Troubleshooting Paperwhite Battery Meter Error

[twowheels]

Is it possible that you're experiencing the problem that I reported with the light staying on? ( You know, the one that you suggested was just me using the cover incorrectly. :-) ) Perhaps your light is staying on and draining the battery?

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Is it possible that you're experiencing the problem that I reported with the light staying on? ( You know, the one that you suggested was just me using the cover incorrectly. :-) ) Perhaps your light is staying on and draining the battery?

I got 7 days on my first battery cycle and 8 days on the second cycle. I'm now on my third cycle being measured by session minutes in an Excel Spreadsheet.

If the light had been on all the time, it would have expended its energy in one or two days if it really draws high energy. From what I have seen in promos by Amazon, the light uses very little energy in any event since it uses LED bulbs. Thus, even if it was on all the time, it would not have made a material difference either way.

I also leave WiFi on all the time and use Page Refresh. Both of those settings use more energy than if they were off.

However, I notice that GSam Battery Monitor for my Fire 1st Gen just reset their formula for measuring WiFi energy usage. I leave WiFi on all the time there as well. It shows that the Screen uses 82% of battery energy, WiFi uses just 1.7% and all my other Apps use 12%. Thus, even WiFi is not as much an energy waster as I had thought in the past. Held Awake Android Apps use 4% there.

It is ironic that I've seen no posts from anyone in this Forum which mentioned the screen with large icons showing a large almost discharged battery, a wire and a lightning bolt apparently standing for current.

Most folks must be recharging much earlier than the appearance of this unique screen since i have not seen one other post here mentioning it.

[hawhill]

I've been skeptical from the beginning of this thread, and I'm now even more so.

Originally Posted by sirmaru

It appears the Paperwhite can NOT ever be taken down to zero charge.

Of course not. Knowing how a battery works and knowing a bit about electronics in the digital age, that should be rather obvious. Any gadget you have will also probably lie to you about the remaining charge. Customers tend to do stupid things if you don't enforce some basic rules. One of these is: Shut the device down when the battery charge left is reasonably low.

The occurrance of that screen showing a large battery icon discharged and a wire leading to a current icon is probably way above the zero level. That screen also prevents further use until charged. That screen was never present in the Kbd or Fire.

Of course it was on the Kbd. Lots of people found their K3s after one or two months of inactivity on the shelf, showing such a screen. And nope, the Fire won't probably show it. If you read about energy consumption for displaying something on an e-ink screen vs a background-lit LCD, you'll easily understand why this is the case.

If the battery had really gone to zero, the screen would have gone totally blank as had happened with the Kindle Kbd WiFi once and the Kindle Fire 7" 1st Gen twice.

I don't dispute that the K3 might show a blank screen (e.g. if the battery is really worn out (e.g. by doing funny experiments bringing it to its limits very often, like letting it discharge). But the default is the "charge me" screen. The screen of an e-ink device will _not_ go blank if it loses energy. Making it go blank will in fact need energy.

The problem with my PW unit is the battery METER still does not reflect usage.

It never will since "usage" does not really map to linear energy consumption. I've written about that earlier in this thread and I won't repeat my words.

My work around is to just keep reading and recording time usage until the warning screen appears. Then I can simply just charge one hour before it happens in the future until the meter starts working properly at some point.

I fail to see the point in this. Trying out of curiousity how long the battery will last is one thing. But running it down regularly - why would you want to do this? As I wrote again and again, non-linearity of energy consumption won't allow really good estimations of "time left" anyway. What worth has a battery meter that won't allow really good conclusions about "time left"? Not much more than telling you "come on lazy user, charge me". Or reminding you that you just did.

Just charge your Kindle once in a while, as it may fit. Don't bother about run time, it will most probably be long enough. If you travel with it for two weeks or more, take a charger with you.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by hawhill

Of course it was on the Kbd. Lots of people found their K3s after one or two months of inactivity on the shelf, showing such a screen. And nope, the Fire won't probably show it. If you read about energy consumption for displaying something on an e-ink screen vs a background-lit LCD, you'll easily understand why this is the case.


I don't dispute that the K3 might show a blank screen (e.g. if the battery is really worn out (e.g. by doing funny experiments bringing it to its limits very often, like letting it discharge). But the default is the "charge me" screen. The screen of an e-ink device will _not_ go blank if it loses energy. Making it go blank will in fact need energy.

I ran my Kindle Kbd WiFi to a blank screen at times and NEVER saw the PW screen showing the large battery icon and the icons for a wire and lightning bolt. I never saw that screen on my Kindle Fire 1st Gen as well. I've also run that down to a blank screen as well.

Unless someone chimes in on this thread stating they really saw it, I simply don't believe it.

The Kindle Kbd WiFi and the Kindle Fire 1st Gen both have warning screens showing the 15% level. I have not seen that screen on the Paperwhite. Again, if others have seen it, please chime in.

