SD card drains battery?

thibaulthalpern · 03-15-2009, 03:26 PM

I have a 16MB SD card inserted into my PRS-700. I was reading last night and before I put the device to sleep, the battery bar indicated 3 bars. When I woke up this morning and turned the device back on, there were no bars left and a box came up to say "Low battery". I could continue reading but now I'm wondering could the SD card have drained the battery?

joobies · 03-15-2009, 03:50 PM

I don't know about your device.... on the Kindle, when content is initially loaded, there is an indexing process that drains the battery quite a bit. Good luck.

Server · 03-15-2009, 06:45 PM

thibaulthalpern: Check your Rx KliiK eyewear,

Inserted SD cards does not draw power directly, Perhaps if you loaded a 16GB
card and had the reader index 16GB's worth of content, that might explain your
mystery. Many of us would have noticed a problem by now if it were a problem.

On the other hand, if your card is 16MB, and had thousands of small files to index
the above would also apply. If your SD is faulty, the reader could also be having
problems indexing too. try a new (branded) card to verify.

netseeker · 03-15-2009, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern

I have a 16MB SD card inserted into my PRS-700. I was reading last night and before I put the device to sleep, the battery bar indicated 3 bars. When I woke up this morning and turned the device back on, there were no bars left and a box came up to say "Low battery". I could continue reading but now I'm wondering could the SD card have drained the battery?

Yes it could be. Even if the problem didn't occur with my reader i've seen enough posts on this topic. Nobody knows why a SD-Card should drain the battery when the reader is in sleep-mode. If the problem still exist, i would backup the contents and reformat the SD-Card - even if there is no lucid explanation why this could help.

thibaulthalpern · 03-15-2009, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Server

thibaulthalpern: Check your Rx KliiK eyewear,

I did. I'm glad I have it because without it it would make my life quite a bit more miserable ;-) ;-)

Quote:

On the other hand, if your card is 16MB, and had thousands of small files to index
the above would also apply. If your SD is faulty, the reader could also be having
problems indexing too. try a new (branded) card to verify.

It could be that I loaded some dozens of PDF files in the reader the evening before I went to bed. I did it via Calibre, I think. Well, let's see how it fares tonight. I'm reading Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture.

By the way, I do get "it". But I'm also thinking, well, my eyeglasses are a reading device of sorts that even the eReader can't replace ;-)

netseeker · 03-15-2009, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern

[..] But I'm also thinking, well, my eyeglasses are a reading device of sorts that even the eReader can't replace ;-)

HarryT · 03-16-2009, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Server

Inserted SD cards does not draw power directly,

I beg to differ. An SD card, even in "standby" mode, draws a small but constant amount of power. It uses more power to read, and a LOT more power to write.

thibaulthalpern · 03-16-2009, 01:41 PM

So with my experiment last night, the battery drain didn't happen. The SD card remained in the card slot while I read for about 30 minutes last night. When I woke up some 6 hours later, the battery level was fine.

DixieGal · 03-16-2009, 01:55 PM

Silly suggestion, I'm sure, but you didn't leave the light on or anything?

netseeker · 03-16-2009, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Silly suggestion, I'm sure, but you didn't leave the light on or anything?

Good hint. Sometimes it's just that simple. The MP3-Player could also be one of the suspects.

soilwork · 03-16-2009, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern

So with my experiment last night, the battery drain didn't happen. The SD card remained in the card slot while I read for about 30 minutes last night. When I woke up some 6 hours later, the battery level was fine.

I think your testing time is too short. I noticed quite a significant difference with PRS 505. If PRS 505 is in sleep mode with SD card, the battery will be drained in 2 weeks even if I don't use it at all. Without SD card, it lasts more than 3 weeks under the same condition.

DixieGal · 03-16-2009, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by netseeker

Good hint. Sometimes it's just that simple. The MP3-Player could also be one of the suspects.

That happened to me with the MP3. I couldn't stop the player until I re-synched the device.

Server · 03-16-2009, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I beg to differ. An SD card, even in "standby" mode, draws a small but constant amount of power. It uses more power to read, and a LOT more power to write.

The operative word was 'directly' Indirectly, SD cards will draw a very
small amount while accessed. But while parked and un-used, the draw
is negligible.

thibaulthalpern · 03-16-2009, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Silly suggestion, I'm sure, but you didn't leave the light on or anything?

I don't think so. The first time the drained happened, I made sure that when I went to sleep I put the device to sleep.

It could be what someone else suggested: before I crawled into bed, I had downloaded a bunch of PDF articles from my computer to the SD card and then put it into the reader. I did this via Calibre which as I understand does not initiate indexing in the reader. So perhaps all the time I was reading my book the reader was also indexing the PDF?

Anyhow, the second time around the problem seemed to have disappeared.

thibaulthalpern · 03-16-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by netseeker

Good hint. Sometimes it's just that simple. The MP3-Player could also be one of the suspects.

No MP3 player. I don't listen to music with the reader (it's a very clumsy device to carry around as an MP3 player--much too big).

03-15-2009, 03:26 PM	#1
thibaulthalpern Evangelist Posts: 478 Karma: 451808 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: California, USA Device: my two eyes, KLiiK, Sony PRS-700	SD card drains battery? I have a 16MB SD card inserted into my PRS-700. I was reading last night and before I put the device to sleep, the battery bar indicated 3 bars. When I woke up this morning and turned the device back on, there were no bars left and a box came up to say "Low battery". I could continue reading but now I'm wondering could the SD card have drained the battery?

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03-15-2009, 03:50 PM	#2
joobies Addict Posts: 234 Karma: 1856 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Midwest USA Device: Kindle 1, Sony PRS-505	I don't know about your device.... on the Kindle, when content is initially loaded, there is an indexing process that drains the battery quite a bit. Good luck.

03-15-2009, 06:45 PM	#3
Server Anti-Narcissist Posts: 171 Karma: 307 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Somewhere Far, Nowhere Near... Device: SØNY6	thibaulthalpern: Check your Rx KliiK eyewear, Inserted SD cards does not draw power directly, Perhaps if you loaded a 16GB card and had the reader index 16GB's worth of content, that might explain your mystery. Many of us would have noticed a problem by now if it were a problem. On the other hand, if your card is 16MB, and had thousands of small files to index the above would also apply. If your SD is faulty, the reader could also be having problems indexing too. try a new (branded) card to verify.

03-16-2009, 01:41 PM	#8
thibaulthalpern Evangelist Posts: 478 Karma: 451808 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: California, USA Device: my two eyes, KLiiK, Sony PRS-700	So with my experiment last night, the battery drain didn't happen. The SD card remained in the card slot while I read for about 30 minutes last night. When I woke up some 6 hours later, the battery level was fine.

03-16-2009, 01:55 PM	#9
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	Silly suggestion, I'm sure, but you didn't leave the light on or anything?