Kobo not charging? - Page 2

bintoo · 07-11-2013, 11:37 PM

I tried this for my kobo touch and have since used it on 2 more. When the battery won't charge and you have tried all other chargers, cables and wall chargers. Try this...

Bintoo`s, Kobo Cardiac arrest treatment - ok, take the plastic back off by sliding your fingernail along the back edge and pull the side out a bit, you will see it start to come loose. work at it all around until the back is off. You`ll see the battery in the middle top with a little red and black wire coming off it to a black connector on the motherboard. pull on the battery connector with your finger nail, it will pop off. Take a regular 9 volt battery and with some small straight pins, connect the + to the red and - to the black on the battery contacts of the kobo battery. This is the hardest part, making sure you are connected to the contacts on the battery. hold it on the battery for 2 minutes. Your going to put enough voltage into the battery to bring up the charge on the kobo battery just a bit. after 2 minutes stop charging the kobo battery. press the little black connecter back onto the motherboard (only goes on 1 way). it snaps when it connected properly. plug your usb cable back in and see if the green light comes on your kobo. If it does then leave the usb in for at least 20 minutes to get a good charge, then snap the back on. now fully charge you kobo and sync. if the green light does not come back on, repeat the charge cycle to 2 minutes with your 9 volt. (make sure you disconnect the battery from the motherboard before charging.) good luck. The thought here is your kobo is so dead that it won`t even wake up to charge. I have brought back 3 for 3 kobo`s this way.

Read more: My kobo touch ereader is dead and it will not charge nor will it turn on. I have tried the basic trouble shoot but had no luck, any suggestions? - My kobo ereader screen says, "Please Charge Your eReader" and i have been charging it for nearly 2 hours. I am unable to turn my kobo on at all. I have tried to reset it but that does not work either. :: Ask Me Fast at http://www.askmefast.com/My_kobo_tou...na4017873.html

meeera · 07-12-2013, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerggory

Our Kobo Touch Ereader wasnt charging. I pulled the back panel off and removed the battery, then plugged the Reader in and replaced the battery. Poof it came back to life.

Hope this helps.

Note that this will likely void your warranty, so think first.

jackastor · 07-12-2013, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bintoo

I tried this for my kobo touch and have since used it on 2 more. When the battery won't charge and you have tried all other chargers, cables and wall chargers. Try this...

Bintoo`s, Kobo Cardiac arrest treatment - ok, take the plastic back off by sliding your fingernail along the back edge and pull the side out a bit, you will see it start to come loose. work at it all around until the back is off. You`ll see the battery in the middle top with a little red and black wire coming off it to a black connector on the motherboard. pull on the battery connector with your finger nail, it will pop off. Take a regular 9 volt battery and with some small straight pins, connect the + to the red and - to the black on the battery contacts of the kobo battery. This is the hardest part, making sure you are connected to the contacts on the battery. hold it on the battery for 2 minutes. Your going to put enough voltage into the battery to bring up the charge on the kobo battery just a bit. after 2 minutes stop charging the kobo battery. press the little black connecter back onto the motherboard (only goes on 1 way). it snaps when it connected properly. plug your usb cable back in and see if the green light comes on your kobo. If it does then leave the usb in for at least 20 minutes to get a good charge, then snap the back on. now fully charge you kobo and sync. if the green light does not come back on, repeat the charge cycle to 2 minutes with your 9 volt. (make sure you disconnect the battery from the motherboard before charging.) good luck. The thought here is your kobo is so dead that it won`t even wake up to charge. I have brought back 3 for 3 kobo`s this way.

Read more: My kobo touch ereader is dead and it will not charge nor will it turn on. I have tried the basic trouble shoot but had no luck, any suggestions? - My kobo ereader screen says, "Please Charge Your eReader" and i have been charging it for nearly 2 hours. I am unable to turn my kobo on at all. I have tried to reset it but that does not work either. :: Ask Me Fast at http://www.askmefast.com/My_kobo_tou...na4017873.html

This is a common remedy for most rechargeable batteries. It is a common illness for batteries sitting on a self that have gone totally flat and a smart charger cannot detect the battery levels and now registers it as defective. There is nothing wrong with the battery it just has zero and I mean zero volts in it. When you apply the voltage you are pushing a small charge into the battery that will register in the charging circuitry of the smart charger, in this case it would be the kobo's charging circuit, thus allowing the battery to once again be charged. It usually works 100% of the time on my NIMH batteries that are shelved in between extended camera rests.

regards

Jack

TechniSol · 07-12-2013, 04:14 PM

In the case of lithium rechargables there is supposed to be(not all have it, but SHOULD!!!) an internal voltage monitoring circuit which prevents the charging of the battery if the voltage is too low to, I believe, prevent attempting to charge an internally shorted battery. Lithium batteries can react explosively if not in proper operating condition. You can probably "safely" get away with a 9 volt battery because they inherently have such minimal ability to supply current, typically 80-100mah total capacity. I'd be VERY (as in behind a piece of nice thick lexan) careful attempting such with anything that could apply any current to speak of, especially at so many volts above normal operating voltage for a LiPO. Assuming you enjoy having your hands and still being able to see them as well.

If I were stupid enough to try this with a bench supply I'd limit the current and set the voltage no higher than 4.2 or so... at least until I disconnected power and measured the battery after a few 30 second periods of charging to see what was happening. I'd still keep my hands back and wear safety glasses or a face shield until I was sure I wasn't unintentionally making a Li'l Lithium Polymer Bomb (TM). Also would not try this on a metal desk or benchtop unless I was determined to short something and blow myself up a little. Note the large bomb in my avatar to the left.

