Quote:
Originally Posted by carpetmojo
I seem to have lost track of the battery efficiency guidelines debate re: the 650, also 350 .......
Or confused, more like ! 
So ................ could some kind soul help (for both/each device please.) |
Battery charging works pretty much exactly the same for the 350, 650, and 950, though of course the 650 and 950 need to be charged more often if you use their more power hungry features, like MP3 playback on the 650, or WiFi on the 950.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carpetmojo
a] What's the best guide as to when it's it better to shut down rather than stand-by ? I presume it will relate to how long it won't be opened again, like turning your car engine off.
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Sony recommends that the reader be shut down completely any time it will not be used for a full day or more, but lots of folks don't bother with this unless they are trying to stretch the battery life. Don't worry, if you forget, and the batteries start to run down, the Sony will automatically detect this and shut itself down completely after 48 hours in standby.
The reason for only using a full shutdown for longer idle time periods that exceed 24 hours, is that it takes a fair amount of power to fully boot up the reader from a fully shutdown state, and if you do this for shutdown periods of less than a day, it could potentially use more battery power than simply using the standby mode.
Truth be told, I almost NEVER shutdown my PRS-650 completely, unless it locks up or slows down for some reason due to a flaky book. It just takes too long to reboot, and even using standby instead of fully shutting down each night, I still get a full week or more of battery life between charges.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carpetmojo
b] Is it best to let batteries run out, or recharge on one bar, two bars ?
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No it's not a good idea at all to run the battery down completely, in fact it can cause problems. The older NICAD batterys needed to be fully cycled to prevent 'memory', but Lithium Ion batteries work best if kept between about 10% charge and 90% charge.
In fact, fully discharging a Lithium battery is very destructive, and can destroy the battery completly in a single deep discharge, so the Sony is designed so that if you run it down to near zero, it will FORCE A COMPLETE SHUTDOWN.
Overcharging is much less of an issue, in fact Wikipedia reports that even if a Lithium Ion battery is held at 100% charge for a full year, it will only loose a few percent more of it's full capacity than it would loose in any case. If you are worried about this very slight overcharge effect, just remove the USB charging cable right after the RED LED on the top of your reader goes out (but again, if you forget and leave the reader on charge, even for several days, it won't cause any significant harm)
Just remember that over charging is not a big issue, but over discharge can be a big problem, so if the reader will not be used for several weeks to several months, be sure to fully charge it first, then do a full shutdown.
c] I tend to bookmark, then stand-by if I'm not going to return to it for a couple of hours. Does the b/mark facility use any more power than going straight to stand-by.
In fact, does bookmarking use any power at all ?
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Setting a bookmark uses only a tiny amount of power, about the same as a couple page changes, but once it's set it uses no additional power at all.
You are aware that the Sony will automatically remember and return to the last page that you were reading in each and every book, even if you switch between hundreds of different titles?
In fact, even without setting a single bookmark; I have found that my Sony will reliably return to the last page that I was reading, even on books that I haven't opened in several months.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carpetmojo
I think that's all, much appreciated.  |
Glad to help out. Enjoy your Sony.
