Battery change PRS-505 UK

[astra]

Hi Everybody.

Has anyone in the UK changed a battery in PRS-505?
If yes, where did you obtain it?

Thank you in advance,
Astra.

[astra]

Bump!

Just one more chance for myself...anyone in the UK has done it?
Pleeeease

[miao]

Astra,
you can get the battery from the Flee Market on this forum or from eBay - here is a result of a quick search there:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories
Also, check this MR thread (link), you will learn how to replace the battery, pictures and service manual are included...
Good luck

[Beatlebacker]

Hi Astra - yes I've replaced the battery dozens of times, but tell me ... why do you feel the battery needs replacing? The biggest causes of short battery life I've found to date are:
1. Improper charge cycle or not allowing the battery to fully charge (red LED should be extunguished once fully charged - don't be fooled by the 'full' battery level indicator).
2. Corrupted files installed causing the device to remain in an active state.
3. Unsupported file formats installed (inc. PC data, PC back up files, Mac files, etc) pay attention to what formats are supported.
4. Not shutting the device correctly through the menu - remains in a stand-by state.
5. Excessive amount of books installed, sometimes with a MS or SD card in the slots - remember the Reader has to trawl through ALL the data before it starts fully.
6. Anything with a large amount of graphical detail, or take time to open fully will all have a bearing on the refresh rate - the device only draws power when opening up, playing music and changing pages.
7. Exceeding or getting close the memory capacity, causing a state as in point 2 above - ideally you need to allow a 'free space' of about 2 MB.

Get back to me anytime with your answer(s), and if the above doesn't help, I'll run you through the stripdown procedure.

[astra]

miao & Beatlebacker
Thanks a lot for your replies.

Beatlebacker
I will do my best to reply on all your questions.
However, before I start I would like you to know:
I started with 500 3 years ago. Then 3 years ago I bought 505 and am using it every day. 500 is still in use, occasionally, by DH when we go on holidays. I, myself, am IT technician. Don't get me wrong, I am sure I am prone to silly mistakes and RTFM is applicable to me more often then not, just maybe not as often as my DH for example

Anyway, lets start with the list.

1. For the first year I was re-charging the reader when it the b. indicator would drop to 1 bar. After that I started to re-charge it when it would drop one or maximum two bars because people manage to convince me that lithium b. likes frequent and shallow charges. Always, charge it until red light is gone.

2. I am not sure what you mean by active state?

3. I have about 82-84 ebooks, only one of them is 6" pdf file, the rest are LRF only. I upload ebooks via eBook Library s/w only.

4. I never shut down the reader. Only turn it off via power button, which effectively puts it into "hold" mode, perpetually on.

5. All books on the internal memory only. Never use cards at all. Because they are uploaded via eBook Library, all books are "prepagenated".

6. I read only one book at time. Usually 1 book in 2-4 weeks, so I do not navigate too much or open different books.

7. Half of my internal memory is free. Dunno about RAM but the problem I am going to mention a bit later is consistent for the last 6-7 weeks in 3 different ebooks I read/reading.

It used to take 2 weeks to go from fully charged to flat battery when I bought 505. Over 1.5 years the period decreased down to 10 days? However, some weeks ago a new trend took place. After fully charging reader, it would loose the first bar (from 4 to 3) after 10 page turns? After that it would stay on 3 bars for quite a long time. I think overall battery life now is 1 week.

So, what do you think?

P.S. and I think it very little time to re-charge the reader now.

[charleski]

Lithium batteries have a fixed lifespan and you can definitely expect a loss of capacity after 3 years of constant use. If 1wk of life is too little for you, then yes, you should change the battery, though make sure you get one that hasn't been sitting on a shelf for a while, these things degrade from the day they're produced.

As far as charging goes, LI batteries are very flexible and the only thing you need to be careful of is not to discharge it all the way down (can do that once or twice to calibrate the battery indicator, but not regularly). If you're not going to be using it for a while, be sure to give it a charge beforehand so it doesn't drain to empty through self-discharge (ideally they should be stored at around 40% charge).

[astra]

What worries me more than 1 week life span is that it loses the first bar very quickly. It is an unnatural behaviour.

[DDHarriman]

Hi astra

I would not be worry at all.
The behaviour looks just that it’s a little miss calibrated… but nothing special.
If you are keep on getting one week (at least) or more out of it with normal reading, if I were you I would not care at all. I would say you still have a strong battery over there.

Btw: you choosing of Einstein’s quote could be not be better chosen.

Best regards,

[astra]

OK.
I thought it might be something wrong with the battery indicator.
We will see.
I will test the reader and see how long it can actually hold the charge before I must re-charge it.

As of Einstein's quotation...it is my favourite all-time, thanks.

P.S. I wonder whether it was a veiled hint of my stupid worrying about battery when it works fine?

[snickp]

Hi

I had the same problem myself recently, but my unit is only six months old. I solved it by running it down to 1 bar remaining, doing a complete shutdown of the unit and then charging until the red light went out.

I figured it was similar to calibrating the battery monitor on a laptop so just did what I normally do for that. Seems to be fine now, holding the full battery indication for the normal period of time.

Hope this helps

[astra]

It is funny, but after I complained here about the problem, it stopped misbehaving. How did it know?
Well, I didn't have much time to fully test it but when I re-charged it on Friday evening, it took 2 days to loose the first bar.

[miao]

Originally Posted by astra

It is funny, but after I complained here about the problem, it stopped misbehaving...

Nice... you should start complaining it does not have a touch screen add a built in dictionary...