Kenshail · 05-09-2014, 02:49 PM

I agree with TechniSol, you should avoid simply connecting a battery. It is crude and dangerous.
I had an instance of the same symptoms where the Kobo appeared to be dead, the battery volts were zero and it wouldn't charge. It was almost impossible to connect anything to the battery connector without damaging it so I carefully soldered two wires to the other end of the batter leads where they connect to the battery board. I had to cut away some of the plastic film first.
I also made sure that the battery connector was unplugged.
I then connected a resistor is series with the positive to limit the current. 270 or 330 ohms quarter-watt is sufficient to limit the charging current to around 30 milliamps when connected to a 9 volt battery. I monitored the battery voltage and it rose above zero almost immediately. After a minute or so it had reached 2 volts which was enough for disconnecting the 9 volt battery and reconnecting to the main board. It then charged as normal and now works fine.
It is clear that the Kobo charging circuit leaves somewhat to be desired because it can get in to this lock-out situation.
Another underlying problem is the ease that the Kobo can be triggered in to an on state by actions such as plugging switching the charger on or off thereby leaving it in an un-noticed on state which which drains the battery.

07-12-2013, 04:14 PM	#19
TechniSol GranPohbah-Fezzes r cool! Posts: 1,056 Karma: 3151024 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Nook STRs, Kobo Touch, Kobo Glo	In the case of lithium rechargables there is supposed to be(not all have it, but SHOULD!!!) an internal voltage monitoring circuit which prevents the charging of the battery if the voltage is too low to, I believe, prevent attempting to charge an internally shorted battery. Lithium batteries can react explosively if not in proper operating condition. You can probably "safely" get away with a 9 volt battery because they inherently have such minimal ability to supply current, typically 80-100mah total capacity. I'd be VERY (as in behind a piece of nice thick lexan) careful attempting such with anything that could apply any current to speak of, especially at so many volts above normal operating voltage for a LiPO. Assuming you enjoy having your hands and still being able to see them as well. If I were stupid enough to try this with a bench supply I'd limit the current and set the voltage no higher than 4.2 or so... at least until I disconnected power and measured the battery after a few 30 second periods of charging to see what was happening. I'd still keep my hands back and wear safety glasses or a face shield until I was sure I wasn't unintentionally making a Li'l Lithium Polymer Bomb (TM). Also would not try this on a metal desk or benchtop unless I was determined to short something and blow myself up a little. Note the large bomb in my avatar to the left. Last edited by TechniSol; 07-12-2013 at 04:18 PM. Reason: Because I love it so!

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07-11-2013, 11:37 PM	#16
bintoo Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: kobo glo and touch	I tried this for my kobo touch and have since used it on 2 more. When the battery won't charge and you have tried all other chargers, cables and wall chargers. Try this... Bintoo`s, Kobo Cardiac arrest treatment - ok, take the plastic back off by sliding your fingernail along the back edge and pull the side out a bit, you will see it start to come loose. work at it all around until the back is off. You`ll see the battery in the middle top with a little red and black wire coming off it to a black connector on the motherboard. pull on the battery connector with your finger nail, it will pop off. Take a regular 9 volt battery and with some small straight pins, connect the + to the red and - to the black on the battery contacts of the kobo battery. This is the hardest part, making sure you are connected to the contacts on the battery. hold it on the battery for 2 minutes. Your going to put enough voltage into the battery to bring up the charge on the kobo battery just a bit. after 2 minutes stop charging the kobo battery. press the little black connecter back onto the motherboard (only goes on 1 way). it snaps when it connected properly. plug your usb cable back in and see if the green light comes on your kobo. If it does then leave the usb in for at least 20 minutes to get a good charge, then snap the back on. now fully charge you kobo and sync. if the green light does not come back on, repeat the charge cycle to 2 minutes with your 9 volt. (make sure you disconnect the battery from the motherboard before charging.) good luck. The thought here is your kobo is so dead that it won`t even wake up to charge. I have brought back 3 for 3 kobo`s this way. Read more: My kobo touch ereader is dead and it will not charge nor will it turn on. I have tried the basic trouble shoot but had no luck, any suggestions? - My kobo ereader screen says, "Please Charge Your eReader" and i have been charging it for nearly 2 hours. I am unable to turn my kobo on at all. I have tried to reset it but that does not work either. :: Ask Me Fast at http://www.askmefast.com/My_kobo_tou...na4017873.html

05-09-2014, 02:49 PM	#20
Kenshail Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2014 Device: kobo mini	I agree with TechniSol, you should avoid simply connecting a battery. It is crude and dangerous. I had an instance of the same symptoms where the Kobo appeared to be dead, the battery volts were zero and it wouldn't charge. It was almost impossible to connect anything to the battery connector without damaging it so I carefully soldered two wires to the other end of the batter leads where they connect to the battery board. I had to cut away some of the plastic film first. I also made sure that the battery connector was unplugged. I then connected a resistor is series with the positive to limit the current. 270 or 330 ohms quarter-watt is sufficient to limit the charging current to around 30 milliamps when connected to a 9 volt battery. I monitored the battery voltage and it rose above zero almost immediately. After a minute or so it had reached 2 volts which was enough for disconnecting the 9 volt battery and reconnecting to the main board. It then charged as normal and now works fine. It is clear that the Kobo charging circuit leaves somewhat to be desired because it can get in to this lock-out situation. Another underlying problem is the ease that the Kobo can be triggered in to an on state by actions such as plugging switching the charger on or off thereby leaving it in an un-noticed on state which which drains the battery.

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