So far as I am concerned doing a real research project using an Excel Spreadsheet to record Session Times and the Cumulative Time down to the Icon Screen should produce real battery time results for my specific Paperwhite unit.

Claiming real research is futile, is just a cynical approach and uses unverified doctrines to contest facts.

However, I will admit that, since we've seen the PW with all kinds of defects being reported here, there probably will be a wide variance of battery times as well. Thus, my Session research project probably will only apply to just my individual unit unless others do a similar research project and confirm the results here.

When I establish the real time endurance of the PW battery, I can then continue the records on a regular basis and do a full charge one hour before the expected discharge to the icon screen. That will be far more accurate than using the battery meter.

The GSam Battery Monitor for the Kindle Fire 1st Gen achieves the same result for me. I can tell on their screen my exact battery usage time and what processes used the energy. Thus, while others claim battery times from 2 hours to 20 hours, I KNOW my unit uses about 5 hours and 15 minutes down to the 15% level on average of SCREEN TIME which is the major process using energy there. Others have claimed WiFi there uses more time but I KNOW my WiFi on all the time uses just 1.5% of the battery energy and the screen uses 83% of battery energy.

Finding out the real Paperwhite battery endurance time is an interesting project for me at the same level as reading large numbers of eBooks on history, war and biography. Its just another way to enjoy the device.

When the first cycle of recorded Session Times is complete, I'll post the results in this thread.

[Penforhire]

I don't know of any consumer device whose lithium ion (not LiPo, whole 'nother kettle of RC hobby danger) is allowed to discharge to a damaging level before shutting off. Running the battery from full to fully discharged (according to the device, probably still 15+% actual remaining) is, in fact, the only way to get the "life meter" calibrated on most devices, one of the reasons companies like Apple recommend a complete charge/discharge cycle every month or so.

[hawhill]

To my utter astonishment you're perfectly right: See e.g. http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipad.html, section "Use Your iPad Regularly". I'd never have guessed that this would be suggested behaviour. So I apologize about being too absolute in my suggestions earlier.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I can then continue the records on a regular basis and do a full charge one hour before the expected discharge to the icon screen. That will be far more accurate than using the battery meter.

But why? Why do you care to wait so long to charge it? Just stick it on the charger now and then when it's near 40% or so...

Why 40%?

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...ased_batteries

Look at the Depth of discharge table. Discharging 100% only gives 300-500 cycles whereas discharging 50% gives 1,200 – 1,500 cycles, which is what hawhill was getting at.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by twowheels

But why? Why do you care to wait so long to charge it? Just stick it on the charger now and then when it's near 40% or so...

Why 40%?

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...ased_batteries

Look at the Depth of discharge table. Discharging 100% only gives 300-500 cycles whereas discharging 50% gives 1,200 – 1,500 cycles, which is what hawhill was getting at.

You are correct. My NowBible User Guide says that Lithium batteries last for about 500 FULL charges. Obviously, less than full charges will have a higher number.

Frankly, I'm running this Cumulative Time Session test for my own enjoyment on the Paperwhite. Its the same reason I use my GSam Battery Monitor on my Kindle Fire 1st Gen. I am curious about these batteries and enjoy investigating how the battery charges get used.

Most folks probably could forget the entire exercise since most of us will be replacing our eReaders due to obsolescence, not battery death. For example, as soon as I get my 32 Gb Fire HD 7", I'll move all my eBooks and apps to it from the Fire 1st Gen and give away the latter device to my daughter. It only lasted 11 MONTHS and is still in fine shape. I just wanted the newest toy.

Actually, I keep records on ALL my device batteries in the same Excel Book on different spreadsheets. Its just another hobby of mine.

I find it fascinating that on my Kindle Fire 1st Gen WiFi operates MORE hours than Screen activity but uses only 1.7% of battery energy versus 86.1% for the Screen usage. The Kindle app there only uses 3.1% of battery energy but is my predominant use on that device. If someone ever offers for sale an active content utility to measure battery usage on the PW, I'd definitely be one of their first customers.

[Heifzilla]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I ran my Kindle Kbd WiFi to a blank screen at times and NEVER saw the PW screen showing the large battery icon and the icons for a wire and lightning bolt. I never saw that screen on my Kindle Fire 1st Gen as well. I've also run that down to a blank screen as well.

Unless someone chimes in on this thread stating they really saw it, I simply don't believe it.

I have seen the big battery and the lightning bolt telling me to charge my KK a few times, usually after it had been sitting unused in my drawer for more than a month's time.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

You are correct. My NowBible User Guide says that Lithium batteries last for about 500 FULL charges. Obviously, less than full charges will have a higher number.

Yes, but notice that a 1/2 discharge gives three times as many cycles.