# Battery life wrong?



## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

I was using my Kindle last night with a battery reading of 50% then all of a sudden it tells me my battery is low and shows nothing in the battery read.... WTH?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Had it been a long time since you had read the Kindle prior to last night?

Had you very recently added a lot of books?

When had you last charge it?

Which Kindle do you have?

Without any other information, I would wager that your battery indicator is probably not accurate.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> Had it been a long time since you had read the Kindle prior to last night?
> 
> Had you very recently added a lot of books?
> 
> ...


Don't forget: what is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?


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## Wunderkind (Jan 14, 2009)

Is it a European or African swallow?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I don't know....

Arrgghhhhh!....


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

LOL

I have the K2i.  Not sure when the last time it was charged was. I sort of expect the battery indicator to let me know when it needs to be charged again.  Otherwise what's the point of having it?  I don't tend to Dl a lot of books at once so it shouldn't be indexing or anything.  A few, less than half dozen in the last few weeks.  I use it for a little while almost every day.

Is it common for it not to be accurate or should I be complaining to Amazon?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I don't really know what is "normal" as the battery gets low, as I'm kind of anal about recharging mine whenever it gets below about 2/3 full. 

If you have not upgraded to the latest firmware version (2.3.3), you might consider doing so as it is supposed to deal with some battery usage issues. (No guarantee, but it shouldn't hurt.)


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I've found that the battery draining quickly once it reaches the half-way mark to be the norm on most of my small electronics, as well as the gas tank on every car I have ever owned. 

I generally charge mine when it gets to about 50%, just because it does go downhill fast after that.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Read this thread, too:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,17396.0.html

I was having problems, following the suggestions in the thread and my battery is back to at least 10 days before needing to be recharged.

L


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

My wireless is always off unless I turn it on to DL something then I turn it right back off.  I just need to know if this is a normal thing or if I need to contact CS about it.  I'm not big on charging something just to charge it because a lot of batteries have a memory and will hold less charge when you treat them that way.  But I certainly don't want to think it's fine on charge and have it drop to nothing without warning.  Thankfully I was home this time when it happened and I could plug it in with no problems.  Might not be the case next time.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

The type of lithium-ion battery that the Kindle uses does not have the memory effect associated with other types of rechargeable batteries.


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## evpseeker (May 29, 2009)

I had the exact same thing happen to me two nights ago. Battery at 50% then poof, I get the battery is low warning and I had to charge it. I thought it was really strange and I'm hoping it was just a fluke. I've had my Kindle since May of '09 and this is the first time this has happened. If it happens again I will call Amazon.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

Well it did it again today so I guess I will be calling Amazon.  Ugh ugh ugh.


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## Belita (Mar 20, 2010)

I just had this problem yesterday. Luckily I had my iPhone with me, so I turned on the wireless for the Kindle, quickly synced it, then continued reading on my iPhone. It was frustrating, though! I just read through that other site and I had just downloaded a bunch of books the night before, so it's possible I had the indexing problem.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

Well mine doesn't have anything it's holding on to indexing wise and I don't leave WN on, so I don't know what the deal is.  I really don't want to have to swap it out for another Kindle... it would be me third!  Not to mention I just put a new damn skin on it.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Curious:

How often are you charging it?


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> Curious:
> 
> How often are you charging it?


Hmmm, every few weeks maybe? I don't mind charging it more often but I DO expect the battery monitor to be right. I don't just charge things to be charging them as a general rule. That's why you have a battery display!


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

I just spoke with Kindle support since the problem seems to be getting worse.  They said it was a defective battery and are sending a replacement.  I know a few other folks were having similar issues so it might we worth it for them to call support.


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## Robin (Dec 11, 2008)

I had this problem with my k1. It would show full battery for a few days & as soon as it was less than full it dropped fast. I never could get an explanation for it. My k3 seems to drain at a more steady pace.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

Mine wasn't dropping fast, it was just not giving me a read out below half so I knew what my battery life was.  It still held a charge forever, you just didn't know when you needed to recharge it until it started screaming that it was at very low levels and you needed to charge it NOW.  Very frustrating.

Have the new one in my hands and dreading having to reorganize everything into my collections again.  Yuck.


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## Feste (Aug 25, 2010)

If I recall correctly the "fuel gage" on lithium batteries can become less accurate over time.  As such it is necessary to occasionally reset them by letting the battery fully discharge and then recharge.  Something like once every 30 charge cycles was one recommendation I recall.  

I don't trust the battery indicator any more then the fuel gauge on my car.  I consider 1/4 tank left to be empty and time to fill.

Batteries can go bad as they age and not hold charges like they use too.  And need replacement which is of course then big downside of not having (easily) user replaceable batteries.


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## jaimee83 (Sep 2, 2009)

Last week I got a low battery notice, pushed past it.  About 20 minutes I got what must have been the final notice, meter was at @ 50% and Kindle was locked up, until recharged.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

jaimee83 said:


> Last week I got a low battery notice, pushed past it. About 20 minutes I got what must have been the final notice, meter was at @ 50% and Kindle was locked up, until recharged.


Usually when mine gave me the notice my meter would finally drop down past half. I just know when I called Kindle CS she asked me what was goign on and once I told her she immediately told me it was a bad battery. I noticed the new one is also a alot darker on the screen, and has v 2.6 or something on it where the other one only had 2.3 I think. Not sure if that made any difference or not.

a little peeved I lost my fav skin AND my screen protector. *sigh*


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## meeko350 (Aug 25, 2010)

Belita said:


> I just had this problem yesterday. Luckily I had my iPhone with me, so I turned on the wireless for the Kindle, quickly synced it, then continued reading on my iPhone. It was frustrating, though! I just read through that other site and I had just downloaded a bunch of books the night before, so it's possible I had the indexing problem.


How do you turn the k3's wireless on from your phone? I have an Android phone. I've been leaving the wireless on so I can access it on my phone. It sure would save my k battery if I could turn it on from my phone.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I think Belita was simply saying that, when she noticed the battery was nearly gone on the Kindle, she turned wireless on and synced it up to Amazon before it died completely.  That way, she could continue reading using the Kindle app on her phone, which she also happened to have with her.


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