# Paperwhite Battery Replacement



## Zorrosuncle (Nov 11, 2008)

Hi -- I love my paperwhite, but in observing its completely sealed case, one has to wonder what one does if the battery loses its charging power, say five years from now.  How can it ever be replaced?

ZU


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

You must not have ever purchased a Apple product    I would guess Amazon expects the battery to last the life of the product.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

If the battery fails in the first year, they'll replace it free.  If you buy extended warranty coverage, they'll replace it as long as the warranty is in force.  After that, historically, Amazon has offered discounts on replacement units. . . though this is not something they are obliged to do.  But it's been frequently reported by members here.

The kindle has only been around 5 years.  There have been 6 models (with variations) in that time, not counting the DX and Fires.  Arguably, if your battery fails in 5 years, you'll be ready to purchase a newer model anyway.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I bought k1, skipped k2, bought k3, skipped k4, and bought the PW. I'll skip PW2, and buy PW3. I figure that will be in 2 to 3 years. The battery should last for that long surely.

Steve


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Our first Kindle was a K2 that we bought 3½ years ago. We gave it to a friend about a year ago, and she says the battery is still holding a charge pretty well.


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## TsPlace (Sep 16, 2012)

Definitely like some Apple products, the battery is not replaceable, when it dies, it dies.  But I have never had a problem with them dying.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Zorrosuncle said:


> Hi -- I love my paperwhite, but in observing its completely sealed case, one has to wonder what one does if the battery loses its charging power, say five years from now. How can it ever be replaced?


Many devices with "non-customer replaceable batteries" can have new batteries installed if you are handy with tools. I've done an IOS device, a Palm Tungsten, and soon a Garmin car GPS. It's not as easy as the original Kindle, where you slide open the back and just plug in a new one, but it is doable.

This is one of the reasons I didn't get an iPhone and went with Android this time around, as the Android Phone I bought has a plug-in battery, but I see those days coming to an end, since the latest HTC phones (and others) seem to be going towards the user-hostile model of design.

Mike


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

it's a tradeoff: thin-and-light vs battery swappability.  I'll take thin-n-light, especially in cheaper gizmos or those that can go multiple days between charges.  

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

fuschiahedgehog said:


> it's a tradeoff: thin-and-light vs battery swappability. I'll take thin-n-light, especially in cheaper gizmos or those that can go multiple days between charges.


My phone will normally go two days between charges. Unfortunately, the way I use it once or twice a week changes things considerably.

The nice thing about being able to change out batteries yourself is exemplified by my current phone. Not only does it have a battery I can change out, but I bought a battery that was double the capacity of the stock battery (3400 mAh vs. 1750 mAh) complete with a new back cover that allowed the larger battery to fit, all for about $20.

The standard battery was good for about two days of 'normal' operation. When I go out all day geocaching, I'm running a program that tracks me by GPS and posts my position on a map on the internet every minute (I'm generally out in the boonies by myself, I want relatives to know where I am), two geocaching-specific programs that need GPS and internet connections to get my location and d/l cache and mapping data real-time, check my email, act as a WiFi hotspot for my Nexus 7 or iPad, and check the weather. When I'm in the car driving between locations, I listen to podcasts stored on the phone. Oh, I use it as a phone, also. 

All this means that the two-day normal operational window drops to an optimistic 5-6 hours with the extra-capacity battery. Even then, I've had to plug in my 8400 mAh external battery pack to keep things going if I'm out on an extended run of 10 hours or so (the car battery charger won't provide enough current to do this).

No, I don't consider all this normal usage. For most other people, anyway.  

Mike


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## PhillyGuy (Dec 18, 2010)

Web search shows you can already buy a Paperwhite replacement battery, although I don't know why you would since they are all still under warranty.

This video web page shows how to take apart the Paperwhite and put it back together:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/07/amazons-kindle-paperwhite-gets-torn-down-promptly-put-back-to/

My reaction to the above was that it looks hard to do.

By contrast, the Kindle Keyboard is easy to pop open, replace a part, and snap back together.


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## PhillyGuy (Dec 18, 2010)

fuschiahedgehog said:


> it's a tradeoff: thin-and-light vs battery swappability.


I don't understand this. You can find thin, light devices that snap together. You can find thin, light devices largely held together with tiny screws. And you can find thin, light devices held together with glue. I don't see why one of these methods is necessarily thinner or lighter than another.

Few, if any, reviewers consider ease of repair, so the designers have little incentive to build in repair-ability. And yet the devices are sometimes easy to repair anyway. Maybe this is because Amazon wants to be able to recondition returned units. Or maybe some designers hate the idea their creations will be unusable by their grandchildren. Who knows?


