PRS-650 sleep-mode battery drain

luckycharms · 11-10-2011, 09:19 AM

Hi Folks,

I know this topic has been touched on before, but there are no solutions I can find. My reader consumes tons of batteries in sleep mode (with a picture showing on the screen). I've run chkdsk on it, but it doesn't come up with any issues.

Is this a Sony software error? Should I try getting a replacement unit? Or, would a badly-formatted epub do this?

Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

thanks!

Pinecone · 11-10-2011, 10:00 AM

Try a hard reset first.

But I rarely turn my reader off. Most of the time, during the day is it on, and when in transit and at night, in sleep mode. I have to charge maybe once a week.

luckycharms · 11-10-2011, 10:26 AM

Depending on how much you use it, once a week might be alot. Folks who turn their reader off report only having to charge it once a month or so. But of course, this totally depends on the amount of usage.

I've performed a hard reset - let's see how it goes. I don't expect much of a change, but we'll see.

Kiwimick · 11-10-2011, 02:25 PM

I never turn it off and generally read about 2-3 hours a day and my battery takes 2 weeks to get down to 1 bar. I always charge it with a wall charger and leave it charging overnight

dordale · 11-10-2011, 05:40 PM

My reader rarely gets below 3 bars. I read on it a couple hours a day and charge it on average about once a week. I've only had it get down to two bars a handful of times, but that's when I haven't charged it for two or three weeks. I never turn the reader off--I do manually put it into sleep mode with the slider on top though.

luckycharms · 11-10-2011, 05:52 PM

my reader's behavior is different. sometimes when i read it every 3rd day or so for a couple hours, each time i open it, it's down another bar. I put it to sleep, but never turn it all the way off myself.

For those whose battery life doesn't seem to have these issues (and even those that do), perhaps you wouldn't mind answering the following questions to see if we can come up with a pattern: do you have any pdf's installed on your reader? Do you manage it with Calibre? Do you have any epub's of questionable quality? What version of the firmware do you have?

ScalyFreak · 11-10-2011, 05:56 PM

The battery on my 950 seems to drain much faster when I've charged it from PC than wehn I used the wall charger. I wish I knew why, or if I'm just impinging it.

carpetmojo · 11-10-2011, 05:56 PM

Again, my experience echoes others - never power off (unless it's not going to be used for a week or so), just put it to sleep.

2-3 hours a day, 2 + weeks, charge on wall o/night.

And don't forget if you USB it, to make sure the PC doesn't go into power off mode after a certain time. This will actually drain (and bugger up) the battery.
And, silly though it sounds, a wall charger does give it more "oomph".

luckycharms · 11-10-2011, 06:02 PM

i always charge it on a computer, and wait till it says it's fully charged. i don't believe that to be the problem. There is something wrong with the sleep mode such that, when it sleeps for a couple or a few days, I turn it on to find that it's lost a bar. Sleep mode with an eink display should consume almost no power whatsoever.

Ashjuk · 11-11-2011, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckycharms

my reader's behavior is different. sometimes when i read it every 3rd day or so for a couple hours, each time i open it, it's down another bar. I put it to sleep, but never turn it all the way off myself.

For those whose battery life doesn't seem to have these issues (and even those that do), perhaps you wouldn't mind answering the following questions to see if we can come up with a pattern: do you have any pdf's installed on your reader? Do you manage it with Calibre? Do you have any epub's of questionable quality? What version of the firmware do you have?

I have only had one battery issue with my 650 since I bought it, and that was fixed with a soft reset.

Normally I find that with daily use it falls to about 50% in just over a week. I never deliberately put mine to sleep, just let the device go to sleep on its own. And I have only ever once shut the device down completely.

And to answer your questions:
1) No, I don't have any pdfs on it.
2) No, I use Sony Reader Library to manage the device. I use Calibre for book editing etc., but I hate the way it forces you to adopt its folder structure which you cannot change.

3) All my epubs are of questionable quality!

4) Not sure about the firmware version - the one it came with.

Hope that helps.

Pinecone · 11-11-2011, 06:13 AM

I typically charge from the computer at home. From an iGo at work or when traveling.

I charge when it first hits 2 bars. I prefer to have a good charge on it.

luckycharms · 11-11-2011, 08:46 AM

@ashjuk - thanks for all the info!

I wonder if there's anyone out there who is an occasional reader - say, a couple times a week. It'd be interesting to hear their battery experiences versus all you more frequent readers.

btw, you can check the firmware version by going to the "about" page.

Kiwimick · 11-11-2011, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckycharms

i always charge it on a computer, and wait till it says it's fully charged. i don't believe that to be the problem. There is something wrong with the sleep mode such that, when it sleeps for a couple or a few days, I turn it on to find that it's lost a bar. Sleep mode with an eink display should consume almost no power whatsoever.

There might be your problem. It may say its fully charged ie the light goes off but I think the light goes off at around 80% charged and you are better to leave it charging for around 6 hours. Obviously thats difficult using a computer as it goes into sleep mode when not in constant use and that can actually run down your battery.
If i was you I would buy a wall charger and give it a charge overnight and I bet you would notice the difference

DoctorOhh · 11-11-2011, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckycharms

my reader's behavior is different. sometimes when i read it every 3rd day or so for a couple hours, each time i open it, it's down another bar. I put it to sleep, but never turn it all the way off myself.

My 505 acted like this until I replaced the battery. Now it is back to original working order.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckycharms

do you have any pdf's installed on your reader? Do you manage it with Calibre? Do you have any epub's of questionable quality? What version of the firmware do you have?

I rarely use pdfs. I use calibre exclusively. What does "questionable quality even mean? The 505 and 650 are different beasts.

I don't think it has anything to do with the structure of any ebook.

