Glo Bad battery?

[Mrs_Often]

I've had my Glo for a month minus a day. I didn't use it much the first week, then charged it for the first time in the second week (was necessary, I let it go completely empty), and had to recharge it in the third week (empty again) which I found odd. Then the fourth week, the battery was dead again. So I'm keeping an eye on the battery charge percentage this time. So far, the battery is decreasing with 1% per hour in standby mode (!).

This means it will only last just over 4 days if I'm not even using it, while the battery is advertised to last 1 month without light. Before the last charge I reset the device and kept sideloaded books off to be sure it's not due to a faulty epub. All that's on there is a couple of kepub previews and one kepub that I'm currently reading. Light is on when I use the device and thus the memory knows the light should go on when I wake up the Glo (would this matter in battery usage?). Also, Wifi is off (not that it would matter in sleep mode), and listening for sleep cover magnet is also off.

Does my Glo have a faulty battery or could a kepub be messing about? The previews I had on my Touch as well with no problem; the regular kepub book I'm reading is new. I think I might throw that off now (stop the sync/delete from account) to test. Using latest firmware, 2.3.1, loaded regularly with wifi sync. Any feedback and thoughts welcome. Thanks.

[jusmee]

Are you turning it off (not just sleep mode), and is the wifi turned off. You need to do both these things to maximise battery life.

I can't imaging how a book sitting in the file system can change battery life btw.

[voidoid]

I have noticed with my Touch that occasionally the battery meter goes a bit wonky. I fix it just by re-booting [re-starting] the device. Otherwise I just sleep it.

In my experience the start-up required after a shutdown uses a lot of power and unless you're not going to use if for a couple of days or so it's best to leave it sleeping.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by voidoid

I have noticed with my Touch that occasionally the battery meter goes a bit wonky. I fix it just by re-booting [re-starting] the device. Otherwise I just sleep it.

In my experience the start-up required after a shutdown uses a lot of power and unless you're not going to use if for a couple of days or so it's best to leave it sleeping.

My experience is the exact opposite. I read every day, often 2 or more sessions. To get a month's battery usage, I MUST shutdown each time. Sleep mode get's me only about a week.

[GeoffR]

My Glo battery doesn't last as long as I hoped, I get about 8-9 hours reading time per charge (with WiFi off, light on about half the time), and find myself needing to charge it every second day. It doesn't seem to lose charge while in sleep mode though, just while reading.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

My Glo battery doesn't last as long as I hoped, I get about 8-9 hours reading time per charge (with WiFi off, light on about half the time), and find myself needing to charge it every second day. It doesn't seem to lose charge while in sleep mode though, just while reading.

If it's using that much while you are reading, you probably won't notice the little bit sleep uses, much less power off mode. IMO you should be aiming for about a month of reading at an hour or so a day, or 8000 to 10000 page turns so yours does seem a little bit excessive.

[dakini]

I'm another who always powers my ereader (touch) down every time i finish reading. the powering off and on doesn't seem to ever decrease the battery.

you asked if it could be the kepub ... two things to consider. one is how big a file it is. the few times i've had strange battery draw, it's been due to the book i was reading being a large file.

second, when you put it to sleep do you leave the book where you left off, or do you return to the home screen? that might make a difference.

[voidoid]

I hope that it is possible to fairly easily replace the battery on these devices. I've had a bad battery in a Sony reader and an ipod and am pretty well sick of it. On the other hand if they can be user replaced then no problem.

I also use a rechargeable toothbrush and have done for about 25 years and the batteries seem to last about 10 years before failing if they are pretty well discharged before full recharge. They are NiMH which is a bit different chemistry to Kobo devices. It seems to me that the batteries last longer if you use the device frequently and recharge it as needed. It seems to be death to the batteries to just leave them for a few months to go flat. They may not come back fully again.

Any one else know anything about this stuff?

[robko]

Do you have a SD card in it? That will use more power. I download 2 papers a day via wifi, use the light always on when reading and rarely turn the device off (sleep it when not in use) and likely 2-3 hours reading a day. I can easily get a week out of it. The meter is somewhat wonky. I find it drops in big jumps when using the wifi in the upper 1/2 of the meter, but I don't think it is really using that. Seems to be slower dropping in bottom 1/2 of the meter.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by voidoid

I hope that it is possible to fairly easily replace the battery on these devices. I've had a bad battery in a Sony reader and an ipod and am pretty well sick of it. On the other hand if they can be user replaced then no problem.