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Given that the "normal" lifetime of most of these devices is one to two years (yes, I realize Kindle users tend to keep their Kindles FOREVER) chances are you'll replace it long before the battery actually wears out; and manufacturers count on you doing the replacement.


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## Cyanide5000 (Aug 30, 2010)

The batteries are pretty awesome and will last you many years, and even then if you need a replacement, there are serives on the web that will do it for you for a resonable price, but as others have said, you'll have probably replaced your device by that time anyway


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

It's not as though the devices were doorstops if the battery goes out... the manufacturers all seem to offer a service to replace the battery if you send in the device. Yeah, with decreasing hardware costs it will be maybe be as much as a buying a new device by the time you need to do it, but it can be done.

Another general advantage to a user-replaceable battery is the ability to have a charged-up spare(s) when you go camping in the wilderness for a month. Yeah, you could always take an external recharging pack, though.

Mike


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## Zorrosuncle (Nov 11, 2008)

jmiked said:


> It's not as though the devices were doorstops if the battery goes out... the manufacturers all seem to offer a service to replace the battery if you send in the device. Yeah, with decreasing hardware costs it will be maybe be as much as a buying a new device by the time you need to do it, but it can be done.
> 
> Another general advantage to a user-replaceable battery is the ability to have a charged-up spare(s) when you go camping in the wilderness for a month. Yeah, you could always take an external recharging pack, though.
> 
> Mike


I think the cost of battery replacement is everything. It's good to know that the battery is replaceable. But the replacement cost of the battery vs. the cost of a new Paperwhite at the time is must bve considered. My Kindle 1 which I bought almost five years back is still working on the original battery.

ZU


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## Raffeer (Nov 19, 2008)

Another one with an original Kindle (bought 12/07) still chugging along, or whatever batteries do................


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

I have an extended battery on my phone as well; I go on long hikes several times per week and use a GPS fitness app to track my adventures.  I'd never make it a whole day on just the regular stock battery.  I can deal with the Kindle needing a charge once a week or so compared with that!  And should its internal battery ever die before I feel the need to upgrade it, I'm confident that I'll be able to find a replacement and install it.  So far I've not worn out any of the Kindle batteries though!

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2


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## PhillyGuy (Dec 18, 2010)

HappyGuy said:


> Given that the "normal" lifetime of most of these devices is one to two years (yes, I realize Kindle users tend to keep their Kindles FOREVER) . . .


My guess is that tablet folks are going to replace their devices more frequently than eReader users because tablets have more features that can improved upon.


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## LarryWilmot (Jul 31, 2012)

My iPod Touch 4 is getting pretty sad battery wise. It's 2 years old I use the Kindle app the most. So I've requested a PW from Santa.


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## skyblue (Dec 23, 2009)

I purchased and returned two Paperwhites for numerous reasons.  One unit was wifi, the other 3G.  One of my gripes with the Paperwhite was battery life.  Even with wifi and 3G turned off, neither would hold a charge more than a few days let alone the 8 weeks Amazon touted.   I foresaw completely dead batteries in the near future if I had chosen to keep them.  

On a positive note, I haven't had any battery life issues with my K2, KK or Kindle Fire HD, so battery replacement hasn't crossed my mind.


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

skyblue said:


> I purchased and returned two Paperwhites for numerous reasons. One unit was wifi, the other 3G. One of my gripes with the Paperwhite was battery life. Even with wifi and 3G turned off, neither would hold a charge more than a few days let alone the 8 weeks Amazon touted.  I foresaw completely dead batteries in the near future if I had chosen to keep them.
> 
> On a positive note, I haven't had any battery life issues with my K2, KK or Kindle Fire HD, so battery replacement hasn't crossed my mind.


When I first got my Paperwhite the first charge was very fast, but the battery did not last very long. So I did a couple complete discharge, then full charge cycles. Now the battery is much better then even my K3's. In fact I leave the WiFi on all the time because of how rock solid the battery life on the Paperwhite has become.


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## skyblue (Dec 23, 2009)

CAR said:


> When I first got my Paperwhite the first charge was very fast, but the battery did not last very long. So I did a couple complete discharge, then full charge cycles. Now the battery is much better then even my K3's. In fact I leave the WiFi on all the time because of how rock solid the battery life on the Paperwhite has become.


Great suggestion, *CAR*! I just wish it would have worked for me! I hope to try a Paperwhite again someday.


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