Glo Glo Battery Problems

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by samhy

And with a Mini, you don't see that many characters. I figured out what it was because people here were talking about a low battery warning

well isn't that silly! you'd think they would at least fit the script to the device!

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by VelvetElvis

I bought a SkinDigital case for this one. Excellent value, BTW. Non-sleep cover. The cover is closed, but it doesn't contact the screen itself.

So the fourth Glo is the only one that (will) use(s) the SkinDigital? Did the previous three have a different case?

I'm currently at a day and half of sleep out side of my cover, and still at 100% (!) It doesn't mean much yet, as I did have similar results in the passed with huge plummets on day 2-3. But still. It's almost promising.

Originally Posted by VelvetElvis

Working from home today, but when I get a chance, I'm going to load on the same collection of books that's on the one being returned. To be honest, and I hope I'm proven wrong, I have no expectations of Glo #4 getting normal battery life.

Me neither. But fingers crossed anyway!

Originally Posted by samhy

And with a Mini, you don't see that many characters. I figured out what it was because people here were talking about a low battery warning

Hahahaha that is very silly indeed!

[Mrs_Often]

I'll be away until after the weekend. A spontaneous getaway yippee*

Just thought I'd let you all know in case you got really worried and thought I'd had too much Shiraz or something [because I am expecting that case this time around].




*((((Though they do have Wifi, but I'm keeping that a secret from myself for now.))))

[TechniSol]

Originally Posted by Peakcrew

These days I very rarely open the menu at all, hence my comment. My starting point is that there should be a low-battery warning that flashes up on the screen at about 10% (though ideally it would be configurable), just like most other portable devices manage with no difficulty.

To be fair, I rarely let anything I own get to such a low battery state, but it is annoying when my reader does it when I'm not in a position to do anything about it! I know that the way to do it is to flick to the menu every time I switch on, or to put it on charge every morning when I'm not reading and the mobile is not using the cable, but somehow that seems too "un-booklike" ...

Well said. I think a middle of the screen pop-up that is configurable would be worth a lot, because the 10% and down bit occurs very rapidly, far less than half an hour as I recall from last night. Being configurable would give people a chance to match it to their usage style. The indication only being visible if you press the center of the screen for a menu or to check the battery makes the text warning at 10% completely superfluous.

OTOH, I'm with Peakcrew as far as charging of lithium powered devices goes, I tend to charge in the 30-40% range as a matter of course.

Now that my test is over, I need to figure out how to learn to stop looking at the clock so much when I'm reading!

[Willa]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

I'll be away until after the weekend. A spontaneous getaway yippee*

Have a great time .. .

[robko]

Originally Posted by TechniSol

Well said. I think a middle of the screen pop-up that is configurable would be worth a lot, because the 10% and down bit occurs very rapidly, far less than half an hour as I recall from last night.

It currently (at least did on the Glo with one of the later betas of 2.4) comes up in place of the book title if you're reading a kepub (not sure on sideloads since I was reading a kepub when I was testing it). Having said that it was nearly useless even if noticed since I got less than 5 minutes more reading out of it both times I tried it.

[robko]

Originally Posted by VelvetElvis

Working from home today, but when I get a chance, I'm going to load on the same collection of books that's on the one being returned. To be honest, and I hope I'm proven wrong, I have no expectations of Glo #4 getting normal battery life.

Have you considered only loading what you're currently reading to get a baseline on the battery before you load everything? If it worked fine with a few then tanked when you added everything it would gives some clues where to look. Although if it tanked with only what you're currently reading I'm not sure what I'd think .

[Peakcrew]

Originally Posted by robko

Have you considered only loading what you're currently reading to get a baseline on the battery before you load everything? If it worked fine with a few then tanked when you added everything it would gives some clues where to look. Although if it tanked with only what you're currently reading I'm not sure what I'd think .

I think there is a lot to be said for that. One book, kepub if you have it, and get a baseline.

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

So the fourth Glo is the only one that (will) use(s) the SkinDigital? Did the previous three have a different case?

Sorry, what I meant was I got a Skindigital when I bought my GF the Glo. Her Touch has a Gecko cover. The Skindigital actually fits much nicer than the Gecko fits the Touch.

I'm currently at a day and half of sleep out side of my cover, and still at 100% (!) It doesn't mean much yet, as I did have similar results in the passed with huge plummets on day 2-3. But still. It's almost promising.

Funny you mention that. March 19 @ 10:00 AM #4 was at 100%. Checked it today (20th) at 5:00 PM and it's at 99%

Going to throw a book on that the GF is reading on her Touch and let her have at it and see how it goes.

Oh, got an email from Danny with a mailing label attached. Printed it out and am going to drop #3 off at FedEx tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a significant help when they get to dive into it.

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by robko

Have you considered only loading what you're currently reading to get a baseline on the battery before you load everything? If it worked fine with a few then tanked when you added everything it would gives some clues where to look. Although if it tanked with only what you're currently reading I'm not sure what I'd think .

I've tried it with only the default books it ships with, a freebie from the Kobo Store, and one that I sideloaded that worked fine on our other readers. Fail.

