Replacement Battery - Needed?

[Halk]

I've now had my Cybook for over a year. Generally speaking I'm happy with it. I do have a bonus coming through, which is going to pay for a holiday and a few other things. However there would have been money left for an Opus, but I can't really think why I'd want it, other than it's a shiny new toy.

One thing I did think about though was the battery on the Cybook. If Bookeen all of a sudden withdraw the Cybook Gen 3 - perhaps the Opus has a higher margin, then I might be stuck with the battery I currently have. I've noticed no degradation at all on it. Probably because unlike a mobile phone which goes through a full cycle every few days, the Cybook stays charged for weeks.

Has anyone found that they needed to replace the battery? The other thing that's making me think against buying a new battery now is that if I don't use it for years, as I understand, they chemically deteriorate over time, so it may not be any better than what I currently have in it.

[T_Frain_K]

Originally Posted by Halk

Probably because unlike a mobile phone which goes through a full cycle every few days, the Cybook stays charged for weeks.

Maybe someone using their CyBook much more frequently than me can proove me wrong, but I believe that´s exactly the point making the battery last much much longer than others.
In general, you hear that LiIon-batterys are free from degradation, in practical life they seem to die by times after all.

[HarryT]

A battery is unlikely to "die", but it will slowly lose capacity as time passes. After 5 years, it might only have half its original capacity, for example.

You're right in saying that there's no point in buying a replacement battery and keeping it "on the shelf" for years; it too will deteriorate.

[Halk]

Yep, the losing capacity thing is what I was meaning. And the deterioration on the shelf is what I suspected.

That means the life of my Cybook is basically until the battery becomes to chemically decomposed to be useful.

Are the batteries standard components, or are they custom Bookeen jobs... if they're custom then I'm stuck with hoping Bookeen continue to sell the batteries for a long time (and that they don't keep them on a shelf for years).

[HarryT]

I believe it's a standard one.

[EowynCarter]

You're right in saying that there's no point in buying a replacement battery and keeping it "on the shelf" for years; it too will deteriorate.

Yeap.

And The Opus batteries are the same. So bookeen will more likely keep on selling these for a while

[HarryT]

And, of course, given that the Gen3 is Netronix EB600 hardware, it's pretty certain that all the other EB600 clones (eg the Cool-ER) use the same battery, too.

[Halk]

Ah, I hadn't thought of that. Ironically the other morning I put the machine on to charge, while turned off, before I went to work. I came home and later unplugged it and finished off a book (2 or 3 hours), when I got up in the morning it hadn't turned off as it normally does after an hour, and the battery was flat.

Perhaps if it's left in the charger after it's fully charged it'll discharge... or my battery is dying because I asked about it on here :P

[brudigia]

Originally Posted by Halk

Ah, I hadn't thought of that. Ironically the other morning I put the machine on to charge, while turned off, before I went to work. I came home and later unplugged it and finished off a book (2 or 3 hours), when I got up in the morning it hadn't turned off as it normally does after an hour, and the battery was flat.

Perhaps if it's left in the charger after it's fully charged it'll discharge... or my battery is dying because I asked about it on here :P

What do you mean it is a standard battery ? Does anybody know about a possible replacement ?
I ask because I am seeing after only a year something like a deterioration, I charge it fully, read a book (about 500 booken pages) and after a few days it goes down fast also to 50%. Just for one book. It is true that there are a lot of turning on/off cycles, but I seem to remember that the battery lasted longer, at the beginning.
Any help / advice ?

[Halk]

By standard battery I'm meaning if it's used in other devices. If it's a pretty standard thing then it'll be easy to get a replacement. If it's a custom battery unique to the hardware then it'll be more expensive and difficult to source.

[GreyCat]

After the last winter both my Cybook Gen 3 and Sony Ericsson mobile phone battery have suffered very noticeably. I have not noticed any deterioration of my Sony MP3-player battery. I know they are not meant to be used in the cold, but I don't know how to protect all my electronics against winter weather. Purse with in-built heater???

[EowynCarter]

Is winter in Norway that cold ?
Electronic device usually supports cold better than heat.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Is winter in Norway that cold ?
Electronic device usually supports cold better than heat.

I thought the only problem is that the battery capacity is reduced a lot when it is cold but that is not a permanent effect.

I suppose Norway have similar temperature as Sweden and -20C or lower is not uncommon.

[GreyCat]

I won't claim to be an expert on batteries. It was a colleague of mine who said batteries don't really deal all that well with the cold. Since two of my batteries where seriously affected this winter I thought it sounded plausible. It can as Tompe says become colder than -20C.