PRS-500 Battery Life After Epub Upgrade

Brandon202000 · 12-11-2009, 12:39 PM

Another poster mentioned that both his PRS-500s (2) seemed to have shorter battery life after the Epub firmware upgrade.

I, too, noticed the same, at first thinking it was because my 500 is old and the shortened battery life was something I had not noticed before.

But now I have my doubts.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Scott_T · 12-11-2009, 12:57 PM

Noticing something myself. I fully charged mine before I sent it off and it came back with a half charge. I wonder if the update screws up the charger calibration. I'm going to run it till it dies and see what happens.

rwsimon · 12-11-2009, 01:05 PM

Both of my upgraded PRS500's run out of juice after maybe 4 days or so. Both used to last for a couple of weeks. So the upgrade is starting to look like the gift that keeps giving (see my good news for Mac owners on another thread.)

FizzyWater · 12-11-2009, 09:34 PM

If I remember correctly, when the 600 was announced, Sony specifically listed battery life based on Sony's format vs. ePub, with ePub eating more power than Sony's format.

So it seems reasonable to imagine a decrease in the amount of time between recharges, all other things being equal...

AprilHare · 12-11-2009, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon202000

Another poster mentioned that both his PRS-500s (2) seemed to have shorter battery life after the Epub firmware upgrade.

I, too, noticed the same, at first thinking it was because my 500 is old and the shortened battery life was something I had not noticed before.

But now I have my doubts.

Has anyone else noticed this?

With all the pluggings in I've been doing since getting it back it's hard to be sure

taildragger-j3 · 12-15-2009, 10:39 AM

I was getting shorter and shorter times between recharges before the upgrade, so I went ahead and ordered a battery off of Ebay while it was gone. When it came back the battery life was still weak, perhaps weaker. I popped the little 500 open, swapped the battery, and now it lasts even better than when it was new.

I certainly can't say for certain, but it seems our problems stem more from 2-3 year old li-po batteries than from epub.

Just my 2 cents.

thinredline · 12-16-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taildragger-j3

I was getting shorter and shorter times between recharges before the upgrade, so I went ahead and ordered a battery off of Ebay while it was gone. When it came back the battery life was still weak, perhaps weaker. I popped the little 500 open, swapped the battery, and now it lasts even better than when it was new.

I certainly can't say for certain, but it seems our problems stem more from 2-3 year old li-po batteries than from epub.

Just my 2 cents.

Can you share your purchasing link and price? I have to charge my 500 every night now.

taildragger-j3 · 12-18-2009, 07:50 AM

I do think the battery life is a little bit shorter even with my new battery, but it's LOTS better than before I swapped.

Here's a link to the seller:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

RSaunders · 12-18-2009, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taildragger-j3

I certainly can't say for certain, but it seems our problems stem more from 2-3 year old li-po batteries than from epub.

I asked the Sony Repair guy about this when I was getting the slip to send my reader in for firmware upgrade. He said that they didn't have any way to replace the battery at the same time. It would be another repair order and another whole shipping cycle. Too bad they didn't think of that, they could have gotten my money pretty easily.

Scott_T · 12-18-2009, 07:43 PM

I was using old lrf's that were on my card so its not epubs that are eating the battery

astra · 12-24-2009, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott_T

I was using old lrf's that were on my card so its not epubs that are eating the battery

Then it is card issue.
Try to read it from internal memory.

junkml · 12-24-2009, 02:44 PM

Just my $.02 - It's not a card issue. I don't use a card in my Sony, and I've been loading books as .lrf (epub sucks - wish I hadn't done the upgrade). My battery life has been cut to 1/2 or (if I'm being generous) 1/3 of what it used to be.

taildragger-j3 · 12-24-2009, 02:51 PM

I'm sure the epub books chew up the battery a little more quickly than the lrx format did, but it's a pretty good swap to get access to the epub format IMHO.

astra · 12-24-2009, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkml

Just my $.02 - It's not a card issue. I don't use a card in my Sony, and I've been loading books as .lrf (epub sucks - wish I hadn't done the upgrade). My battery life has been cut to 1/2 or (if I'm being generous) 1/3 of what it used to be.