I have not had much luck with lithium type batteries either, nowhere near as reliable or long-lasting as NiMH in my experience. If the Glo battery is replacable, I wonder if there is enough room to replace it with something bigger? I wouldn't mind the extra weight if I could get more reading time from it.

[jusmee]

This thread has me wondering if the Glo has much poorer battery life than the Touch? You wouldn't even consider changing the Touch battery - mine lasts so long between charges

[robko]

Originally Posted by jusmee

This thread has me wondering if the Glo has much poorer battery life than the Touch? You wouldn't even consider changing the Touch battery - mine lasts so long between charges

I know in my case (and I've seen others say the same) the battery life they're getting out of a Glo using the light all the time is still longer than Touch used in the manner (realizing that relative life between different users will vary depending on wifi usage etc).

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by robko

I know in my case (and I've seen others say the same) the battery life they're getting out of a Glo using the light all the time is still longer than Touch used in the manner (realizing that relative life between different users will vary depending on wifi usage etc).

Of course it will vary, yes, however I'm glad the Glo does have decent battery life.

Not sure why the contrary is being said in this thread though. I mean - only 4 days when not in use? charging every other day? wanting a bigger longer lasting battery?

[DNSB]

My experience is that I am going about 17 days between recharges on my Glo. In that period, I use the light at one step from minimum for about 8-10 hours. WiFi is kept off unless I am doing a sync. I seldom power off the reader preferring the most or less instant on of sleep. All my books (other than kepubs) reside on a uSD card.

These times are up from the times I saw when using the Touch by about 20%.

As usual, YMMV.

Regards,
David

[Mrs_Often]

Thanks for all the replies.

Originally Posted by jusmee

Are you turning it off (not just sleep mode), and is the wifi turned off. You need to do both these things to maximise battery life.

I'm putting it in sleep mode, not turning off. And of course the battery should last longer by switching the device off instead of putting it in sleep mode, but that depends on how often the device is used (switched on and off again) etc. Regardless, leaving it in sleep mode should not cause the battery to drain so quickly is 1% an hour... Or... as it happens, over night that 1% changed to 2.8% drop per hour! That's only just over ONE FULL DAY of standby time. Unacceptable.

Originally Posted by dakini

you asked if it could be the kepub ... two things to consider. one is how big a file it is. the few times i've had strange battery draw, it's been due to the book i was reading being a large file.

second, when you put it to sleep do you leave the book where you left off, or do you return to the home screen? that might make a difference.

1: Good point. The kepub in itself isn't really that big (just a regular book, maybe slightly larger than normal I have no idea because I can't see the total page numbers anywhere "Absolute power" by David Baldacci)... but the chapter markers aren't all in place. The result is that the first chapter is supposedly 15 or so chapters long. I recall that the kobo devices load entire chapters into their cache to be able to page turn quickly... well, my first "chapter" is over 200 pages, so having all that in cache could well cause battery drain, no?

2: Also a good point. I leave the book on its page and do not go back to the home screen. For long chapters that would indeed make a difference. But still, on my Touch I would never go back to the home page when reading a book and always had lovely battery usage time. So only in the case of this book with a ridiculously large first chapter might this make a real big difference.

In any case, I've now deleted this kepub and put the epub version on my device. I'm not completely sure but I don't think epub chapters get loaded into cache so that should also help. Testing now.

Originally Posted by robko

Do you have a SD card in it? That will use more power. I download 2 papers a day via wifi, use the light always on when reading and rarely turn the device off (sleep it when not in use) and likely 2-3 hours reading a day. I can easily get a week out of it. The meter is somewhat wonky. I find it drops in big jumps when using the wifi in the upper 1/2 of the meter, but I don't think it is really using that. Seems to be slower dropping in bottom 1/2 of the meter.

Nope, no uSD card.
Sounds like you get much better battery usage than I do... still weird meter behaviour though. Have you done a complete empty to completely full charge cycle to calibrate the battery gauge?

Originally Posted by DNSB

My experience is that I am going about 17 days between recharges on my Glo. In that period, I use the light at one step from minimum for about 8-10 hours. WiFi is kept off unless I am doing a sync. I seldom power off the reader preferring the most or less instant on of sleep. All my books (other than kepubs) reside on a uSD card.

These times are up from the times I saw when using the Touch by about 20%.

As usual, YMMV.

Regards,
David

Now that sounds like that kind of usage that is desirable! Okay, thanks for that, now I know what to aim for and when to ask for a replacement.