Should i let the battery of my kindle uncharge completely?

[ruandiablo]

Just a question. I remember that old phones lose "battery life" when the user let the phone battery uncharge completely. A friend of mine had a kindle times ago and brought a new one, said to me that he did it because the battery life of his old kindle was low comparated to when it was new.

Anyway, if i let my kindle uncharge completely my battery life will be impaired? I have a "Kindle 4 gen Paperwhite 8gb...", kindle users should have measures to make the battery lifetime last more

thanks!

[Deskisamess]

Don't let it go flat, top it off when needed. Current batteries don't work the same way older types did.

[stumped]

from what I have read in various places. keep it between 40% and 90% for best longevity

going to zero is bad, and charging to 100% is not necessary, that final 2 -3 % of charge does more harm than good

but even if you disregard all advice, the battery well probably last until you decide to get a newer model, as a Kindle needs far less charge cycles per year than a smart phone

[Tarana]

Your kindle will even tell you to charge it when it drops below about 10%.

[ruandiablo]

Thank u all!

Originally Posted by stumped

from what I have read in various places. keep it between 40% and 90% for best longevity

going to zero is bad, and charging to 100% is not necessary, that final 2 -3 % of charge does more harm than good

but even if you disregard all advice, the battery well probably last until you decide to get a newer model, as a Kindle needs far less charge cycles per year than a smart phone

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Don't let it go flat, top it off when needed. Current batteries don't work the same way older types did.

Originally Posted by Tarana

Your kindle will even tell you to charge it when it drops below about 10%.

[Richwood]

I have Kindles dating back to the K2 and KDX that still hold a acceptable battery charge though use is pretty minimal on most of the older ones. Based on my reading I get the idea that number of charging cycles and discharging to zero are the things that affect lithium ion battery life the most.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by Richwood

I have Kindles dating back to the K2 and KDX that still hold a acceptable battery charge though use is pretty minimal on most of the older ones. Based on my reading I get the idea that number of charging cycles and discharging to zero are the things that affect lithium ion battery life the most.

that, and also going to 100% and leaving it on charge with a cheap, dumb charger that does not know when to stop.

I dunno if kindles have any circuitry for preventing overcharge from dumb chargers

[Quoth]

Certainly the cell pack of a Kindle Keyboard has 3 wires and a built in controller.
However most gadgets that have a "naked" cell do have a controller on the main PCB.
You can't trickle charge a Lithium cell at all when it's fully charged or it can go on fire, unlike NiCd and NiMH. The NiMH life is short if the trickle charge isn't very much lower than used to be common for NiCd, so not all older gear with NiMH replacing NiCd can be left on charge when charged.

All chargers for gadgets are dumb, only sense if any is on USB data lines. Only chargers for naked cells are smart.

All gadgets with Lithium cell(s) and USB for charge or a separate charge socket must internally implement disconnecting the cell if voltage is too low and stopping charge when it's full. Only some implement cycle tracking and capacity tracking using either a CPU in the cell pack or in the gadget. It's just some may not implement it well.

About 2/3rds charge is best for long storage. Unfortunately the Kindle doesn't turn off until the cell is discharged! So an unused Sony, Nook or Kobo will have longer life than a kindle. The life should be the same if occasionally used.
So an unused Kindle should be checked and charged if below 1/3 or 1/4 and if being stored, stop at 2/3 to 3/4.
Store in a cool dry place maybe above 4 °C.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly the cell pack of a Kindle Keyboard has 3 wires and a built in controller.
However most gadgets that have a "naked" cell do have a controller on the main PCB.
You can't trickle charge a Lithium cell at all when it's fully charged or it can go on fire, unlike NiCd and NiMH. The NiMH life is short if the trickle charge isn't very much lower than used to be common for NiCd, so not all older gear with NiMH replacing NiCd can be left on charge when charged.

All chargers for gadgets are dumb, only sense if any is on USB data lines. Only chargers for naked cells are smart.

All gadgets with Lithium cell(s) and USB for charge or a separate charge socket must internally implement disconnecting the cell if voltage is too low and stopping charge when it's full. Only some implement cycle tracking and capacity tracking using either a CPU in the cell pack or in the gadget. It's just some may not implement it well.

About 2/3rds charge is best for long storage. Unfortunately the Kindle doesn't turn off until the cell is discharged! So an unused Sony, Nook or Kobo will have longer life than a kindle. The life should be the same if occasionally used.
So an unused Kindle should be checked and charged if below 1/3 or 1/4 and if being stored, stop at 2/3 to 3/4.
Store in a cool dry place maybe above 4 °C.

thorough and useful explanation - thanks

[Richwood]

I am not sure that totally discharging a Kindle reader battery is possible before the reader shuts down completely. Most Lithium Ion battery control circuits have discharge cutoff voltage limits which prevent discharging below a safe value, typically about 3.3 volts. Going much lower can damage the battery.

[kyteflyer]

I was wondering this, myself... Had not used my PW3 for ages and when I looked at it this morning, found a screen with a big battery icon and ! in its centre. I had not seen that before, I’m assuming the battery is totally discharged. I’ve got it plugged in now, in an effort to recharge, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything useful. Can batteries be replaced?

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I was wondering this, myself... Had not used my PW3 for ages and when I looked at it this morning, found a screen with a big battery icon and ! in its centre. I had not seen that before, I’m assuming the battery is totally discharged. I’ve got it plugged in now, in an effort to recharge, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything useful. Can batteries be replaced?

Let it charge overnight. There is old evidence that plugging it in to a USB port on a computer may also work, again, letting it sit overnight. That's something we always told users on the old Amazon Kindle forums.

I killed a Kindle by letting the battery drain totally and letting it sit unused for a couple of months.

Plug it in and wait.

[barryem]

Lithium ion batteries can catch fire if they're totally empty when you plug them in so there's circuitry in them to detect that they're completely empty and not let them charge.

It's probably worth leaving it plugged in overnight to see. It can't hurt anything and it just might work. But if it doesn't you can replace the battery.

I replaced the battery on a 2nd generation Paperwhite a couple of years ago. I foolishly bought a cheap battery on Ebay ($6, I think) instead of paying $30 or $40 from Newpower99. The result was that the new battery wasn't any better than the old one. It was enough of a chore I didn't want to do it again so I gave the Paperwhite to someone.

Newpower99 has a good reputation for a lot of years and they also have videos showing just how to do it. You might want to look at the video for your model Paperwhite if you can't get it to charge and see if it's something you want to do.

Barry