Touch I'm quite worried about the battery.

[Quelch]

Ordered a Nook Simple Touch from Amazon
Having read this thread I'm hoping I don't have battery problems as I, like AlexGrama, would have difficulty returning it as the postal costs would be high from Australia

I would never become obsessive about the battery, that takes too much energy !

With the Kobo the only time I charge it is when I'm loading eBooks or removing them using Calibre, I leave it connected until it's charged

I expect to do the same with my nice new Nook ST when it arrives

If no one objects I'll put my experience with my new Nook on this thread

Hope AlexGrama's battery settles down soon and Alex becomes more confident with his new Nook !

[RAH]

Originally Posted by RAH

I think you may be right about turning the Nook completely off after a charge to get around the draining problem. In fact, I will try this next time I recharge, which is coming soon (I'm about 50% now). My Touch will be a good test of this idea, because I have a very reliably ill-behaved Touch. Unless I use my topping-off routine (spelled out above), it always drains rapidly after a recharge (about 1% per hour); topping it off always fixes it. We shall see about the total turn-off...

I am quoting myself to show that I am updating the test I said I would do.

Well, it worked! I charged my Touch to 100% and then turned it off completely (hold power button down for 5 seconds). A few hours later I turned it back on (it was still at 100%) and read for about half hour and then let it sleep over night. This morning it was still at 100%. So it does seem that this also solves the rapid-draining problem, and it certainly is easier than the topping-off routine I have been using (i.e. let it drain from 100% to about 85, then charge it again).

We shall see if this holds up, however. I think that I tried this before (like 6 months ago) and stopped using the technique for some reason (like perhaps it will start rapidly draining in a few days). We shall see. I will report back.

I agree that some people obsess over battery life. But others have to obsess a little. In my case, my Touch will completely drain in 4 or 5 days (from 100% down to below 20) if I don't do something to stop it (like topping off or now it seems by turning it off).

[soondai]

I tried turning it off a few charges ago based on some comments on the old battery problem thread and it did not work for me. Though I am pretty sure I just turned it off for a few minutes.

But it was time to charge again, so I am going to give it another try. Like RAH's, drop 1 percent per hour unless I top off.

edit: turning off for a couple hours seems to have worked. Sitting at 100 percent 7 hours after charging.

[RAH]

Mine is still sitting at 100% after 2 days, even having read a few hours on it. If this seems odd, well, this is exactly how mine behaves when it is working well - i.e. in the past, when I have topped it off, it has stayed at 100% for about 3 days and then it starts to gradually drop like a well-behaved Touch, giving me approx 1 month of use. So, in other words, at this point, the turning-off technique seems to be working exactly like the topping-off technique, which is great! Once it starts dropping into the 90 percents, I will get a better idea if it really is OK, but right now it is looking good.

Funny that both soondai and I had the same impression that turning it off didn't work well earlier. Theoretically, soondai, turning it off "for a few minutes" should be OK. I mean, the idea is that it is the turning off operation after the recharge that makes it work correctly after doing it (as opposed to letting it got to sleep after the recharge). This is like shutting down a computer, which is a complete reboot, so it is a significant thing to do. So my thinking is that the length of time you leave it off shouldn't matter. Of course, when you have equipment that is not working like it is supposed to, I suppose it's hard to be theoretical about how it should work using some fixit trick.

Anyway, so far so good!

[soondai]

Mine is holding up as well. I'm sure you're right that it isn't a case of letting it sit off for a while that made the difference.

I doubt it's the new firmware version either.

No idea. I know I tried it once before based on something from the old thread, probably 3 months ago or so, and it didn't work.

But it is nice to have another (and possibly quicker) option than the top-off. Guess it'll be mid July before I give it another go.

[Paul_B]

Originally Posted by Quelch

Ordered a Nook Simple Touch from Amazon
Having read this thread I'm hoping I don't have battery problems as I, like AlexGrama, would have difficulty returning it as the postal costs would be high from Australia

I would never become obsessive about the battery, that takes too much energy !

With the Kobo the only time I charge it is when I'm loading eBooks or removing them using Calibre, I leave it connected until it's charged

I expect to do the same with my nice new Nook ST when it arrives

If no one objects I'll put my experience with my new Nook on this thread

Hope AlexGrama's battery settles down soon and Alex becomes more confident with his new Nook !

If you are buying ir from Amazon and had to return it then it should not cost you anything as Amazon pays return shipping and has UPS pick it up (here in the US - maybe they do it different in Australia).

[RAH]

Reporting back with my results. My Touch has now drained to 90%. I charged it on 6/9 PM, so that it is excellent. But it spent the first 3 days at 100% (like it always does when acting nice), and it kind of seems like it did go thru the 90s pretty fast, so I am keeping an eye on it.

I am afraid that its draining may accelerate quickly and that may be the reason I abandoned this turn-off technique about 6 months ago in favor of topping off. But so far, it seems OK...

[maxiart]

Seriously guys, you all need a chill pill...

[GreenMonkey]

Personally I'd swear 80% of the people obsessing about a few percent a day here are just over-reacting. I'd bet if you let the battery drain all of the way down (or 90% of the way), charged it, and then used it again, you'd see a month or two of battery life - like all of the rest of us. I'd say most of the time I get about a month, and I read on it a lot (2-3 hours some days, 30 min-1 hour a day on others).

