# Battery life: is it a 2.3 problem or something else?



## Reitsuki (Dec 30, 2009)

I got a Kindle for Christmas... The new Kindle 2, in non-DX variety. Much rejoicing, yay. I proceeded to load up a bunch of books on it, and I've been enjoying it since I got it a few days ago...

But I've been having this nagging feeling my battery was depleting faster than it should. It was hard to tell at first, since I had it hooked up to my computer so much transferring files, and I was playing around with wireless and text-to-speech and stuff, so I figured that was it.

Last night, after I put a few more books on it, I left it plugged in until it was fully charged. Green light, the battery icon was full, etc. I read for 2-3 hours yesterday, and another 1-1 1/2 today. Wireless off, no mp3 playing, no text to speech, etc. I'm a fairly fast reader, but I was only turning pages at my usual pace, not flipping through books with wild abandon. So now, after at most about 5 hours of use, the battery icon is at about 1/4th charge _remaining_.

Now, maybe I'm completely wrong in my assumption, but this does not fit the "read for weeks with wireless turned off" that Amazon promised me.

Does it sound like maybe I have a bad battery and should contact amazon about it, or is this usual?


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## anivyl (Nov 12, 2009)

if your wireless is off and if you haven't turned it on and off to show off to people (like i did), it does sound like something is wrong. i have gone about 2 weeks now with about 15-20 hours of reading, and it's only at half bar. give them a call.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

How many is "a bunch of books?" When books are added to the Kindle, it does an indexing of every word that is in each book for its search mode. This takes a lot of battery. It is just a few days after Christmas and you say you added some more books, read for a while, and noticed the battery was down. I bet it is still trying to index all those books. When you go to sleep at night, try leaving it plugged in to charge overnight for a few days. I think that will do the trick. Do this any time you add several books.


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## Reitsuki (Dec 30, 2009)

About a dozen last night from the Baen Free Library and Project Gutenberg, bringing it up to a total of 74 added since Christmas.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

74 is quite a few for the Kindle to be indexing in a short period. Also, it could be stuck on indexing one of them.

I suggest just keeping an eye on it for a month. The type of battery in the Kindle does not reach it's full potential until it has been charged several times.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Occasionally a book will download with a corrupt location. I have had this happen with books and samples I downloaded over wireless and books downloaded via the computer. Each time I have had a book with a corrupt location my K2 has not been able to index that book or sample.

One way to find out if there are unindexed books on your Kindle is to go the Home screen. Type a word that you know is in a few of your books. Move the 5-way to select "search my items". If any of the items are not yet indexed, there will be an entry identifying how many items are not yet indexed. Go to that entry and select it by pressing the 5-way controller. That will bring up a list of the items that are not indexed. (I use *brillig * as I have _Through the Looking Glass_ on my K2. I always use a word I know exists in an indexed file as my K2 froze once when searching for a non-existant word. If I know that the Kindle has been reset and is re-indexing everything, I search for *kindle* which is currently in 143 items on my K2. )

As suggested above, leave the Kindle plugged in to charge while it is indexing. I have over 500 items currently on my K2 and find that most books take 1-2 minutes to index if you aren't doing anything else with the Kindle at the same time (page turning, note taking, etc.). However, I have had especially large books take over 10 minutes to index.

Give the Kindle plenty of time and then check to see if any items are still not indexed. If the same items stays unindexed for more than an hour after the rest of the items are indexed, check to see if there is a problem with that particular file. I eventually removed the files that would not index and downloaded them again. That seemed to resolve my indexing problem.

EDIT: Also, if you highlight, bookmark, or add notes to a book, the Kindle will need to re-index both the book and the My Clippings.txt file. My battery needs charging more frequently because I am a compulsive notetaker now that I have my Kindle.


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## lovesangelrn (Dec 28, 2009)

Thanks Annalog for the detailed instructions. Now I know how to check for un-indexed books.  My kindle battery thanks you


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

lovesangelrn said:


> Thanks Annalog for the detailed instructions. Now I know how to check for un-indexed books. My kindle battery thanks you


You are welcome. Since I was lucky enough to find Kindleboards during the long wait for my Kindle, I knew to keep my Kindle plugged in for indexing after I loaded the 300+ books I had downloaded from Feedbooks, etc. I doubt I would have thought to click on the entry showing how many books were not yet indexed to get a list of the unindexed books on my own. I saw that tip on Kindleboards.


