# Battery charging?



## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

I feel really silly asking this, but does Thoth need to be turned on when I'm charging the battery? I turned him off last night and plugged him in, but this morning the battery level is the same... He charged fine when he arrived last friday, but he was turned on...


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

Shouldn't have to have him turned on while charging the battery.  Most electronics now a days are just fine being turned offf and recharging.


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## Suzanne (Nov 3, 2008)

The little light right beside where you plug the charger into the Kindle, was it still lit this morning? When the charge is full, the light goes out. I charge my Abigail every morning and even though she looks like she has a full charge on the screen (the little battery is solid black), she still takes a charge. I know she's done when that little yellow light goes out. And btw, I have Abigail off when I charge her.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

I'll pay close attention to the light tonight. I agree with you thejacklking, that's why I asked.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Last week I charged my camera battery for a class I was taking the next day. Took it off the charger, went to class, popped in the battery and it was still drained. Went home and sure enough, I had failed to plug the charger into the outlet.


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## Suzanne (Nov 3, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Last week I charged my camera battery for a class I was taking the next day. Took it off the charger, went to class, popped in the battery and it was still drained. Went home and sure enough, I had failed to plug the charger into the outlet.


OOPS! Sounds like something I would do!


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Last week I charged my camera battery for a class I was taking the next day. Took it off the charger, went to class, popped in the battery and it was still drained. Went home and sure enough, I had failed to plug the charger into the outlet.


You know, I think my problem might have been similar...I was looking at Thoth after Suzanne's post and I think I might have plugged the AC into the headphone jack. Duh!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who does stuff like this...

Betsy


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

mom133d said:


> You know, I think my problem might have been similar...I was looking at Thoth after Suzanne's post and I think I might have plugged the AC into the headphone jack. Duh!


Now that's sad! It doesn't even fit there.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Yeah, and I was wondering why they would put it so close to the cover... I'll blame the adult beverages...

Anyway, got a nice light when I plugged Thoth and and hes fully charged again.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

mom133d said:


> Yeah, and I was wondering why they would put it so close to the cover...


Hey, I wonder how many people have done this, and then returned their Kindle as "defective?"


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## KCFoggin (Nov 5, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Hey, I wonder how many people have done this, and then returned their Kindle as "defective?"


If that's the case then I would definitely not have a problem buying a refurb


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2008)

Another thing you can do, is plug it in to start the charge but forget that the outlet has an on/off switch on the wall that is in the off position.


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> It doesn't even fit there.


I frequently get this comment from LR.


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## WolfePrincess73 (Dec 2, 2008)

I feel more and more at home here!


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## TM (Nov 25, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> Another thing you can do, is plug it in to start the charge but forget that the outlet has an on/off switch on the wall that is in the off position.


I have done a variation on that a few times... go to turn out the lamp with the wall switch (instead of the one on the lamp itself), forgetting I have something else recharging on the outlet.


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## jheydt (Dec 16, 2008)

Since this thread is about battery charging the last couple of days I have noticed a real problem with my battery.  This Kindle was purchased in November so it is not that old.  Yesterday I noticed that the battery level was way down and I recharged the unit.  Actually it shouldn't have been down since the whispernet was not on nor was the unit on when sitting.  This morning I read on my Kindle for a little while and turned it off.  Again no whispernet.  The battery level this morning was fully charged.  When I returned home this afternoon once again the battery level was down and the unit had to be recharged.  Prior to the last couple of days I had no problem with this unit.  I tried a reset and presently the unit is charging again.  Will wait and see if the reset helps.

Any ideas?

Thanx

John


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

jheydt said:


> Since this thread is about battery charging the last couple of days I have noticed a real problem with my battery.


Is the charging light coming on while you have it charging?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Have you put an SD card in or added lots of new books or both? I have heard that both of these require the Kindle to re-index the content and that can run the battery down, sometimes for a few days, especially if there is alot of content.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Is the charging light coming on while you have it charging?


Yes, good to check that. And I am not trying to be insulting, John, but are you sure you are plugging the charger into the charger hole, not the one for the headphones? I have heard of a few folks who made that mistake, too.

