PRS-505 NO BATTERY!

[seamad]

As I live in Chau Doc, a very laid back town in the province of An Giang, Vietnam, and there isn’t a library with foreign language books, I needed a backup for my e-book reader, a Cybook.

I bought an used PRS-505 in the States on eBay less than a year ago using a friend of mine to have it delivered to Italy.

When I got it (one month after I bought it) I immediately noticed that there was some problem with the battery as it did not last very long, let’s say one-two days using the reader only for reading 2-4 hours a day.
I was disappointed but I really did not care too much as I am never far from a computer where to recharge the reader.

Two weeks ago I stopped using the PRS-505 because I needed the lookup feature of my other e-book reader, the Cybook.

Getting back to the PRS-505 I found it with the message of low battery. I put it in charge (via USB) and, as it was not used for long time the USB connection screen did not come up but the red light switched on. After a while the USB connection screen came up as expected. In the morning I found the reader off with the ghost of the reader starting page on the screen. No lights were on.
I repeated the process a couple of time getting all the time the same result.

I tried to disconnect the USB cable when the USB connection screen was on and got the attached screen with a NO BATTERY message (funny, the Sony engineers provided a screen for a situation in which the reader shouldn’t even start).

I even tried some soft reset with non result.

So I’m stuck with a PRS-505 paperweight.

I’m correct assuming that the fault is the battery and by changing it everything should go back to normal? Do you think that if I buy an external charger it would be possible to read with the reader connected to the plug?

[dordale]

When you've tried to charge your reader with your computer, would your computer go into sleep mode? If this is the case, the computer won't charge the reader, and in fact it could actually drain the battery.

I think a wall charger might do the trick for both charging it and you'd probably be able to read on it while it was connected. You probably already know this--no need to buy the charger made for the reader...just pick up a cheaper PSP charger.

Hope you can get your 505 up and running!

dordale

[seamad]

Thanks dordale,
the pc I connected the PRS-505 is always active and plugged in.

I will try to find a charger, not easy thing to do in Chau Doc and I don't even speak Vietnamese; I didn't see so many PSP here.

If it the PRS-505 works plugged in, it would be enough for me. Anyone had a problem like mine?

[neilmarr]

I had similar problems with my PRS-505, SeaMad. You cannot rely on the USB charge or on the over-optimistic battery state icon on your reader. You simply must get a wall charger. Since I got one, I've had not the slightest problem. The international charger I got cost about $20 from here: http://www.gomadic.com/ Works perfectly in any style of wall socket. Good luck. Neil

[seamad]

neilmarr, dordale
I will follow your suggestion.

Went yesterday shopping for a wall charger but had non luck.

Trying again today but with low hopr. I will probably need to go to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon, 6 hours bus trip) or Phnom Penh.

[Patricia]

Here's a thread on this topic:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21337

A PSP charger should end your problems. And, yes, you can read while doing a mains charge.
Remember that the reader will be using some battery unless you actively turn it off. Just using the slider actually puts it into sleep mode.

[seamad]

Thanks Patricia,
I had already read your interesting thread, I only thought it did not apply to my case because it seems that my reader does not freeze but has battery problems.

I will get a PSP AC charger, the problem is that PSP seems not to be sold in Vietnam (at least there is no mention of it on Sony's Vietnamese site); may be I will be luckier in Cambodia, if not in Thailand but this will be at the beginning of December, on my way back to Europe.

I own a Sony AC charger for a Walldisc, but it's only 3 V 450 milliamp, not enough.

I connected the reader to a different computer and there seems to be a slight difference, I am now able to see the memory cards and the internal memory as removable discs, and it did not happen on the previous PC.

I tried also to use the AC/USB adapter I use with my Cybook but it doesn't seem to work properly with the Sony, the red light does not switch on. Let's see what happens, I will leave the reader in charge for a full nigth.

[Patricia]

If you are charging via USB then several members have noticed that you are best off with a computer that has the Sony Ebook Library software installed. Otherwise it not do anything at all.

The cybook usb-mains adapter will not work, and will drain the Sony of whatever power it has, as noted in this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56170

[seamad]

After a night connected to the computer I was happy to see two bars on the battery state icon. To play it safe I connected the reader to the USB port again... and was back to Low Battery. But I was able to open one book, just to check if everything works fine.

So the reader isn't stuck, it's a charger/battery problem. I tried to buy a replacement battery from Amazon.Uk but it seems it wont sell it to Italy or Germany (possibly selling the item only in UK). eBay sellers are not so finicky and I was able to buy the battery here
http://cgi.ebay.it/SONY-PRS-500-PRS-...63616b0f1#shId
May be it's a little more expensive than buying the battery from HK or China, but in this way I avoid customs in Italy.
The PSP charger is not a problem, I will try to buy one in Thailand, if not there are easy to find in Italy.

Thanks to everyone for your help, I will post again when I get the charger, I suppose on the 5th of December.


Last update: suddenly the battery icon displays three bars and the reader seems to be OK. Only I have no confidence that everything is fine, so battery will be changed and Ac charger bought.