Battery Problems? Charger Problems? Frozen KF? Try this...

jsh1120 · 04-14-2012, 12:35 PM

Folks,

I'm posting the following admittedly long-winded post in response to the numerous problems people have encountered with the KF's "battery." I've included this information in numerous posts on several forums (both for the KF and for other products). I'm posting it here in the hope that others will be able to deal with the problem without necessarily returning their KF. In many cases, it simply isn't necessary.

There are literally hundreds of Kindle Fire reviews and posts on the Amazon Kindle forum from folks who have battery and charger problems. i.e. Won't turn on, rapid battery drain, won't turn off, won't charge, etc. etc. What's interesting about this is that there are virtually identical complaints about the B&N Nook, and various smartphones including the Droid Razr Maxx (that I own) and various other smartphones. There are even reports of similar behavior on the iPad and a number of other Android tablets. So what do ALL of these devices have in common? Answer: They all have lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries and most (though not all) run the Android operating system.

Some of these problems no doubt stem from faulty charging units or bad charging ports. (The little microUSB connector on the KF is not very sturdy.) And some cases may represent faulty batteries. But given the fact that (a) many users report problems with more than one Kindle Fire and (b) a recent study of various devices returned to manufacturers for "bad batteries" found that over 90% had perfectly functioning batteries, the problem appears to be much more widespread than these factors can account for.

If you have any of the problems above, the answer is VERY likely to be that the battery monitoring software/firmware in the KF has gotten "out of sync" with the actual charge in the battery. When this happens, the device is likely to "believe" that it has sufficient charge when it doesn't or that it has no charge when it does. Either condition leads to very undesirable results.

So here are some guidelines to keep in mind and a method that will largely eliminate the problem unless you truly have a bad battery, a broken microUSB port, or charger.

Although the little battery monitor on your device looks like a fuel gauge in a car, it isn't. There is no way to "measure" the remaining charge in a lithium ion battry. It's not like a gas tank. Instead, the battery monitor measures the current voltage being supplied by the battery and compares that voltage to a "discharge profile" it has developed over time. (A battery's voltage goes down as it discharges.) If that profile is out of whack or missing data, the monitor can be completely wrong.

So the task is to keep the battery monitor discharge profile "up to date" and complete. Here's how to do it.

To avoid problems down the line when you first get your device charge it for at least four hours before using it. A device is typically shipped with about 40% charge and if the battery or the device has sat on the shelf for a couple of months, the charge may be less considerably less. However, when you first turn on the device, the battery monitoring software takes the voltage as the baseline for a full charge. That in itself will likely cause problems down the line. If you didn't charge it when you first got it, however, don't worry. You can correct the problem.

AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH go through the following procedure. (This, by the way is identical to the advice Apple provides for the iPad. It works for any lithium ion or lithium polymer powered device.)

() Turn off the KF. (If it already appears to be dead, you can skip this step.) "Turning it off" means holding the power button until the message appears asking if you want to turn it off. Say yes.

() Plug in the charge cable from Amazon and let it charge for at least four hours, preferably overnight. Pay no attention to the orange or green light. Don't turn on the KF to check on progress. LEAVE IT ALONE. Use the Amazon cable unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE that the cable you're using supplies at least the same amperage as that cable, about 2 amps. Do NOT use cables that charge more slowly. They won't hurt your battery but they may well throw off the synchronization with the battery monitor.

() Unplug the KF and boot it. Use it normally until you see the 15% battery remaining warning. At that point, shut it down again. Do NOT allow the battery to discharge completely. It probably won't hurt the KF or the battery but it does shorten the battery life if done repeatedly. (The software should shut down the device with about 5% charge remaining but why take a chance.)

() Repeat the charging process above.

Once you've cycled the battery charge/discharge process twice, you should have a good discharge profile. From then on charge the battery on a regular basis even if you have not reached the 15% remaining level. Don't worry about "overcharging." The KF will not allow itself to be overcharged unless it's faulty. And if that happens, you'll be able to tell because it will be HOT when you take it off the charger. Just charge every night or whenever you reach the 15% charge remaining warning.

If you encounter situations where the battery appears to discharge very slowly for quite awhile and then suddenly the battery remaining indicator drops rapidly with no change in the use of the device, it's an indication of the synchronization problem. Follow the procedure above to eliminate it when it happens.

Do NOT use a low amp charger or try to charge the KF through a powered USB port on your computer. It may work; it may not. But even if it does, it's likely to contribute to the synchronization problem.

Hope this helps. And as noted, this is a process that can be used with ANY lithium battery powered device. At the very least, if you follow the procedure above and you STILL can't get your KF to perform predictably, you can be relatively sure that you have a hardware problem (battery, charger, charger port) or a process running in the background that is draining your battery.