It is really worrying to hear people complain about battery life degradation after the upgrade

I think that you have to start a new topic, maybe even with poll asking people who did the upgrade whether they noticed a significant battery life degradation or not. Then email Sony and include a link to the poll. Maybe it will grab their attention.

rwsimon · 12-24-2009, 04:25 PM

My observations: I have 2 upgraded 500s and the battery life is MUCH shorter than before. I used to get 10-14 days on a charge with typical reading levels. Now I get 3-4 days. This isn't a subtle effect for me.

12-11-2009, 12:39 PM	#1
Brandon202000 Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10000 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: SONY	PRS-500 Battery Life After Epub Upgrade Another poster mentioned that both his PRS-500s (2) seemed to have shorter battery life after the Epub firmware upgrade. I, too, noticed the same, at first thinking it was because my 500 is old and the shortened battery life was something I had not noticed before. But now I have my doubts. Has anyone else noticed this?

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12-11-2009, 12:57 PM	#2
Scott_T Groupie Posts: 154 Karma: 876 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle 3 wifi, Sony PRS-300, Sony PRS-500, Reb1100(dead)	Noticing something myself. I fully charged mine before I sent it off and it came back with a half charge. I wonder if the update screws up the charger calibration. I'm going to run it till it dies and see what happens.

12-11-2009, 01:05 PM	#3
rwsimon Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 288 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Upstate New York Device: 2 Sony PRS-500s, iPad	Both of my upgraded PRS500's run out of juice after maybe 4 days or so. Both used to last for a couple of weeks. So the upgrade is starting to look like the gift that keeps giving (see my good news for Mac owners on another thread.)

12-11-2009, 09:34 PM	#4
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	If I remember correctly, when the 600 was announced, Sony specifically listed battery life based on Sony's format vs. ePub, with ePub eating more power than Sony's format. So it seems reasonable to imagine a decrease in the amount of time between recharges, all other things being equal...

12-15-2009, 10:39 AM	#6
taildragger-j3 Writer AND Reader Posts: 54 Karma: 30 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Aggieland, TX Device: PRS-505	I was getting shorter and shorter times between recharges before the upgrade, so I went ahead and ordered a battery off of Ebay while it was gone. When it came back the battery life was still weak, perhaps weaker. I popped the little 500 open, swapped the battery, and now it lasts even better than when it was new. I certainly can't say for certain, but it seems our problems stem more from 2-3 year old li-po batteries than from epub. Just my 2 cents.

12-18-2009, 07:50 AM	#8
taildragger-j3 Writer AND Reader Posts: 54 Karma: 30 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Aggieland, TX Device: PRS-505	I do think the battery life is a little bit shorter even with my new battery, but it's LOTS better than before I swapped. Here's a link to the seller: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

12-18-2009, 07:43 PM	#10
Scott_T Groupie Posts: 154 Karma: 876 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Kindle 3 wifi, Sony PRS-300, Sony PRS-500, Reb1100(dead)	I was using old lrf's that were on my card so its not epubs that are eating the battery

12-24-2009, 02:44 PM	#12
junkml Addict Posts: 277 Karma: 1004969 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: Sony Reader	Just my $.02 - It's not a card issue. I don't use a card in my Sony, and I've been loading books as .lrf (epub sucks - wish I hadn't done the upgrade). My battery life has been cut to 1/2 or (if I'm being generous) 1/3 of what it used to be.

12-24-2009, 02:51 PM	#13
taildragger-j3 Writer AND Reader Posts: 54 Karma: 30 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Aggieland, TX Device: PRS-505	I'm sure the epub books chew up the battery a little more quickly than the lrx format did, but it's a pretty good swap to get access to the epub format IMHO.

12-24-2009, 04:25 PM	#15
rwsimon Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 288 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Upstate New York Device: 2 Sony PRS-500s, iPad	My observations: I have 2 upgraded 500s and the battery life is MUCH shorter than before. I used to get 10-14 days on a charge with typical reading levels. Now I get 3-4 days. This isn't a subtle effect for me.

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