Good Luck.

luckycharms · 11-15-2011, 12:29 PM

@dwanthy - how'd you replace its battery?

"questionable quality" means that they've been ripped from other file formats such as pdfs, chm's, etc, and might be poorly formatted, potentially with errors in the file formats. I'm wondering if the reader might get hung up on those files in such a way that it keeps the device thinking, even when in sleep mode. Perhaps stuck in some loop or something. Unlikely, I admit, but I'm searching for something here as the battery shouldn't drain much at all during sleep.

@kiwimick - I don't think it's the charging mode. Battery drains as expected when i'm reading alot, turning many pages, etc. That's the main thing that should drain the battery: page turns. And perhaps touch screen power. However, as I've mentioned above, the battery drains *significantly* when in sleep mode. This shouldn't be the case, and surely has nothing to do with charge mode.

@pinecone - hard reset accomplished, but still have the sleep-mode battery drain issue. Ugh. Time to call sony support? The thing's a bit old now - doubt they'll be willing to help me out.

11-10-2011, 09:19 AM	#1
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	sleep-mode battery drain Hi Folks, I know this topic has been touched on before, but there are no solutions I can find. My reader consumes tons of batteries in sleep mode (with a picture showing on the screen). I've run chkdsk on it, but it doesn't come up with any issues. Is this a Sony software error? Should I try getting a replacement unit? Or, would a badly-formatted epub do this? Any ideas are greatly appreciated. thanks!

11-10-2011, 05:52 PM	#6
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	my reader's behavior is different. sometimes when i read it every 3rd day or so for a couple hours, each time i open it, it's down another bar. I put it to sleep, but never turn it all the way off myself. For those whose battery life doesn't seem to have these issues (and even those that do), perhaps you wouldn't mind answering the following questions to see if we can come up with a pattern: do you have any pdf's installed on your reader? Do you manage it with Calibre? Do you have any epub's of questionable quality? What version of the firmware do you have? Last edited by luckycharms; 11-10-2011 at 05:56 PM.

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11-10-2011, 10:00 AM	#2
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	Try a hard reset first. But I rarely turn my reader off. Most of the time, during the day is it on, and when in transit and at night, in sleep mode. I have to charge maybe once a week.

11-10-2011, 10:26 AM	#3
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	Depending on how much you use it, once a week might be alot. Folks who turn their reader off report only having to charge it once a month or so. But of course, this totally depends on the amount of usage. I've performed a hard reset - let's see how it goes. I don't expect much of a change, but we'll see.

11-10-2011, 02:25 PM	#4
Kiwimick Addict Posts: 211 Karma: 37308 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: London UK Device: Sony PRS650	I never turn it off and generally read about 2-3 hours a day and my battery takes 2 weeks to get down to 1 bar. I always charge it with a wall charger and leave it charging overnight

11-10-2011, 05:40 PM	#5
dordale Wizard Posts: 1,731 Karma: 3472866 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Sony PRS-650 & 350; Kindle Voyage; Kobo Aura HD, Aura One, and Forma	My reader rarely gets below 3 bars. I read on it a couple hours a day and charge it on average about once a week. I've only had it get down to two bars a handful of times, but that's when I haven't charged it for two or three weeks. I never turn the reader off--I do manually put it into sleep mode with the slider on top though.

11-10-2011, 05:56 PM	#7
ScalyFreak Sith Wannabe Posts: 2,034 Karma: 8017430 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: I'm not sure... it's kind of dark. Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kobo Aura H2O, Kindle Fire HD, Aluratek Libre	The battery on my 950 seems to drain much faster when I've charged it from PC than wehn I used the wall charger. I wish I knew why, or if I'm just impinging it.

11-10-2011, 05:56 PM	#8
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Again, my experience echoes others - never power off (unless it's not going to be used for a week or so), just put it to sleep. 2-3 hours a day, 2 + weeks, charge on wall o/night. And don't forget if you USB it, to make sure the PC doesn't go into power off mode after a certain time. This will actually drain (and bugger up) the battery. And, silly though it sounds, a wall charger does give it more "oomph".

11-10-2011, 06:02 PM	#9
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	i always charge it on a computer, and wait till it says it's fully charged. i don't believe that to be the problem. There is something wrong with the sleep mode such that, when it sleeps for a couple or a few days, I turn it on to find that it's lost a bar. Sleep mode with an eink display should consume almost no power whatsoever.

11-11-2011, 06:13 AM	#11
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	I typically charge from the computer at home. From an iGo at work or when traveling. I charge when it first hits 2 bars. I prefer to have a good charge on it.

11-11-2011, 08:46 AM	#12
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	@ashjuk - thanks for all the info! I wonder if there's anyone out there who is an occasional reader - say, a couple times a week. It'd be interesting to hear their battery experiences versus all you more frequent readers. btw, you can check the firmware version by going to the "about" page.

11-15-2011, 12:29 PM	#15
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	@dwanthy - how'd you replace its battery? "questionable quality" means that they've been ripped from other file formats such as pdfs, chm's, etc, and might be poorly formatted, potentially with errors in the file formats. I'm wondering if the reader might get hung up on those files in such a way that it keeps the device thinking, even when in sleep mode. Perhaps stuck in some loop or something. Unlikely, I admit, but I'm searching for something here as the battery shouldn't drain much at all during sleep. @kiwimick - I don't think it's the charging mode. Battery drains as expected when i'm reading alot, turning many pages, etc. That's the main thing that should drain the battery: page turns. And perhaps touch screen power. However, as I've mentioned above, the battery drains significantly when in sleep mode. This shouldn't be the case, and surely has nothing to do with charge mode. @pinecone - hard reset accomplished, but still have the sleep-mode battery drain issue. Ugh. Time to call sony support? The thing's a bit old now - doubt they'll be willing to help me out.

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