Glo Expected Battery Life (and customer service frustration)

[Nightyume]

Originally Posted by TechniSol

For the last few years most Lithium batteries have been rated for 500+ discharge/recharge cycles. The thing is that to get the "+" part mostly requires shallower discharge cycles and recharge cycles slow enough to limit heating to a minimum. Now, that's not to say your battery will only last 500 cycles, or that capacity will remain anywhere near 100%, but as low as 80% usually makes very little difference for most applications... With shallower discharges one might get nearer 1000 cycles, but overall still probably only ever draw the same amount of power, or a bit more, from the battery over time.

Actually the 500 refers to full recharge/discharge charge cycles but ironically discharging it completely can shorten its life span. For lithium based batteries it's recommended that you don't really get below 20% too often. And yeah, the number they give refers to how it is before your capacity drops too much. You can keep on charging for a long time after that, just the charging will take longer and won't hold anywhere near as long. But anyways, the issue of battereies is a complicated one with many myths and legends (like charging your device for 24 hours when you first get it which is a carry over from the nickel based batteries). The point is that ereaders should last for years. And yes, the battery is a consumable even if it's not user replaceable since it has a limited shelf life, every time you recharge it you're consuming part of its shelf life (though arguably this can make the entire device a "consumable" as if the battery is not replaceable it too has a limited shelf life).

[TechniSol]

Actually, that's what I said, semantically speaking. Yeah, I'm familiar with the apocryphal going all the way back to the story about ni-cads(GE, if I recall) getting charging to the exact same voltage in a satellite way back in the day originating the run 'em all the way down now and then bit or they'll get stuck at a certain capacity.

So far, I've been pretty impressed with most lithium based batteries I've had in laptops, tablets, phones, readers, etc.

[jkr]

Brief update: finally got back on the phone with Kobo, and tried my best not to take no for an answer. This time, it finally worked. After a bit of back and forth (taking pictures of my model, answering some follow-up questions) they've agreed to replace it.

Not sure if it was my stern tone, or the fact that I mentioned that I had brought these issues up on a public forum. Either way, looks like a happy -- if somewhat delayed -- ending.

[Nightyume]

Congratulations =D

[TechniSol]

Best of luck, and good for you!

[thel8elvis]

Congrats. I couldn't find my original receipt they wanted, so I gave up.

[TechniSol]

See if they can track it by the device's serial number. There is an internal serial number viewable in the device settings. When I had issue with a Nook STR they could tell everything about it right in Barnes & Noble... I can't imagine Kobo couldn't verify the age of the device -if they so wished.

[thel8elvis]

Thank you for the suggestion. At this point, however, Kobo has lost me as a customer, and I don't have the desire to jump through any more hoops for them. Based on past experience, I know amazon customer service will not disappoint me. I wanted to love my kobo, hackability, and open standards (epub), but that's only part of the package at this point.

Thanks again to all for the informative posts.

[byblo]

Just finished my test.

In case someone needs it:
After a full charge, it took 54 hours of reading (add +-2 weeks of sleeping mode) before my Glo complained for a recharge (at 10% battery. The next day it was powered off by the device)
Full refresh pages was set to 6. No wifi, apps or light was used, only reading. Using dictionary and marking from time to time.

[Thalinor]

I just wanted to point out my Glo has NO battery life issues, in fact I made a move a few months back and it sat at full charge untouched for about a month in a power-off state; when I turned it back on it was still full power. It charges fine and holds a charge for many hours, in fact I have yet to drain the battery fully even after many hours of reading. I have charged it about 6 times over the past few months [never from anywhere near empty, usually 75%] and have about a hundred hours of reading done on the device, many with the backlight on.

If you plug/unplug the device into a USB often its not great for the battery as it may take off a partial charge from the max charges the battery has, if you leave it in "sleep" mode its going to drain the battery, if you leave Wi-Fi on its going to drain the battery when it tries to sync every day so Kobo can spy on you through Google Analytic's.

I should note I have blocked Google Analytic's on the device through a hack and never use Wi-Fi because IMO its an ebook reader not a tablet.

My last ebook reader a Aluratek Libre Pro had battery issues but that was because I bought it on clearance and when I got home realized it had sat with a dead battery for what must had been months at the store. Any LI battery that sits dead for months will eventually fail to charge up after a while or not hold a full charge even if it says it is holding a full charge. This is because the safety features built into LI batteries to prevent over charge and over discharge. If your unit sat dead for a while that could be the issue.

Lastly there was another thread on these forums with a woman who had a lot of battery issues similar to what you are describing. I don't know if she ever got it worked out but you may want to try searching the forums. I just wanted to let you know it was not normal, in fact while there are many things they could improve on the Glo, so far battery life has been pretty good overall. It could always be better of course, but it sounds like you have a problem with your unit.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Thalinor

If you plug/unplug the device into a USB often its not great for the battery as it may take off a partial charge from the max charges the battery has

That's not completely accurate. The battery is a Li-Ion cell. And yes, each time you connect, it is a partial charge. But, they are cumulative. So, 10 partial charges of 10% is roughly the same as a 100% charge cycle. That means if you connect and top up each day, it isn't any different than connecting once a week. In fact, it is generally better to do shallow discharge/recharge cycles for a Li-Ion battery and completely discharge them will shorten their life.

[spersephone]

I'm not sure that's true, I've heard many more times that a full charge less often is much better for their ability to retain the charge than partial ones more regularly?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by spersephone

I'm not sure that's true, I've heard many more times that a full charge less often is much better for their ability to retain the charge than partial ones more regularly?

Yes, your right and I was being a bit simplistic. There is a justification for avoiding the extremes in the charge levels for Li-Ion batteries. Some people say to keep it between 20% and 80%. My problem with this has always been that it means I don't have access to the full charge of the battery to run my device. For a laptop, that's more important than the low powered ereader Plus, it doesn't extend the battery life enough to make the hassle worthwhile.

Another part of this is with holding the battery at full charge. That is bad. It is why laptops won't recharge the battery unless the charge level has dropped below 95%. So long as you are actually using the device and running the battery down a bit each day, you probably won't notice a drop in battery capacity.

My practice for things with Li-Ion batteries in them is simple: Put the battery in and use it when needed and charge it when I can. It might not get the absolute longest life from the batteries, but I get the best use from the device.

[TechniSol]

I think the worst thing you can do is repetitively drain the battery deeply. But, I also think most intelligent designs mitigate that danger over and above the internal battery protection -so depending on the design they build a little "stupid factor" in to limit the carnage. Net result, you don't get quite the advertised capacity, but you really have to work hard at being stupid enough to shoot yourself in the foot, and it's still just a near miss if you do. That said, I'm going to continue to try charging at 40% remaining charge or higher whenever convenient.

Let's be fair, it's an ereader, how often is it CRITICAL that you drain it... It's not like you need to email that spreadsheet to your boss or get canned for it, as may be with a tablet or netbook, etc. Frankly, anyone in that situ quickly learns how to stay charged one way or another or finds a device that meets their needs without recharging.