Glo Charging Glo

[Crusader]

When charging my Kobo glow the charging icon appears to get stuck on a specific %, today it was 50%. The Glo was charging for 3hours and still only showed 50%. Tapping on the battery icon also showed the Charging 50% text. Unplugging and plugging in the USB cable makes the battery icon jump to the one with the checkmark (indicating a full charge), but tapping on the battery shows "Charging: 96%".

Is this normal behavior or am I doing something wrong?

[RobertJSawyer]

First: Orion Nebula for the win!

Second: as it happens, I charged my Glo today. And it eventually showed the battery with the + sign of its own accord, and, when unplugged, tapping on the battery gave a reading of 100%.

So, no, I'd say it's not normal.

Are you charging via a USB connection to a computer, to a USB hub, or to a charger device plugged into the wall? If the second, is it a powered USB hub? If the third, what sort of charger are you using? (My suspicion is that perhaps the Kobo isn't getting quite enough juice to charge properly.)

All best wishes.

Rob

[Uschiekid]

Actually, I think it's pretty normal...the charging meter doesn't always read accurately and will either jump up on it's own or when I unplug it. Just because it apparently sticks at one number, doesn't mean it's not charging...it's no where near as accurate as a tablet or phone. If it does actually charge in the end, not taking too long, it is fine.

other people have definitely reported this, its not just us.

except the bit about being unplugged and it saying charging, if you wait a bit and it returns to normal then it's not odd though

[TechniSol]

Maybe run it down and charge it back up a couple times and see what happens? If I remember correctly I've seen one reading while plugged in and a lower percentage after unplugging on an incomplete charge a few times -usually just a couple points difference. Probably because they're just monitoring voltage while charging and at anything less than a full charge the voltage drops to the battery voltage when the charging cable is unplugged. You have to realize that in order for the battery to charge the source must have a higher potential, so the reading is higher when connected unless the battery has finished charging and the charging circuit has disconnected the charging source, or is pulsing it or some such depending on the design, battery chemistry, etc.

As for the stuck at a certain reading, I suppose depending on the state the device is in it may not be updating the percentage. If it continues to be a problem try a reset. Unless the device becomes physically hot it's probably charging just fine, merely not updating the display for some reason. Could be a firmware bug that I don't recall.

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

First: Orion Nebula for the win!

Are you charging via a USB connection to a computer, to a USB hub, or to a charger device plugged into the wall? If the second, is it a powered USB hub? If the third, what sort of charger are you using? (My suspicion is that perhaps the Kobo isn't getting quite enough juice to charge properly.)

All best wishes.

Rob

A man of excellent taste! (I love your novels. Just had to throw that in here.)

I'm charging via the USB connection on the computer and it seems to be charging fine except for the charging indicator not being accurate. The charges last for around 3 weeks with relatively high use (3h+ a day) and it being in sleep mode for the rest of the time.

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

Actually, I think it's pretty normal...the charging meter doesn't always read accurately and will either jump up on it's own or when I unplug it. Just because it apparently sticks at one number, doesn't mean it's not charging...it's no where near as accurate as a tablet or phone. If it does actually charge in the end, not taking too long, it is fine.

other people have definitely reported this, its not just us.

except the bit about being unplugged and it saying charging, if you wait a bit and it returns to normal then it's not odd though

I think I might not have expressed myself correctly. It showed the fully charged icon after unplugging it when it showed 50% and plugging it in again. Tapping on the battery indicator when it was charging for the 2nd time showed the actual charge as 96%.

Leaving it in to charge some more (about 20 minutes longer), it eventually said "Charged".

I think I might be too hasty and not giving it it's full time to charge (they say 4 hours). My Sony had a charging light indicating when it was charging and when charging was complete, which is quite different from the Kobo experience.

This was only the second recharge, so I'll keep an eye on it and see if it's a constant problem. Thanks for all the input!