Battery low, but it isn't

A couple of times I've seen a brief popup that gives a low battery message. I've ignored it because I know the battery is not low and the popup disappears right away with no feedback required from me.

Tonight I hooked up my usb keyboard and was typing an email in the browser when all of a sudden, the lcd side abruptly shut off. Lcd only because eink side still had my wallpaper picture on it. The unit was unresponsive. I then noticed the rapidly blinking red light on the power button. Again I can confirm that I had verified battery status as greater than 75%. I plugged in power cord and the unit powered up.

But now I'm getting a little worried that there's something going on.

Thoughts?

I did install two game apps from the entourage site... sudoku and solitaire. I didn't notice the popup message before I did those installs. Any chance they are the problem?

At this moment, battery status is 93%. Could there be a short somewhere that caused the abrupt crash?

It sounds kinda strange, if you ask me. But, I'm pretty confident that downloading apps from the entourage store should not result in your device acting strangely. Have you tried tech support?

Originally Posted by PugLady

A couple of times I've seen a brief popup that gives a low battery message. I've ignored it because I know the battery is not low and the popup disappears right away with no feedback required from me.

I have had this happen a dozen or so times, but the LCD side has never just completely shut off. Maybe you have a bad batter? Contacting tech support is probably the best bet.

The blinking red light does suggest the battery actually had run down. If you had been using the PE for 4 hours or more, this would be expected even if the battery status showed higher. Your LCD turning off and being unresponsive indicates the power had quit, too. Note that in a sudden power failure like this, the eInk side will continue to show whatever it last displayed (an eBook, a Journal, or whatever).

If your battery is running out in 2 hours or less, you may want to contact Tech Support since the battery itself may be flawed (although I've heard essentially no reports of battery problems on the PE, while the EE had more than a handful of reports on these forums of needing the battery replaced).

As for the low power popup, I get this on my PE from time to time when the battery status is showing at leat 50%, just like you. A quirk, I guess, but perhaps my battery is doomed, too?

It's a bit of a mystery. Like I said, there was over 90% reported on status. I can also confirm that it was almost fresh charged with maybe a half hour of use, 15 mins if which was just prior to the crash. Maybe I'll have to contact support after all. Thanks.

A faulty battery will run out suddenly rather than slowly running down. Tech Support no doubt will be able to help you.

I experienced the same symptoms 2 days ago.
I noticed that the PE was very hot at the time. Few moments before, I was listening music with bluetooth headset, while browsing through wifi. I put the PE in its sleeve, battery was approx 50%. 1 hour later, it was drained out with the blinmking red led. I thought maybe it was due to some background apps (the music player maybe ? ) in addition to the BT + Wifi on ...

Since I rebooted it , it works fine, almost 12 hours battery time ...

I'm seeing similar symptoms on my EE. It feels like the battery is generally giving me a solid lifespan- 8 hours intermittent sleep/use with WiFi on constantly- but the software battery display shows maybe 2x what it should. I've seen the "15% battery" popup flicker a few times, and had power cut out twice, both after leaving the device on for 8 hours, both with the battery reporting ~65% when I plugged in the charger and powered on. I've spotted the red light once, but having only seen it once, I couldn't say anymore whether it was a fast blink or a slow blink.
For anyone who has gone to tech support about a battery issue, is the prognosis usually the battery itself, or the EE hardware? I don't want to drag this thread down into the ambient politics, but suffice to say I like my EE enough that I'd rather shell out for a second battery and keep the flaky one around as a spare, or just accept that I need to convert the battery display in my head from now on, than send my whole already-somewhat-customized unit back for a multi-week repair/replace with the company on ambiguous footing...

Edit: In the spirit of "it will be useful to have regardless, and they may need the money more than I do right now," I went ahead and ordered a spare. I'll try to remember to post back once it arrives as to whether I end up with 1 battery that works perfectly or just two that work to 50% :P

I have had this same problem, I contacted support with no response. It's happened a few times now. I charged it and started using it, had full batt. Barely used it for maybe 30 mins and it was saying less than 15% remaining and shut down. I turned on same problem, shut down again. I took the battery out let it sit for a few and booted up again to full batt. Another time I charged the thing all day and came home and read for about an hour and it would die. I only got my device beginning January. There are many times that it goes to sleep an refuses to wake up. I have sent in a few support requests and have received no responses.

Sounds like the battery is defective. You should call them at 1-866-639-0080 to get a more immediate response.

I get the occasional low-battery-message flicker, too. I haven't worried about it because the battery seems just fine. I might be imagining things, but it seems to happen when the power indicator goes to quarters, meaning when it goes from 100% to 75% and again from 75% to 50% and 50% to 25%. When I have it closed on the bedside table (yes I take it to bed with me! ) I once in a while hear the tiny pop of the speakers and open it to see if the battery has drained and it is shutting down -- it isn't, so I think that might be related.

The battery message I get goes by so quickly I don't see what it actually says. This is another reason I don't worry -- my PE is saying, "I have a problem, oop, nope, never mind!"

Myst, your problem sounds different. I hope you got it resolved!

Not that I think anyone here's problem is that simple, but just a handy reminder that if you do experience battery problems (in general) with items that have removable batteries, it's never a bad idea to put the battery in the freezer for 5 - 10 min. when it acts up. Just like "turn it off then on again", "put the battery in the freezer" should be a go-to solution in hopes that you just need a quick fix.

Just as a follow up, the new battery arrived weeks ago but I got busy. In the interim, lots of EE use and no odd battery state messages or power cuts. So that was the problem, not that the solution will be as viable if the accessories store itself is gone :P