I'm beginning to think the obsessive "topping it off" syndrome is affecting Android's battery % calculations (which is just an estimate, after all).

Some of the folks do have a battery drain problem - probably faulty Nooks - but like others have said, you'd see a totally dead device in a few days if you had that.

[RAH]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

I'm beginning to think the obsessive "topping it off" syndrome is affecting Android's battery % calculations (which is just an estimate, after all).

Some of the folks do have a battery drain problem - probably faulty Nooks - but like others have said, you'd see a totally dead device in a few days if you had that.

Well, all I can tell you is that my Touch has rapidly drained (about 1% per hour) since the day I bought it. If I let it go way down and then recharge to 100%, the normal way, it is completely drained in about 4 days. It doesn't vary. It has always been like that. I agree that it is faulty, but it hasn't become a "totally dead device" in a short time or anything. It works fine if I use what you call obsessive techniques, giving me about 1 months worth of reading. I have had it now for about 8 months.

The only way to stop the bad behavior is to top it off, or now it seems that rebooting also works. So what would you do if your Nook was doing this? Yes, I could have returned it, but this was my 2nd that had this problem, and I was tired of returning them, so I figured I could use it, and so far so good.

In case you think it's me, well i had a classic and it was fine, and i have a Color nook and it is fine too. It's just bad luck with the Touch for me.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by RAH

Well, all I can tell you is that my Touch has rapidly drained (about 1% per hour) since the day I bought it. If I let it go way down and then recharge to 100%, the normal way, it is completely drained in about 4 days. It doesn't vary. It has always been like that. I agree that it is faulty, but it hasn't become a "totally dead device" in a short time or anything. It works fine if I use what you call obsessive techniques, giving me about 1 months worth of reading. I have had it now for about 8 months.

"Totally dead" as in the battery is dead (not that the device has failed). It sounds like you have a bad unit since the battery drains in 4 days. I've been through 2 Nook classics (1 died), 2 Nook simple touches (first one was flaky), and now I'm on a Nook glow. I couldn't drain the battery on any of those in 4 days if I tried...the original Nook I could drain quickly doing a lot of 3G browsing, but that was about it.

You definitely have a defective device. It's not how the device should work, seriously. The weird charging techniques and messing around with it is a workaround to the core problem - a flaky unit. I know how it is - I put up with my flaky ST for like 6 months - touch screen would stop working, page turn buttons would stick, etc...would reboot it...it would work again for a day or two before getting wonky again - but it was a relief to return it and get a nice, solid, working unit.

You should be able to just use it, and plug it in every month or so, without any workarounds or topoffs or reboots. This is the behavior for most people by all accounts. If yours is behaving differently it's a bad unit for sure.

Some of these folks though are worrying about a 3-4% drop in a night and going all crazy with the weird charging techniques though for no reason. And frequently keeping a li-on battery at maximum charge is bad for long-term battery life - so they're also likely causing the battery to wear out a little faster:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/...i-ion-battery/

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by AlexGrama

Just a thought. If it has this battery problem, why does everyone (or almost) say that it is the best reader on the market? I know there are differences between it and Kindle as for interface and many other, but the battery is a big issue which, in my opinion, shouldn't be forgotten.

Maybe because the battery problem, if it exists, is rare and doesn't impact very many people. Of course, for those it does impact, google will inform you of every one. Mine doesn't have the issue. Google won't inform you of that (but now it will! )

I know that if I accidentally leave wifi turned on, the battery drains pretty quickly. That is to be expected.

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

Maybe because the battery problem, if it exists, is rare and doesn't impact very many people.

Completely agree with this (and the rest of the post but didn't want to copy all of it)

Battery life certainly is very important, and battery life for the vast majority of Nook owners is excellent!

[RAH]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

"Totally dead" as in the battery is dead (not that the device has failed). It sounds like you have a bad unit since the battery drains in 4 days.
...

Some of these folks though are worrying about a 3-4% drop in a night and going all crazy with the weird charging techniques though for no reason.

OK, i thought you meant the device was dead.

I agree, I have a defective unit, and I would have returned it, but I already returned an earlier one with the same problem, so I just didn't want to go thru the hassle again of returning another (you had to mail them to b&n at that time). I kind of knew how to work around the problem from messing with the first bad one for about 3 months before returning it, so I figured I could live with the newer one, and I have. This is not to say I don't wish it was working perfectly!

I agree that folks shouldn't obsess over 4% drop in the night.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by RAH

OK, i thought you meant the device was dead.

I agree, I have a defective unit, and I would have returned it, but I already returned an earlier one with the same problem, so I just didn't want to go thru the hassle again of returning another (you had to mail them to b&n at that time). I kind of knew how to work around the problem from messing with the first bad one for about 3 months before returning it, so I figured I could live with the newer one, and I have. This is not to say I don't wish it was working perfectly!

I understand - I put up with my flaky one for months until late in the winter this year - I didn't want to lose my bookmarks (I like to go back and correct typos and errors in my ebooks). Luckily B&N customer service had me just go to the store and swap it.