Finally, a good source to find more information than you ever wanted to know about managing lithium ion batteries is the one below.

http://batteryuniversity.com/

KlondikeGeoff · 04-14-2012, 12:57 PM

Thank you, brother, for that valuable information!

I have so many devices with a variety of different battery types, that it is difficult to keep track of how to handle them, so this is particularly helpful.

Skydog · 04-14-2012, 04:46 PM

Thank you for taking the time to post. This should be required reading for those new to devices (and even some "oldies").

MikeGolf · 04-14-2012, 09:01 PM

If you plug it in after you turn it off it turns itself back on. Wouldn't you rather plug it in and then turn it off. Of course if you do it like that then you will not see a colored light since the system is truly off. I believe, 100% unproven, that this will give the system a deeper charge.

RainingLemur · 04-14-2012, 09:38 PM

I forgot all about Battery U. I couldn't remember the name of the site. Thanks for the reminder.

VineGal · 04-14-2012, 09:38 PM

JSH11120

Thanks for the in depth description of addressing Kindle Fire battery issues.

I use the Badass Baterry monitor app, and notice that my KF battery avg life has decreased from about 8.5 hours to 7.5 hours after one charge.

I do have another question on battery charging (hopefully I'm not highjacking this thread).

The KF AC Adapter gets extremely hot within just a minute of plugging in my KF to charge.
I'm not plugging into the wall, but into a power strip.

Should this be something to be concerned about and making a call to Amazon Kindle support?

Thanks,
VineGal

Skydog · 04-14-2012, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VineGal

JSH11120

Thanks for the in depth description of addressing Kindle Fire battery issues.

I use the Badass Baterry monitor app, and notice that my KF battery avg life has decreased from about 8.5 hours to 7.5 hours after one charge.

I do have another question on battery charging (hopefully I'm not highjacking this thread).

The KF AC Adapter gets extremely hot within just a minute of plugging in my KF to charge.
I'm not plugging into the wall, but into a power strip.

Should this be something to be concerned about and making a call to Amazon Kindle support?

Thanks,
VineGal

Well, my definition of "extremely hot" is too hot to touch and would most certainly cause concern. The charger WILL become very warm in the inital charging period but will decrease further into the charge cycle. Try a full charge cycle with the adapter plugged into a wall outlet.

sirmaru · 04-15-2012, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VineGal

JSH11120

Thanks for the in depth description of addressing Kindle Fire battery issues.

I use the Badass Baterry monitor app, and notice that my KF battery avg life has decreased from about 8.5 hours to 7.5 hours after one charge.

BABMP battery life is just an estimate and can vary a lot. Instead, go to the BABMP main screen and look at Screen Time on the top row before you do a Full Charge. That is the actual time of use.

Also, when taking that reading, make sure the Table remaining percent matches the overlay icon remaining percent. If not using that overlay icon, make sure the table remaining percent matches the \ Settings \ More \ Device battery remaining percent. If they do not match, do a Shut Down to sync them.

Make sure Settings are set to measure after a Full Charge.

At the 15% remaining charge level I have shown a Screen Time of 5.5 hours approximately before and after the firmware 6.3 upgrade.

jsh1120 · 04-15-2012, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeGolf

If you plug it in after you turn it off it turns itself back on. Wouldn't you rather plug it in and then turn it off. Of course if you do it like that then you will not see a colored light since the system is truly off. I believe, 100% unproven, that this will give the system a deeper charge.

Mike,

Your point is well-taken. I haven't experimented with that approach but since the KF will charge when completely off, it's worth trying.

bjones6416 · 04-15-2012, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsh1120

Mike,

Your point is well-taken. I haven't experimented with that approach but since the KF will charge when completely off, it's worth trying.

So last night I tried this. Turned it completely off, not just to sleep, and plugged it in with the KF charger. Sure enough, it came right back on. At that point I turned it completely off again and went to bed. No charging lights were showing at all so I didn't know if it was actually charging or not but decided to wait and see. This morning the green charging light was on, it was fully charged, and was back in sleep mode. How did that happen? Does it turn itself on when it reaches a full charge? I normally just put it to sleep so I haven't noticed this before.

jsh1120 · 04-15-2012, 11:11 AM

bjones,

That's the behavior I would have expected. Different devices have different default behaviors but I suspect that Amazon has designed the KF to be "up" as much as possible to avoid naive consumers from assuming the KF is "dead" once it's fully charged.

Skydog · 04-15-2012, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjones6416

So last night I tried this. Turned it completely off, not just to sleep, and plugged it in with the KF charger. Sure enough, it came right back on. At that point I turned it completely off again and went to bed. No charging lights were showing at all so I didn't know if it was actually charging or not but decided to wait and see. This morning the green charging light was on, it was fully charged, and was back in sleep mode. How did that happen? Does it turn itself on when it reaches a full charge? I normally just put it to sleep so I haven't noticed this before.

