[KOBO] How I've could resolve the sudden barttery drain issue (20/12/2023)

[alma]

Hello everybody,

I read a lot of things about this issue, and with different Kobo reader types.
I bought my Kobo Forma as the beginning, in November 2018. The price didn’t change a lot since this date. As I enough like it, I didn’t want to change or purchase again another kind, because I think it’s still one of the best models on the market.
So I ‘ve been affected with the battery drain problem by august 2023, with the firmware ~4.37/4.38.
As everybody, I first thought about a battery issue. I sought about it, then I looked for acquire another one. I found the original model on ebay, even if I doubted that it was affected by the same problem…
It’s a very scarce good, you can find other types on AliExpress, but I wouldn’t personally suggest that. I think durability and dangerousness are low standards and bad quality…

So, how I resolved it now :
First, I tried almost everything without success (usual methods):
-put off the original (and old, I looked for changing it but I didn’t find) Sleep Cover and remove of magnetic source.
- downgrade the firmware, from 4.38 until 4.35 or more.
- remove all pdfs and allege-to-empty Kobo of books (but Kobo doesn’t index like Kindle, that I’ve could read).
-factory reset, both manually and soft processes.
-and, of course, changing battery with apparently new one. As it didn’t work, I could have thought that this battery was also dying.

Continuing the research:
When you cannot isolate the issue (software or hardware origin), you’re not able to act precisely.
Secondly, I tried to re-actualize the state of my battery. I did charging and emptying cycles, I unsoldered from the device to meld it with the new one in order to create a circuit between them. I do charging-uncharging process a last time, then I put it inside the freezer (in plastic pocket for avoiding corrosion) during 24hours. To more details, I followed theses instructions (in French) :
http://fr.scienceaq.com/Electronics/100112170.html

I tested the battery voltage before and after these steps, and there was a good thing to know:
- 3.1 to ~3.8 with the old battery.
- No change (~3.7V) for the new one.
So now I can assume that my battery was not dead but also not in its maximal capacities.
Although, nothing until here resolved the main issue…

Thirdly, I decided to well do things: I unenabled both the automatic sleeping and waking up option and automatic sync (two different menus). I also put in “never” the two other automatic options: sleeping and shut down.

[LOOK TO IMAGE1]

All of this isn’t really satisfying since we all bought a device which should works independently of these choices. But until there, I’m not able to say if this step is important or not, so the following information work with this one.

Final cut
To be sure to cut all link with Kobo connections, I “hack” the step connection. You can find on internet several links to bypass the account connection at the beginning of the process, after a factory restart. You have to open the sqlite database and edit it in order to emulate the connection process.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/commen...account_setup/

This track was explored because I can read that the Kobo sync works in background. Now you shouldn’t have this process working since there is not true account behind, but the reversal side is that you lose you sync update and cloud accesses….
Furthermore, I installed the Nickelmenu and Koreader, I customized it with all battery-low consumption option (dark mode, no automatic sleeping and turning off).
https://pgaskin.net/NickelMenu/

Best of all but you may ever know, you can even set up a webdav connection if you benefit of it, or the traditional dropbox or gdrive connections.
So far so good, I retrieved from there a good battery cycle and normal drain. I systematically use the Koreader soft when I read, so I’m still not able to say if the classic Kobo soft works also fine.
Particularly, my battery isn’t draining while my device is shutted down!
The main goal for me was to read in good conditions, epub or pdf, and still enjoy my lovely Kobo Forma 😊

Bonus (if you purchased another battery):
I decided to benefit form my useless last purchase, so I also welded the second battery.
! Be careful of the area below the two points of meld, it’s just the screen below and you can easily damage it! I add some adhesive tape to protect it.

[LOOK TO IMAGE2]

(you can do better work, it’s just I don’t have my favorite pistol here)
I think my device isn’t more waterproof (and truly heavier), so be careful next summer on the beach 😉
You can close the device almost normally.
You can also choose to obtain another battery with a better capacity, but I could read that it doesn’t always fit neither.

To conclude, the main probably faulty engine surely provides from the software. I still don’t want to believe about a simple planned obsolescence, and I would be very disappointed if we discovered that’s the case… The last firmware probably causes a background process which drains the power source.

Another track I envisaged was to directly connect battery from the micro-USB port. A test could be to use an external power battery to watch if the drain also occurs (if someone already tested, let us know please). It would suggest that only the internal battery is targeted. Weird too…

To finish, I know that this given solution isn’t totally satisfying, so me too I’m waiting a firmware or software update. Kobo may be conscient about that issue…
Then to be continued!

[Sirtel]

As has been said many times in oher threads:

All you need to set up your Kobo without an account is add the following line to the configuration file:
SideloadedMode=true
under [ApplicationPreferences]

No need to hack the database.

[alma]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As has been said many times in oher threads:

All you need to set up your Kobo without an account is add the following line to the configuration file:
SideloadedMode=true
under [ApplicationPreferences]

No need to hack the database.

Ok, thank you, but never seen elsewhere...
Hoping that the thread will be useful for many others

[Eve_Ju]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As has been said many times in oher threads:

All you need to set up your Kobo without an account is add the following line to the configuration file:
SideloadedMode=true
under [ApplicationPreferences]

No need to hack the database.

How can we do that ?

I have the same battery drain problem on my Kobo forma, I'm looking for a solution.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Eve_Ju

How can we do that ?

I have the same battery drain problem on my Kobo forma, I'm looking for a solution.

Connect your Kobo to your computer. Browse to the .kobo/Kobo directory. Edit the Kobo eReader.conf file with the editor of your choice on MacOS or Linux, for Windows you will need to use an editor that is aware of Linux style end of line so Notepad++ or equivalent.

Locate the [ApplicationPreferences] header in the file and add the SideloadedMode=true line under it.