Very nice power/charger option

[oldyellr]

Have you looked at the size of the battery? This tablet sucks a lot of juice compared to the average cellphone. I'm guessing it's designed not to charge with anything that can't deliver 2 amps, otherwise it would have to spend more time on the charger than in use. When my son got a Blackberry Torch, it was dying on him all the time if he didn't charge it every day. I've been charging the Vox each night, but didn't do it this time. I see right now it's at 50% and has been just over 8 hours on battery.

[taming]

Tony, all of the tablets seem to use wall chargers for their juice. Big batteries need more than the puny output through USB ports on our computers. The thing that needs fixing (IMO) is the tie in between the Kobo provided charger (with the waaay too short USB cable) and the battery indicator. If any decent tablet charger worked with the battery indicator, I would be a happy camper.

[cactustak]

Originally Posted by enoeske

I'm using a generic 2.1a charger as well and while the batter indicator doesn't show any charging happening and the battery indicator says discharging, I've used my vox all day to listen to music without the battery level moving. My guess is that the battery is charging fine but the OS doesn't reflect that.

I had an idea but I don't have my official vox charger with me at work to try it. My guess is that since these non-official chargers don't have the data pin contact like the official charger, the Android OS doesn't know its charging.

Try charging the vox on the non-official charger for a while with the power off. Then unplug and turn it on. Insert the official charger until the unit "sees" it charging, then unplug. Does the battery now reflect a full charge?

Does the vox just need the official charger to tell it that it is charged?

taming : success with the ipad wall charger! thanks again, and thanks for the reminder about the reset button.

enoeske : that's an interesting idea.

What I did this time around:
- battery was reporting 40%
- powered off the Vox
- plugged in the ipad wall charger
- let it charge overnight (~10 hours)
- disconnected and powered on today
- battery still reporting 40%
- used it on my way to work (short subway ride)
- battery still reporting 40%
- used the reset button
- battery now reporting 100%


I think Kobo must have done some kind of modification to Android ... or else they're using a really weird battery ... because the battery charge is only reporting in 10% intervals, not in 1% intervals like every other Android device I've used (3 different phones, 2 different tablets). I had initially thought the 10% intervals was a function of the default Kobo apps, but I've installed 2 other battery measurement apps (Battery Monitor Widget Pro and Battery Notifier (Big Text)) and this behaviour is consistent:
- Battery Notifier (Big Text) also only displays 10% intervals
- Battery Monitor Widget Pro, with logging enabled, shows a step-shaped graph, rather than a steady decline.

Perhaps I can understand the tablet, when running, not knowing it's charging. However, it still seems odd to me that coming from a powered off state, the Vox can't correctly determine the charge level of the battery, and a reset is required.

anyways, thanks to all ... now that I have a working solution, I'm going to go back to the other 2 chargers to determine if they do in fact work or not, as well as try enoeske's suggestion. Will provide updates.

[mr_nobody]

Originally Posted by cactustak

I think Kobo must have done some kind of modification to Android ... or else they're using a really weird battery ... because the battery charge is only reporting in 10% intervals, not in 1% intervals like every other Android device I've used (3 different phones, 2 different tablets). I had initially thought the 10% intervals was a function of the default Kobo apps, but I've installed 2 other battery measurement apps (Battery Monitor Widget Pro and Battery Notifier (Big Text)) and this behaviour is consistent:
- Battery Notifier (Big Text) also only displays 10% intervals
- Battery Monitor Widget Pro, with logging enabled, shows a step-shaped graph, rather than a steady decline.

I've seen reports of some other android phones also using the 10% increments. I also wish it used 1% increments!

[TonyToews]

Originally Posted by TonyToews

Vox is now at 80%, is turned off and is plugged into my laptop USB/SATA 3 port. We'll see if its charged in the morning.

Ii did not charge.

[TonyToews]

Originally Posted by oldyellr

Have you looked at the size of the battery? This tablet sucks a lot of juice compared to the average cellphone. I'm guessing it's designed not to charge with anything that can't deliver 2 amps,

If you travel and forgot your AC charger then charging it at 0.5 amps fir 8 hours from your laptop instead of 2 amps for 2 hours is far better than not being able to use your Vox.

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by TonyToews

Ii did not charge.

Originally Posted by TonyToews

If you travel and forgot your AC charger then charging it at 0.5 amps fir 8 hours from your laptop instead of 2 amps for 2 hours is far better than not being able to use your Vox.

True. If I was stuck somewhere with a dead car battery and no 20 amp charger, I'd rather spend an hour or two charging with a 3 amp charger than be stuck. However, as I mentioned earlier, maybe Kobo doesn't want folks trickle charging the battery for a long time just to get it over 10% so they can use the device. Maybe that's detrimental to battery life. These batteries are still emerging technology and I bet there's been a ton of research done in them recently because of the push to electric cars. Kobo may not want a bad rap for failing batteries or ones that won't take a charge. However, that's exactly what it looks like here.

[hieronymos]

Yay! I just got the plug after getting the 20+.15% back from Futureshop! :-)
I had to replace a plug with a loose contact anyway - which happens to be exactly the plug where we charge phones, tablets and cameras... could it get any better?

[taming]

Originally Posted by cactustak

Perhaps I can understand the tablet, when running, not knowing it's charging. However, it still seems odd to me that coming from a powered off state, the Vox can't correctly determine the charge level of the battery, and a reset is required..

A reset using the reset button isn't actually required--if you have access to a Kobo charger. Pop it in that for a short while, wait for the charging icon to appear, and the % will magically show correctly.

In practical terms (for me), I know that I can use the Vox w/o any kind of charger, with WiFi off for about 6-7 hours without worry, with WiFi on, for 5 or so hours, then plug into whatever 2 amp charger is around for awhile and go on my way. As long as I mentally keep track, I can then use the Kobo charger when it is convenient/available without having to pop the back off routinely.