That is very interesting. The few times I have powered off the Fire (after plugging in charger), confirmed it was off/no charge light, it remained in this state overnight and didnot wake itself. The following morning the Fire is still off with no light on the power button -- confirmed by a full bootup.

jsh1120 · 04-15-2012, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skydog

That is very interesting. The few times I have powered off the Fire (after plugging in charger), confirmed it was off/no charge light, it remained in this state overnight and didnot wake itself. The following morning the Fire is still off with no light on the power button -- confirmed by a full bootup.

Looks like I'll have to retract my "expectation" above. Just confirmed the same behavior Skydog reports. I'm a little mystified by bjones' report but I suspect that he/she might not have turned off the KF completely after connecting the charge cable. Sometimes the light acts a little flakey and doesn't turn on immediately.

If that's not the case, I'm wondering if there is any app that can trigger waking up a completely turned off KF. I'd doubt that but it might be interesting to find out. Perhaps a "find my Kindle Fire" app of some kind?

bjones6416 · 04-15-2012, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skydog

That is very interesting. The few times I have powered off the Fire (after plugging in charger), confirmed it was off/no charge light, it remained in this state overnight and didnot wake itself. The following morning the Fire is still off with no light on the power button -- confirmed by a full bootup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsh1120

Looks like I'll have to retract my "expectation" above. Just confirmed the same behavior Skydog reports. I'm a little mystified by bjones' report but I suspect that he/she might not have turned off the KF completely after connecting the charge cable. Sometimes the light acts a little flakey and doesn't turn on immediately.

If that's not the case, I'm wondering if there is any app that can trigger waking up a completely turned off KF. I'd doubt that but it might be interesting to find out. Perhaps a "find my Kindle Fire" app of some kind?

Well, I'll try it again tonight and make sure I'm not mistaken. I'm sure I turned it off and there were no lights when I went to sleep (because it was beside the bed) , and I'm sure there WAS a green light when I got up. What I can't swear to is whether or not it came right on or booted up first. I was just so surprised to see the green light that I can't remember. I'll report back tomorrow. Maybe I'm crazy.

jsh1120 · 04-15-2012, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjones6416

... I'll report back tomorrow. Maybe I'm crazy.

Hope not. We need at least one sane person here.

