Sleep or Power Off?

[ltr]

After some initial problems with my Kobo-2, I have been using it now for about 7 days.

I read about 2 hours a night and then press the sleep button. I've never powered it off. I just wake it up every night and read 2 hours and then put it back to sleep.

I see my battery is still charged to about 2/3 position. That seems pretty good to me, with lots of charge left in the battery after reading for 7 days. That indicates I would get at least, if not longer than, 2 weeks a charge.

Is there any reason to ever power off? I would think that powering a Kobo's computer off and then rebooting it would draw a lot more power than just putting it to sleep, since the display doesn't dissipate any power in the static mode.

I read a lot on this forum about users powering off. Am I missing something?

ltr

[Samantha45]

I thought it powered off on it's own even if you put it to sleep. Mine does.

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by Samantha45

I thought it powered off on it's own even if you put it to sleep. Mine does.

The Wi-Fi version shouldn't shut off on it's own if you haven't specifically told it to. The Previous Kobo versio does.

As for what the difference is, when the system is turned off, the power is off, period, so there should be no power drain. When the system goes into sleep, like a computer, there's a little power being used to keep content/OS in the systems ram, so that it wakes up much faster than when you shut it off.

So, you should see much better life out of the battery if you turn it off when done, but then you have to wait for the entire system to boot back up.

cheers!
Steph S.

[ltr]

Originally Posted by Psyke

So, you should see much better life out of the battery if you turn it off when done, but then you have to wait for the entire system to boot back up.

cheers!
Steph S.

Fair enough, but I wonder if the power up routine causes a large amount of power being used as opposed to the simple out of sleep routine.

Either way, I feel I'll get more than 2 weeks out of each charge, which would be about how long before I need another book, so when I hook it up to the USB to charge it will be time to download a book. Then I never have to power it down.

ltr

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by ltr

Fair enough, but I wonder if the power up routine causes a large amount of power being used as opposed to the simple out of sleep routine.

Either way, I feel I'll get more than 2 weeks out of each charge, which would be about how long before I need another book, so when I hook it up to the USB to charge it will be time to download a book. Then I never have to power it down.

ltr

while the power up routine probably does consume more power than waking it, it's still proably not that bad, compared to a laptop, because there's no moving part, which is one of the biggest problems with laptops/pc's (and they're hoping to be rectified with the intro of SolidState Drives.).

2 weeks out of a charge is great, compared to my less than a week, but it also depends on how much you read it. The kobo2 battery is supposed to last 10 days, or about 8000 page turns. that averages out to about 800 pages a day, or about 34 pages an hour. I know I'm not getting anywhere close to that because I'm a very casual reader and I'll read anywhere from 100-200 pages a day, so technically my battery charge should last 4-8 times the average, so I shouldn't have to charge my battery for at least 40 days, but given that I only put it to sleep, I'll cut that in half and say I should get at least 20 days with my reading habits.

I'm still not complaining though, but it would be nice if we were seeing closer to advertised specs, or at least point out how they get the 8000 page turns/10 day figure.

[ltr]

Originally Posted by Psyke

The kobo2 battery is supposed to last 10 days, or about 8000 page turns. that averages out to about 800 pages a day, or about 34 pages an hour.

I just completed the first half of my little experiment to see how long my battery lasts.

I originally charged my battery Oct 27 at noon and then read two hours every night, after which I put the Kobo 2 to sleep.

I continued this routine until the battery went dead, not once turning the power off - only to sleep.

It lasted until night on the 11th day. I don't know if 11 days is good or not, but there it is.

So, I charged the battery today, and I'll repeat the experiment the same, except I'll use power off rather than sleep to measure the difference. I hope it's the same, since I'd rather just use sleep.

ltr

[HamsterRage]

It might take a couple of drain/charge cycles before the battery settles in to its best performance.

Also, the battery's life will be shortened if you always drain it dry before charging it.

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by HamsterRage

It might take a couple of drain/charge cycles before the battery settles in to its best performance.

Also, the battery's life will be shortened if you always drain it dry before charging it.

there seems to be protection from draining it completely dry as you get the message telling you that you need to charge it. If you try to ignore the message, and resume reading, it doesn't let you, but it's apparent there is still a bit of a charge left due to the flashing screen and the power light responding to the button presses.