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## Phil75070 (Dec 30, 2009)

Check your software version! We ordered a Kindle2 for Christmas and after fully charging only got about a day and a half of reading before the battery looked to have only about 1/4 charge left on it. My daughter-in-law has one and asked what version of the software was on it. A check showed it to be 2.2 and not the 2.3 we would have expected. I actually went and downloaded 2.3 to the computer, hooked up the Kindle to the computer and copied it over to the Kindle root directory and then updated the Kindle. Now I have been reading for days and the battery is still almost full and the manual rotation feature is now also enabled.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I've mentioned a few times on various threads that I feel like my battery life has seriously degraded since the 2.3 upgrade. This week I decided to actually pay attention. On Monday, I did a full charge. I read for quite a few hours on Monday, but most of the time, I had the Kindle plugged in while I was reading.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday -- I did an average amount of reading (maybe 2 hrs/day). I did not turn on the Whispernet once during those three days.

Today, Friday, I wake my Kindle up -- first thing in the morning -- and the battery is down to the 1/4 mark. 

So, I basically got 3 days of "average" (actually mild) use with no Whispernet, and the battery runs down enough to require recharging (which it is doing now). I'm not sure that qualifies as Jeff Bezos' "sipping" anymore.

It feels like this started with the 2.3 upgrade, but that might be a coincidence. 

Anyone else have this experience? This Kindle is just a week shy of 9 months old.

L


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## cyberspastic (Dec 23, 2009)

I generally get a week or more on one charge. What were you getting before the update? Could you have a bad battery?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

cyberspastic said:


> I generally get a week or more on one charge. What were you getting before the update? Could you have a bad battery?


I can't say with exact certainty, but I know I was definitely going at least a week or ten days before I felt like I needed to charge again. Maybe longer. I don't leave WN on constantly. I only turn it on when I know I have something to download. Before, I would leave the charger sitting on my office desk. Now I am carrying it around in my purse since I feel like I need to use it more often -- and I do.

What I am wondering: is this tied to the upgrade or is it just a coincidence that the battery started to go at the same time. Others?

L


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

I'm noticing the same thing, and mine is about a week _past_ the 9-month point. So maybe it's just the battery starting its decline into old age.... The 2.3 timing could be just coincidental.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> I'm noticing the same thing, and mine is about a week _past_ the 9-month point. So maybe it's just the battery starting its decline into old age.... The 2.3 timing could be just coincidental.


Interesting, although I wouldn't call 9 months old age! I did buy the extended warranty for this one. I suppose I could call Customer Service but I thought I'd get feedback from the folks here, first.

L


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## jcrain9663 (Jun 23, 2009)

Go to the Kindle Forum at Amazon and search for discussions on "battery life".  This has been discussed there, and some have reported that they found it meant they had a corrupted book file that was continually indexing (takes lots of battery power).  I don't recall the 

Here is part of one of the posts: 
"check to see if you have a book that is not indexing .... do a search - if the results come back - X number of items not yet searchable - then you have an eBook that is stuck and causing battery drain 

select that line on the screen to further drill down into the menu - this will let you see which item is hanging - from there select the item and it will usually start indexing - 

also if you add a large amount of content to your Kindle indexing can drain the battery - esp if it gets "stuck"


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I am not going to search on Amazon! LOL. But, I did what you said...I did a search on the word "flicker." It came back with 7 pages of search results (popular word!) and at the end of the list, there were three items that could not be searched: two samples and (ironically), The Amazon Kindle FAQ by you-know-who. I deleted those three items, did the search again and this time, there was no mention about indexing.

It is charging now. When it gets to fully charged, I'll keep track of how long it takes to run down again.

If this is the solution....I will be thrilled. I'll keep everyone posted.

L


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

I hope that solves the problem.  FWIW, I haven't noticed any difference in my battery life since the update.


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## talleylynn (Apr 24, 2009)

Leslie

I, too, have noticed that the battery isn't what it used to be since the update. Also, since I was fine with the pre-update battery life I never clocked how long it lasted, but it was more than a week with pretty heavy reading. I only use Whispernet to download, otherwise it's off. My kindle is also 9 months old.

A few weeks ago it got so bad that my battery was only lasting 4 hours before the low-battery message would come up. I called C S and they had me do a restart - hold the on off button for 15-30 seconds until it flashes. After the restart it was better, and back to almost a week of reading before it got down to 1/4. However, as time passes (ha! only a couple of weeks) it's inching back to short battery life. 

It has also started acting weird after the restart. Once, it jumped out of the book I was reading and spontaneously restarted and when it was done, the book ended up at the end of my booklist. Also, one day it bookmarked my place 20 page turns before where I actually stopped reading. It's done a few other things I can't remember now. It's not bad enough to call C S again, but it may get there soon. Are you having any of these other problems?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

talleylynn said:


> It has also started acting weird after the restart. Once, it jumped out of the book I was reading and spontaneously restarted and when it was done, the book ended up at the end of my booklist. Also, one day it bookmarked my place 20 page turns before where I actually stopped reading. It's done a few other things I can't remember now. It's not bad enough to call C S again, but it may get there soon. Are you having any of these other problems?