04-14-2012, 12:35 PM	#1
jsh1120 Connoisseur Posts: 91 Karma: 10244 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Seattle, Washington USA Device: Kindle Fire	Battery Problems? Charger Problems? Frozen KF? Try this... Folks, I'm posting the following admittedly long-winded post in response to the numerous problems people have encountered with the KF's "battery." I've included this information in numerous posts on several forums (both for the KF and for other products). I'm posting it here in the hope that others will be able to deal with the problem without necessarily returning their KF. In many cases, it simply isn't necessary. There are literally hundreds of Kindle Fire reviews and posts on the Amazon Kindle forum from folks who have battery and charger problems. i.e. Won't turn on, rapid battery drain, won't turn off, won't charge, etc. etc. What's interesting about this is that there are virtually identical complaints about the B&N Nook, and various smartphones including the Droid Razr Maxx (that I own) and various other smartphones. There are even reports of similar behavior on the iPad and a number of other Android tablets. So what do ALL of these devices have in common? Answer: They all have lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries and most (though not all) run the Android operating system. Some of these problems no doubt stem from faulty charging units or bad charging ports. (The little microUSB connector on the KF is not very sturdy.) And some cases may represent faulty batteries. But given the fact that (a) many users report problems with more than one Kindle Fire and (b) a recent study of various devices returned to manufacturers for "bad batteries" found that over 90% had perfectly functioning batteries, the problem appears to be much more widespread than these factors can account for. If you have any of the problems above, the answer is VERY likely to be that the battery monitoring software/firmware in the KF has gotten "out of sync" with the actual charge in the battery. When this happens, the device is likely to "believe" that it has sufficient charge when it doesn't or that it has no charge when it does. Either condition leads to very undesirable results. So here are some guidelines to keep in mind and a method that will largely eliminate the problem unless you truly have a bad battery, a broken microUSB port, or charger. Although the little battery monitor on your device looks like a fuel gauge in a car, it isn't. There is no way to "measure" the remaining charge in a lithium ion battry. It's not like a gas tank. Instead, the battery monitor measures the current voltage being supplied by the battery and compares that voltage to a "discharge profile" it has developed over time. (A battery's voltage goes down as it discharges.) If that profile is out of whack or missing data, the monitor can be completely wrong. So the task is to keep the battery monitor discharge profile "up to date" and complete. Here's how to do it. To avoid problems down the line when you first get your device charge it for at least four hours before using it. A device is typically shipped with about 40% charge and if the battery or the device has sat on the shelf for a couple of months, the charge may be less considerably less. However, when you first turn on the device, the battery monitoring software takes the voltage as the baseline for a full charge. That in itself will likely cause problems down the line. If you didn't charge it when you first got it, however, don't worry. You can correct the problem. AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH go through the following procedure. (This, by the way is identical to the advice Apple provides for the iPad. It works for any lithium ion or lithium polymer powered device.) () Turn off the KF. (If it already appears to be dead, you can skip this step.) "Turning it off" means holding the power button until the message appears asking if you want to turn it off. Say yes. () Plug in the charge cable from Amazon and let it charge for at least four hours, preferably overnight. Pay no attention to the orange or green light. Don't turn on the KF to check on progress. LEAVE IT ALONE. Use the Amazon cable unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE that the cable you're using supplies at least the same amperage as that cable, about 2 amps. Do NOT use cables that charge more slowly. They won't hurt your battery but they may well throw off the synchronization with the battery monitor. () Unplug the KF and boot it. Use it normally until you see the 15% battery remaining warning. At that point, shut it down again. Do NOT allow the battery to discharge completely. It probably won't hurt the KF or the battery but it does shorten the battery life if done repeatedly. (The software should shut down the device with about 5% charge remaining but why take a chance.) () Repeat the charging process above. Once you've cycled the battery charge/discharge process twice, you should have a good discharge profile. From then on charge the battery on a regular basis even if you have not reached the 15% remaining level. Don't worry about "overcharging." The KF will not allow itself to be overcharged unless it's faulty. And if that happens, you'll be able to tell because it will be HOT when you take it off the charger. Just charge every night or whenever you reach the 15% charge remaining warning. If you encounter situations where the battery appears to discharge very slowly for quite awhile and then suddenly the battery remaining indicator drops rapidly with no change in the use of the device, it's an indication of the synchronization problem. Follow the procedure above to eliminate it when it happens. Do NOT use a low amp charger or try to charge the KF through a powered USB port on your computer. It may work; it may not. But even if it does, it's likely to contribute to the synchronization problem. Hope this helps. And as noted, this is a process that can be used with ANY lithium battery powered device. At the very least, if you follow the procedure above and you STILL can't get your KF to perform predictably, you can be relatively sure that you have a hardware problem (battery, charger, charger port) or a process running in the background that is draining your battery. Finally, a good source to find more information than you ever wanted to know about managing lithium ion batteries is the one below. http://batteryuniversity.com/ Last edited by jsh1120; 04-14-2012 at 05:18 PM.

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04-14-2012, 12:57 PM	#2
KlondikeGeoff Wombat Aficionado Posts: 481 Karma: 733 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Arizona Device: Fire, Kindle1, Sony PRS-500 Reader, Rocket 1100 eBook	Thank you, brother, for that valuable information! I have so many devices with a variety of different battery types, that it is difficult to keep track of how to handle them, so this is particularly helpful.

04-14-2012, 04:46 PM	#3
Skydog Wizard Posts: 2,243 Karma: 7400001 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Circling Earth @ Mach .83 Device: Elipsa 2E, Sage, Forma, Libra 2, Clara 2E, Kindle Oasis3, Voyage	Thank you for taking the time to post. This should be required reading for those new to devices (and even some "oldies").

04-14-2012, 09:01 PM	#4
MikeGolf Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 30682 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kindle Fire	If you plug it in after you turn it off it turns itself back on. Wouldn't you rather plug it in and then turn it off. Of course if you do it like that then you will not see a colored light since the system is truly off. I believe, 100% unproven, that this will give the system a deeper charge.

04-14-2012, 09:38 PM	#5
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	I forgot all about Battery U. I couldn't remember the name of the site. Thanks for the reminder.

04-14-2012, 09:38 PM	#6
VineGal Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Still looking. (Trying Nook Tab and NookST, Don't meet needs)	JSH11120 Thanks for the in depth description of addressing Kindle Fire battery issues. I use the Badass Baterry monitor app, and notice that my KF battery avg life has decreased from about 8.5 hours to 7.5 hours after one charge. I do have another question on battery charging (hopefully I'm not highjacking this thread). The KF AC Adapter gets extremely hot within just a minute of plugging in my KF to charge. I'm not plugging into the wall, but into a power strip. Should this be something to be concerned about and making a call to Amazon Kindle support? Thanks, VineGal

04-15-2012, 11:11 AM	#11
jsh1120 Connoisseur Posts: 91 Karma: 10244 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Seattle, Washington USA Device: Kindle Fire	bjones, That's the behavior I would have expected. Different devices have different default behaviors but I suspect that Amazon has designed the KF to be "up" as much as possible to avoid naive consumers from assuming the KF is "dead" once it's fully charged.

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