L


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## jheydt (Dec 16, 2008)

I am putting the charger into the correct hole and the yellow light has been lit.  I only have 1 1/2 pages of books in the menu so that shouldn't be a problem.  I do have an sd card in my kindle.  Don't know why that would cause a problem.  In reading some posts on this board regarding the battery it seems that there are others with defective batteries.  I have a feeling that I might have gotten a defective one. 

John


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Hm, not too many books, not a recent download of lots of books....it might be a battery problem, as you suspect. I'd suggest contacting Customer Service.

L


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## jheydt (Dec 16, 2008)

Just an update.  For the past 4 days the battery seems to be operating normally.  The only thing I did was reset the Kindle and it seems to have alleviated the problem.  Just wanted to post this in case others were having the same type of problem.

John


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

Think you are right John. A reset  and/or a recharge of the battery fixes most problems.  Just don't panic,  breathe deep then reset, recharge.  Twice if necessary.  Then you can panic,  cry,  holler, and call the loverly folks at customer support.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Interestingly, I've had the exact same problem John had the past few days. Battery going way down with very little use. I just reset it so we'll see if that makes a difference. I'll report back.

L


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Dori said:


> Think you are right John. A reset and/or a recharge of the battery fixes most problems. Just don't panic, breathe deep then reset, recharge. Twice if necessary. Then you can panic, cry, holler, and call the loverly folks at customer support.


Today's Dilbert is apropos. . .










Ann


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## durphy (Nov 5, 2008)

Well, add my name to the list. When I'd plug it in, the light wouldn't come on even though the battery level showed it was low. So at first it sometimes worked if I went to another outlet. Now that won't even work. Yes, I have it plugged into the right hole. So I hooked it to my computer via usb. The light is on, but only if I keep Zelda turned on. I don't think the screen saver is coming on and I'm worried about the usb drive mode notice getting burned onto my screen.

So I did a restart and tried all over, but the wall outlets won't work and the usb will. Is there anything I've missed?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

The USB cable that comes with the Kindle will not trickle charge the Kindle.* If your wall charger is not working in any outlets, that makes me think something is wrong with the charger. Options are:

1. Buy a new charger from Amazon (which is currently not in stock).
2. Buy a charger such as iGo or Gomadic which has tips that will work for the Kindle (I know they sell iGo at RadioShack).
3. Buy the Eforcity Data and Charging USB Cable for Palm Tungsten E / ZIRE 31 which will charge your Kindle. It is for sale now at Amazon for $9.99 (for awhile it was for sale for $98.99. Glad to see the price has returned to normal!).**

notes:

*There are some who say the USB cable will trickle charge the Kindle if you do the following: 1) change the power management settings on your computer so that the USB ports stay powered on; 2) plug the Kindle into your computer. The Kindle must be turned off; 3) your computer must be turned on (not go into sleep or hibernate mode). 4) Wait 20-24 hours for a full trickle charge. NB: I have not actually tried this so I don't know if it really works but this is what I've been told.

**The eforcity cable has not been certified to work with the Kindle. I own one, use it all the time and have not had a problem. Some people have told me I am being very foolish and run the risk of frying my Kindle. Just so you know.

L


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Durphy,

Leslie's one of our Kindle gurus, I would follow her advice to try a different charger.  I have the iGo system, which I love as I have tips for all my devices; only have to carry one charger and the tips with me when I travel.  As Leslie said, Radio Shack carries these.  I rarely use the charger that came with my Kindle (only if I'm using the iGo for something else that MUST be charged.)

If a different charger fails to fix the problem, call Customer Support.  Amazon will make it right.

If the charger is bad, call Customer Support, too.  They should send you a new one.

Betsy


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## durphy (Nov 5, 2008)

Thanks ladies. I see that the iGo charges comes with a car charger which will be very useful. You're the best.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

durphy said:


> Thanks ladies. I see that the iGo charges comes with a car charger which will be very useful. You're the best.


