bp=3725mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:234129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=22%, mAh=414mAh, volt=3725mV, current=-27mA, temp=78F, bp=3725mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110103:235129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=22%, mAh=409mAh, volt=3722mV, current=-26mA, temp=78F, bp=3722mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:000129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=22%, mAh=404mAh, volt=3720mV, current=-26mA, temp=78F, bp=3720mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:001129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=21%, mAh=397mAh, volt=3709mV, current=-164mA, temp=77F, bp=3709mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:002129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=21%, mAh=391mAh, volt=3720mV, current=-25mA, temp=75F, bp=3720mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:003129 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=21%, mAh=385mAh, volt=3717mV, current=-25mA, temp=75F, bp=3717mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:004130 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=20%, mAh=379mAh, volt=3714mV, current=-26mA, temp=75F, bp=3714mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:005130 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=20%, mAh=374mAh, volt=3714mV, current=-29mA, temp=77F, bp=3714mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:010130 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=20%, mAh=368mAh, volt=3712mV, current=-29mA, temp=77F, bp=3712mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:011130 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=19%, mAh=362mAh, volt=3712mV, current=-26mA, temp=78F, bp=3712mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:012130 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=19%, mAh=357mAh, volt=3709mV, current=-27mA, temp=78F, bp=3709mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:013130 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=19%, mAh=352mAh, volt=3706mV, current=-28mA, temp=78F, bp=3706mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:
110104:014131 powerd[29434]: I def:battinfo:cap=18%, mAh=347mAh, volt=3706mV, current=-26mA, temp=77F, bp=3706mV, lmd=1870mAh, cycl=2, cyct=6:

[Histerius]

Very good and useful. The only questionable fact is "If you do 10 hours of reading a day", it seems to much. I'm working 16 hours a day and I can't imagine using e-reader for 10 hrs, it completely different than staring at PC screen. But if I put it in a personal perspective, say 2hrs reading before going to sleep, that would be five times more, 20 - 25 days. Which is really good

[dmalovic]

Originally Posted by Histerius

Very good and useful. The only questionable fact is "If you do 10 hours of reading a day", it seems to much. I'm working 16 hours a day and I can't imagine using e-reader for 10 hrs, it completely different than staring at PC screen. But if I put it in a personal perspective, say 2hrs reading before going to sleep, that would be five times more, 20 - 25 days. Which is really good

The example might be a bit extreme. But we really did discharge the battery in 4 days sharing the kindle between my wife and me, over the holidays. Ten hours of reading might be overdoing it a bit for a single person .

I checked my friend's K3 3G, and his unit reports the average drain of about 80mA with the WiFi on. The sad thing is that the 3G modem seems to be active even when you are on WiFi signal, but the K3 is not transmitting.

They really have an enormous amount of room for improvement, the firmware updates should be a lot more frequent! A great product, only underutilized!

If someone else could check their reported power drain, I would be very thankful.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dmalovic

I checked my friend's K3 3G, and his unit reports the average drain of about 80mA with the WiFi on. The sad thing is that the 3G modem seems to be active even when you are on WiFi signal, but the K3 is not transmitting.

I find myself oddly unsaddened by this. I simply switch the radio off when I'm not using it. This takes two button presses.

[dmalovic]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I find myself oddly unsaddened by this. I simply switch the radio off when I'm not using it. This takes two button presses.

That is exactly what I do, it's not too much of a hassle. But why would it drain the extra juice from the 3G radio when I am happily browsing the Kindle store over WiFi.

If the programming was smarter, I would also leave the WiFi on all the time so the documents can sync in case of a freeze, or to receive additional documents etc.

I just am rooting for them and would want them to build the best possible product! It is pretty good as it is, no doubt about it.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by dmalovic

That is exactly what I do, it's not too much of a hassle. But why would it drain the extra juice from the 3G radio when I am happily browsing the Kindle store over WiFi.

It could be part of the "quest for a seamless user experience" - if you lose the wifi signal, it switches over to 3G and they could be trying to minimize the time it takes to do so. I've noticed that if I have the wireless on and go outside, when I get out of range of my wifi, it switches to 3G pretty quickly. I don't know how long it takes for the 3G radio to get going from a power-off state, but I imagine it takes longer than it does if it's on and ready to go.

[screwballl]

I don't have exact numbers but so far since I charged it around Christmas, with reading an average of 4-6 hours per day (well, per night, before bed), with random 2-3 minute time periods with wifi on to sync and get new books I purchased, it is still only half empty. So that means around 17 days it has been used for reading at a typical 4 hour time span... At this rate I should reach an easy 30 days before it needs charged.
This is K3 wifi only, no light, wifi only on for 2-3 minutes at a time and off the rest.

[Tiersten]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

It could be part of the "quest for a seamless user experience" - if you lose the wifi signal, it switches over to 3G and they could be trying to minimize the time it takes to do so. I've noticed that if I have the wireless on and go outside, when I get out of range of my wifi, it switches to 3G pretty quickly. I don't know how long it takes for the 3G radio to get going from a power-off state, but I imagine it takes longer than it does if it's on and ready to go.

The 3G modem is always active and connected to the cell network even when on WiFi. Do "Alt YQQ" or 711 from the settings menu when on WiFi and you'll see it still has a connection to the cell network.