Battery totally drained?

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by KindleWorm

This is good news, but can you shed light on 'charge cycles' is it true that a battery has a limited amount of 'cycles' if this is the case isnt it best to wait till you are down to that majic 20% before you connect your kindle up to charger / computer ?

There are mutiple types of batteries out there, and people are using two different definitions of "cycle" with regard to charging.

For example, my iPod Classic (one year old). Apple recommends one full cycle per month, but that doesn't just mean one full drain and recharge. It's cumulative. If you use 25% and charge back to full 4 times, or use 50% and charge twice, that's one full charge cycle as per the documentation, not 4 or 2.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Mario1up

Li-ion batteries have no memory effect at all, so that's nothing to worry about. They can, however, be damaged by being drained too low.

But, there are two forms of protection in the Kindle. One, that all li-ion batteries found in commercial devices have, is a protection circuit built in to the battery. This will prevent the battery from draining any more if the voltage gets too low.

The other is the software. Once, by accident, I let the battery drain all the way. The Kindle put up a screen that said the battery was too low and it needed to be recharged. It was just that screen, nothing else. I couldn't do anything until I plugged it in for a while.

So while you won't severely harm the battery, it's a good idea to not let it drain past 20%. Remember, li-ion batteries don't have a memory effect, so you can charge them whenever you like. It'd be a good idea to just plug your Kindle in every night.

Interesting, I didn't know about the warning screen. Usually I let the battery get to full charge when I plug it in and use it til the battery icon shows a sliver of charge at which point I plug it in again to recharge. Haven't seen the warning screen yet so I must not have gotten it quite that low or something.

[oggelbe2007]

Batteries have a limited shelf life and all of them reach their end of life due to secondary chemical reactions. Unused batteries last longer but not much longer. And Lithium doesn't suffer from memory issues like the old NiCa's did so don't deep-discharge them. No tricks will make them last a day longer. So just enjoy your fresh batteries and save up your spare change for that inevitable day when your batteries go south for the winter.

[littlestar]

Originally Posted by Deja Moo

I've had a battery (not on Kindle) run down so low that it wouldn't recharge at all. Maybe that was a fluke, maybe Kindle uses a different kind of battery, but why take chances?

you can replace one.

[cathie]

I accidentally let my K3 battery 'drain'. It scared the be-jeepers out of me when I could not turn it on or access it at all. When I realised that I had some how missed all of the 'reminders' to recharge, and it had just died, I felt like an imbecile.
After several hours recharging the K3 came back up and worked like a dream. Nothing was missing.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by cathie

I accidentally let my K3 battery 'drain'. It scared the be-jeepers out of me when I could not turn it on or access it at all. When I realised that I had some how missed all of the 'reminders' to recharge, and it had just died, I felt like an imbecile.
After several hours recharging the K3 came back up and worked like a dream. Nothing was missing.

I can imagine your panic. Though I haven't had my Kindle battery die I have had to reload my desktop with XP when things have gone wrong in the past (usually due to a virus or some such) and I've had that feeling of trepidation where you aren't sure if you have a functional piece of equipment or not for a few moments.

[thebestjeter]

Originally Posted by Deja Moo

I've had a battery (not on Kindle) run down so low that it wouldn't recharge at all. Maybe that was a fluke, maybe Kindle uses a different kind of battery, but why take chances?

This happened to my Kindle 3, just few months after I bought it. I called Amazon and they gave me a replacement.

[littlestar]

Originally Posted by thebestjeter

This happened to my Kindle 3, just few months after I bought it. I called Amazon and they gave me a replacement.

Did Amazon ask for any charge for the replacement?

[TimW]

Originally Posted by littlestar

Did Amazon ask for any charge for the replacement?

Amazon wouldn't charge anything while it's under warranty. I'm fairly sure it will be a refurbished device, though.

[sirmaru]

I charge my Kindle 3 WiFi when the battery recharge message appears.

I also own a NowBible with a Lithium battery. Their manual states the battery will last for 500 recharges and allow a maximum of 6 hours use for any cycle.

My Kindle 3 WiFi battery cycles last from 23 to 30 days of my regular use of one hour reading or playing chess with it daily.

Some folks here say Lithium rechargeable batteries only last 2 to 3 years of shelf life. I've had some Lithium rechargeable powered devices already last 10 years without any sign of wear.

Since I replace electronic gadgets as soon as the next generation appears, I never really see the end of the Lithium battery life. Obsolesence due to new generations result in my electronic devices being discarded.

[gASK]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Some folks here say Lithium rechargeable batteries only last 2 to 3 years of shelf life. I've had some Lithium rechargeable powered devices already last 10 years without any sign of wear.

Li-ion batteries do not keep charge well when stored, so on shelf they indeed do not last long. Their lifetime is mostly affected by capacity loss, which is unavoidable, but can vary greatly - when used at extremely low or high capacity and at higher temperatures, it can lose over 20% of capacity per year (which means over half after three years). This is the case in laptops and when "sitting on shelf". However when used "carefully", the loss can be as low as 2% and the battery may indeed last 10 years without any noticeable loss (since it's gradual and low).

Also Li-Ion batteries are not all the same - there is enough room for variations between different manufacturer's batteries. There are even Lithium-Polymer batteries and other such types for further confusion

As for the mentioned "memory effect" and "reseting" batteries on certain mobile phones - the Li-ion battery does not have any memory effect. However the devices that use it may (after enough cycles) get "out of sync" with their correct capacity - thus incorrectly shutting down early or reporting charged status when it's not true. "Resets" (=full cycles) are done to prevent this - they do not in fact make the battery better, they just "sync" the phone with the real status. They are only usefull on devices with frequent charging and discharging, like smartphones, laptops and such. I doubt it will have any real effect on Kindle...

[littlestar]

Originally Posted by TimW

Amazon wouldn't charge anything while it's under warranty. I'm fairly sure it will be a refurbished device, though.

A refurbishment? that sounds frustrating. BTW, how long is the warranty?

[littlestar]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I charge my Kindle 3 WiFi when the battery recharge message appears.

I also own a NowBible with a Lithium battery. Their manual states the battery will last for 500 recharges and allow a maximum of 6 hours use for any cycle.

My Kindle 3 WiFi battery cycles last from 23 to 30 days of my regular use of one hour reading or playing chess with it daily.

Some folks here say Lithium rechargeable batteries only last 2 to 3 years of shelf life. I've had some Lithium rechargeable powered devices already last 10 years without any sign of wear.

Since I replace electronic gadgets as soon as the next generation appears, I never really see the end of the Lithium battery life. Obsolesence due to new generations result in my electronic devices being discarded.

You should treasure up the amasing battery.