I have the car charger too. Tips for:
Kindle
iPod
Palm T/X
Nokia phone
Garmin GPS

Great to only have one charger in car or house!

Betsy


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

Just spit balling here but I was just curious.  I assume that even while the Kindle is asleep it is still indexing.  Because last night I had a full charge on my battery and put it to sleep when I went to bed last night.  When I woke up this morning the battery was dead.  I'm assuming since it had 900+books to index that that would by the reason why.  Am I right Leslie?


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

thejackylking said:


> Just spit balling here but I was just curious. I assume that even while the Kindle is asleep it is still indexing. Because last night I had a full charge on my battery and put it to sleep when I went to bed last night. When I woke up this morning the battery was dead. I'm assuming since it had 900+books to index that that would by the reason why. Am I right Leslie?


I'm not Leslie but did you by chance leave the Whispernet switch on? Indexing 900 files is a simple task for any computer - unless the computer is trying to sync with a remote server that it can't find.


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

nope whispernet off due to the fact that I can't use it here.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

thejackylking said:


> nope whispernet off due to the fact that I can't use it here.


I have heard people say that indexing does run the battery down fast. The other day, I moved a whole bunch of books from the Kindle to the SD card and the battery went to 50%. My assumption was that it was a combination of the moving and the indexing. I did read that the Kindle will reindex the books when you move them from one place to another.

L


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## ScottBooks (Oct 28, 2008)

thejackylking said:


> I'm assuming since it had 900+books to index that that would by the reason why.


Just because you CAN carry around a library in your hand doesn't mean that you HAVE to...  How many pages long is your homepage? (I wonder if there's an upper limit?)

I delete EVERYTHING I read. If it was from Amazon, I can get it back; if it was free, it will be again.


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

ScottBooks said:


> Just because you CAN carry around a library in your hand doesn't mean that you HAVE to...  How many pages long is your homepage? (I wonder if there's an upper limit?)


86


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

okay this makes 2 nights in a row where when I went to bed the battery was completely drained.  WN off and in sleepmode.  must still be indexing.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

thejackylking said:


> okay this makes 2 nights in a row where when I went to bed the battery was completely drained. WN off and in sleepmode. must still be indexing.


I plug it in overnight. That way if it does any indexing it has all the power it needs and will finish before running the battery down.

Ann


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

I plugged it in at 7:00 this morning and let it charge until 9:00 this morning.  At around 4:00 this afternoon it was dead again.  It definately should not be this bad.  I think I'm going to call KCS.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Definitely, not the norm!

Call CS.

Betsy


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

Just spoke to KCS.  They said that the battery life is due to constant indexing.  It's still trying to get through all 900 books on the card.  Plus he said that HD and HC cards have a tendency to suck up more power than other cards.  So if you have HD or HC cards you could potentially have problems.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

You can check to see how much still needs to be indexed.

Just search for a word or phrase and when it gives you the results it will say that so many books weren't searched because they haven't been indexed yet (or something along those lines)

900 books is an awfully lot for it to be doing at once. I'm sure it will take awhile. Keep it plugged in as long as you can until it's finished.


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

Yeah the guy at KCS said it might take a couple of days.  but since its on an SD card you don't get the Indexing warning.


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

So sorry.  Hope this is the worst thing that has happened to you in 2008, and that 2009 is better.


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

For iGo, tip A00 fits the Kindle.  It's on their web site.  Usually, you have to order the tip separately from the charger.


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## durphy (Nov 5, 2008)

Thanks. I'll hit Radio Shack tomorrow. This made me realize how dependent I've become on Kindle in two months.

Here's the charger I ordered
iGo BN00252-0001 Everywhere Kindle Wall (AC) and Auto (DC) Charger with Retractable Cable and Kindle tip in pack


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## katiekat1066 (Nov 19, 2008)

You're right, they didn't send the right one.  I ordered this one too and the tip was in a little tiny zip-lock bag by itself.  It's a great choice, though, I carry this everywhere since the first time I forgot to charge and let my Kindle run completely down!  

Katiekat


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## durphy (Nov 5, 2008)

It's like losing blood.


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