[ltr]

Originally Posted by HamsterRage

It might take a couple of drain/charge cycles before the battery settles in to its best performance.

Also, the battery's life will be shortened if you always drain it dry before charging it.

I hadn't heard that before. My understanding is that whenever a lithium-ion polymer battery is used (as in the Kobo) that circuitry is always employed to avoid deep discharge and overcharge. I suspect that's the case, so I doubt I can harm the battery by running it until the device tells me to charge it.

ltr

[HamsterRage]

I won't pretend to be anything close to an expert on Lion batteries. My understanding was that small discharges and frequent top-ups was the best way to treat them.

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by ltr

I just completed the first half of my little experiment to see how long my battery lasts.

I originally charged my battery Oct 27 at noon and then read two hours every night, after which I put the Kobo 2 to sleep.

I continued this routine until the battery went dead, not once turning the power off - only to sleep.

It lasted until night on the 11th day. I don't know if 11 days is good or not, but there it is.

So, I charged the battery today, and I'll repeat the experiment the same, except I'll use power off rather than sleep to measure the difference. I hope it's the same, since I'd rather just use sleep.

ltr

I had been doing a bit of a test as well, and so far, power off instead of sleep is prolonging the battery life. I had been charging each monday, and by this time I'd be down to about half battery. it's barely budged so far, and I had a good 6 hour stretch of reading on tuesday as I was laid up in bed for most of the day. So I think going forward I will be shutting it off, but I would have liked to have the option whether the auto timer puts it to sleep or shuts it off. I know they removed the auto off because people were complaining, but I don't know why an option couldn't have been put in instead.

[ltr]

Originally Posted by Psyke

I had been doing a bit of a test as well, and so far, power off instead of sleep is prolonging the battery life. I had been charging each monday, and by this time I'd be down to about half battery. it's barely budged so far, and I had a good 6 hour stretch of reading on tuesday as I was laid up in bed for most of the day. So I think going forward I will be shutting it off, but I would have liked to have the option whether the auto timer puts it to sleep or shuts it off. I know they removed the auto off because people were complaining, but I don't know why an option couldn't have been put in instead.

Yeah, I'm on my 5th day using power off rather than sleep for my experiment and it is still showing full charge. Looks like power off will win. I'll carry on and complete the experiment so I'll know how long it goes. (Sleep went 11 days).

ltr

[ltr]

Originally Posted by ltr

I just completed the first half of my little experiment to see how long my battery lasts.

I originally charged my battery Oct 27 at noon and then read two hours every night, after which I put the Kobo 2 to sleep.

I continued this routine until the battery went dead, not once turning the power off - only to sleep.

It lasted until night on the 11th day. I don't know if 11 days is good or not, but there it is.

So, I charged the battery today, and I'll repeat the experiment the same, except I'll use power off rather than sleep to measure the difference. I hope it's the same, since I'd rather just use sleep.

ltr

Well, I ended my battery test experiment today, not because the battery was empty, but because I ran out of books. I figured if I was going to hook the reader up to my computer to buy a book, I may as well charge it.

Anyway, I was at 34 days and still had half a tank of battery left. I read about two hours a night and used power on/off each time. So, I would suspect it would go about 40 days on a charge.

That's plenty for me.

ltr

[sabredog]

You got 40 days out of a single charge?

That is excellent!

I am averaging around 30 days with sleep/power off on my Ko1, reading around two hours a night.

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by ltr

Well, I ended my battery test experiment today, not because the battery was empty, but because I ran out of books. I figured if I was going to hook the reader up to my computer to buy a book, I may as well charge it.

Anyway, I was at 34 days and still had half a tank of battery left. I read about two hours a night and used power on/off each time. So, I would suspect it would go about 40 days on a charge.

That's plenty for me.

ltr

wow, very nice. The most I can get is 12 days with Power off. If I use sleep, it's 7 days. I haven't been able to get through one book without requiring a charge (I'm a pretty slow reader). We'll see how the two new readers do once the girls get them on Christmas day..