I had that happen once but it was quite awhile ago. Actually, thinking back, it wasn't even this Kindle. I got my first K2 (replacing my K1) when they were released last February. The corner popped open on that one (there is an ancient thread here somewhere, with pictures) and Amazon replaced it. So I've had the present Kindle (Gabriel) since late April. Up until now it's been fine, but now the battery problem.

For now, I'll keep track of this latest charge and how long it lasts, now that the non-indexed items are off my Kindle. Like I said, I'd be thrilled if that was the solution to the problem.

L


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## talleylynn (Apr 24, 2009)

I got my kindle for Mother's Day, but it came on the 24th of April and I couldn't wait. I read 3 books before Mother's Day came.

I tried the search thing and everything is properly indexed on my kindle.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

My K2 still has excellent battery life.


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

I have to charge every couple of days and this is since the 2.3 release.  I never have WN on but I do read a lot and d/l lots of books, but even when I don't d/l or have an opportunity to read more than 30 minutes or so it still goes down fast.  Mine is only 2 months old!  I do have one book that is not indexed, will delete that and see what happens.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Okay to document: 1:43 pm on Friday and the Kindle is fully charged. Let's see how it goes...

L


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

Doesn't the warranty cover the batter?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

cheerio said:


> Doesn't the warranty cover the batter?


Yes, but I don't want to get a new Kindle, if I can avoid it. I am happy with this one, its skin, all the samples, etc. There is a fair amount of nuisance of having to switch.

L


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## davem2bits (Feb 2, 2009)

Here is a thread and post that solved my problem; poor battery life since 2.3 upgrade. From KBs of course.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,17396.msg332746.html#msg332746

Turned out to be the index problem mentioned earlier. Hope this helps here.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Ah, thanks, Dave. Maybe I should merge these two threads...

L


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## loca (Jan 3, 2010)

davem2bits said:


> Here is a thread and post that solved my problem; poor battery life since 2.3 upgrade. From KBs of course.
> 
> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,17396.msg332746.html#msg332746
> 
> Turned out to be the index problem mentioned earlier. Hope this helps here.


Ah, simpler than appeared.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Leslie, as I said in an earlier post in the merged thread, I frequently add notes and highlights to the books I read; this results in the K2 indexing both my notes and the copies in My Clippings.txt. In another thread, I mentioned that it seemed that my K2 was taking longer to save notes. As a result, in December I followed instructions on removing the index files to get my K2 to re-index to see if that would improve the speed problems I noticed on startup, highlighting, and saving notes. That did seem to help a bit with battery life as well for a while. However battery life seems to be getting worse again for me. Maybe it is time for me to do another backup and rename My Clippings.txt by appending the date so that the K2 creates a new empty file. (Just checked, my My Clippings.txt file is once again over 100 KB. Time to backup and rename. )

If I get to a book where I do not feel compelled to take notes or highlight, I suspect my battery life will improve while I am reading that book.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Annalog said:


> Leslie, as I said in an earlier post in the merged thread, I frequently add notes and highlights to the books I read; this results in the K2 indexing both my notes and the copies in My Clippings.txt. In another thread, I mentioned that it seemed that my K2 was taking longer to save notes. As a result, in December I followed instructions on removing the index files to get my K2 to re-index to see if that would improve the speed problems I noticed on startup, highlighting, and saving notes. That did seem to help a bit with battery life as well for a while. However battery life seems to be getting worse again for me. Maybe it is time for me to do another backup and rename My Clippings.txt by appending the date so that the K2 creates a new empty file. (Just checked, my My Clippings.txt file is once again over 100 KB. Time to backup and rename. )
> 
> If I get to a book where I do not feel compelled to take notes or highlight, I suspect my battery life will improve while I am reading that book.


Interesting. Thanks for this. I have very minimal notes and clippings so it is not a big problem for me. However, this evening, when I got home, my K would not wake up from sleep. I had to hold the power switch and do a re-start, which worked (but I did have to see the anxiety producing screen that says 0 items in the archive). We'll see how it goes from here, battery wise and so on.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Battery update:

Last week I did a full charge on Monday and on Friday morning it was down to 1/4 battery.

On Friday, I did a full charge. Today, Tuesday is three whole days after the charge (same as last week) and the battery is at 3/4. Same amount of usage--well, maybe a bit more since I spent most of the day on Sunday reading. Same amount of Whispernet usage. So...if in fact the indexing was my problem and it has been fixed, I am very pleased.

I'll keep updating the info.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I can happily report that my Kindle battery seems to be back to normal. The charge is going down much more slowly. I did a full charge on Friday 1/29 then another one a week later, Friday 2/5. On the fifth, it was still at about 1/3rd when I charged it so I probably could have waited another few days before re-charging.

L


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