[SeeSee]

Hi Folks, I think the issue occurs when something touches the screen on a sleeping Glo…

My wife and I both have Kobo Glo readers, mine had no battery issues but my wife’s had the same issues reported in this thread. The Glo would lose charge while sleeping, typically it would last about 3 days from full charge to needing a re-charge, even if she had done minimal reading. My Glo in contrast would go several weeks without recharging, it did not lose charge while sleeping.

I’ve been reading this forum thread trying to determine if I should get a replacement Glo for my wife and took the plunge. I fully charged the new one and set it up with Kobo Desktop to upgrade to the latest firmware. I tested it over a couple of days letting it sleep and periodically waking it up to check battery consumption, it stayed at 100%. At that point I figured it was ok to load all of my wife’s books on so I transferred the rest using Calibre (we both have a mix of Kepubs and epubs).

After finishing the transfer of books I gave my wife the new Glo. We found that it started to discharge while sleeping as well! We knew the new Glo started off fine so we backtracked on what might have changed. The only things were the transfer of books, turning off the SleepCover function, and putting the Glo in a case (Skindigital not a Sleepcover). I took the New Glo out of the case and tested the sleep function over half a day, it stopped discharging during sleep.

I then put my Glo (never had issues, and I don’t use a protective case) into the skindigital and tested the sleep function. It didn’t discharge during sleep. I compare the settings between my Wife’s new Glo and mine and found that the SleepCover function was enabled on mine so I turned it off (not sure this is really a factor) and then tested the sleep function again. My Glo began to discharge during sleep.

At the same time as I was testing my Glo in her case, I tested my wife’s old Glo outside a case and it had stopped discharging during sleep. Its been sleeping outside the case for over 5 days now and the battery has not discharged at all. Prior to this it used to drain itself completely in about 3 days.

I took a closer look at the case my wife uses and it has a pocket on the inside cover which I think would touch the screen when the cover is closed. I tried testing the sleep function on the new Glo with the cover open vs. closed. When the cover was open (nothing touching the Glo screen) there was no battery drain during sleep. When the cover was closed there was sometimes batter drain during sleep (even with the SleepCover function on).

On the 3 Glo's I had in my possession it looks like the cover was preventing the Glo from sleeping properly when touching the screen of the Kobo. Not sure why though.

Anyhow, since the issue doesn't seem to be battery related I'll be returning one of the Glo's. Hopefully a firmware fix will come out to resolve this issue.

Hopefully this info helps.

[robko]

Originally Posted by VelvetElvis

I've tried it with only the default books it ships with, a freebie from the Kobo Store, and one that I sideloaded that worked fine on our other readers. Fail.

Wow, this just gets interestinger and interestinger. That mostly rules out hardware (since you're on #4) and content, so that only leaves your specific account as the only obvious difference. Not that you want (or need) to play further, but have you tried setting up the device with a new (dummy) account or your girlfriends account? Of course, since Kobo will soon have their hands on a faulty device it's probably not worth the effort to mess around at this point.

[HappyNihil]

Originally Posted by SeeSee

Hi Folks, I think the issue occurs when something touches the screen on a sleeping Glo…

That would actually completely explain why I started to see this issue on my Kobo after the purchase of a case... Mine also has a pocket on the inside that touches the screen when closed and the "drainage" seems to only happen after I wake up the reader after a long time in the case. At this point this is obviously anecdotal but it seems to line up very well with what Im experiencing at least.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by SeeSee

I then put my Glo (never had issues, and I don’t use a protective case) into the skindigital and tested the sleep function. It didn’t discharge during sleep. I compare the settings between my Wife’s new Glo and mine and found that the SleepCover function was enabled on mine so I turned it off (not sure this is really a factor) and then tested the sleep function again. My Glo began to discharge during sleep.

At the same time as I was testing my Glo in her case, I tested my wife’s old Glo outside a case and it had stopped discharging during sleep. Its been sleeping outside the case for over 5 days now and the battery has not discharged at all. Prior to this it used to drain itself completely in about 3 days.

I took a closer look at the case my wife uses and it has a pocket on the inside cover which I think would touch the screen when the cover is closed. I tried testing the sleep function on the new Glo with the cover open vs. closed. When the cover was open (nothing touching the Glo screen) there was no battery drain during sleep. When the cover was closed there was sometimes batter drain during sleep (even with the SleepCover function on).

On the 3 Glo's I had in my possession it looks like the cover was preventing the Glo from sleeping properly when touching the screen of the Kobo. Not sure why though.

Anyhow, since the issue doesn't seem to be battery related I'll be returning one of the Glo's. Hopefully a firmware fix will come out to resolve this issue.

That sounds like the pocket is preventing the Glo from going to sleep. I reported something similar a week or so ago when I put the Glo face down on some paper that had a corner turned up. In that case, it never went to sleep. What happens if you put the Glo to sleep with the switch and then close the cover?

[rcjoop]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That sounds like the pocket is preventing the Glo from going to sleep. I reported something similar a week or so ago when I put the Glo face down on some paper that had a corner turned up. In that case, it never went to sleep. What happens if you put the Glo to sleep with the switch and then close the cover?

Did that making sure I used the switch or kept the cover open until sleep mode was entered. Battery from 100% to warning screen in less than three days.
I use the same Skindigital cover as seesee.

At the moment keep the Glo out of the cover, it is too early to tell but first impression is hopeful.
Eight hours of which 1.5 hour reading with light on lowest level and gone from 100 to 98%
Will know tomorrow morning.