# Recently charge light not turning green



## cork_dork_mom (Mar 24, 2011)

Starting about a week ago I noticed the charge light stays yellow, even though it's plugged in overnight. Battery seems to be at 100% and it's working fine otherwise...  do I need to be worried?


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Have you rebooted your Kindle?  That might fix the problem.  Also go to setting:device and check the battery status.
Also which Kindle please?


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Do you leave wifi turned on all the time? 

The way that li-ion batteries charge, they will fully charge then turn off the charging circuitry unless the battery drops by a significant percentage (maybe to 90% or less). This prevents the battery from keeping being topped up a little bit, which can be harmful.

If wifi is on, or the Kindle is indexing, it's possible that the battery goes to full charge (and the light turns green) but then the battery is used enough in the rest of the night that the charge drops and the light goes back yellow again.

This is only a theory of mine, I should mention, and I've never been able to find if it is true or not.

Anyway, the best way to check is if you can charge it during the day when you can keep an eye on it, and see if the light ever does go green. If it does, no worries. If not, and it's within warranty, I'd raise it with Amazon.


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## cork_dork_mom (Mar 24, 2011)

I have a K3 and I keep the wi-fi turned off unless I need to download a book. I read somewhere that it's best to charge when the battery is at 50%. I use it every day for a couple of hours & more on the weekend. I probably charge it, oh, maybe 2-3 times a month.

Should I do a full power down? Is that done by holding the power switch until it shuts all the way down?

My kindle has become a necessary appendage & I can't do without it.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Morf said:


> Do you leave wifi turned on all the time?
> 
> The way that li-ion batteries charge, they will fully charge then turn off the charging circuitry unless the battery drops by a significant percentage (maybe to 90% or less). This prevents the battery from keeping being topped up a little bit, which can be harmful.
> 
> ...


I was going to suggest that the light was turning green in the middle of the night but then going back to yellow because I have noticed mine do that when it charged during the day. And I remember someone, perhaps you, explaining something like this. I don't know why exactly it happens but I can confirm that it appears to be normal for the Kindle battery to stop charging once it reaches full charge and if left plugged in long enough.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

cork_dork_mom said:


> I have a K3 and I keep the wi-fi turned off unless I need to download a book. I read somewhere that it's best to charge when the battery is at 50%. I use it every day for a couple of hours & more on the weekend. I probably charge it, oh, maybe 2-3 times a month.
> 
> Should I do a full power down? Is that done by holding the power switch until it shuts all the way down?
> 
> My kindle has become a necessary appendage & I can't do without it.


There should be no need to fully power down. You basically do that by holding the switch until the screen goes blank, rather than just a second until the sleep picture comes up. With WiFi off, though, sleep doesn't hardly use any power anyway.

I have heard. . .and Morf can confirm because he's the expert here  . . . that every now and then you should let the battery drain to basically dead and then recharge to full. It's not so much the battery that gets a memory -- like old rechargeables from the last century -- as the indicator that sort of forgets where 'full' and 'empty' are. A full discharge followed by full recharge will fix that.

Also, realize that the indicator isn't perfect. It may look for a long time like almost no charge has been used, then you pick it up one day and it's gone down a half. That's just a function of the imprecision of the indicator and not a symptom of a problem battery.

Regarding the charging light, your original question , honestly if it's working fine other wise I totally wouldn't worry about it.


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## cork_dork_mom (Mar 24, 2011)

Whew!!!!!     

Thank you all!!!!


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I always or nearly always charge mine when it gets to 15%.  That is when it screams low battery.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I have heard. . .and Morf can confirm because he's the expert here  . . . that every now and then you should let the battery drain to basically dead and then recharge to full. It's not so much the battery that gets a memory -- like old rechargeables from the last century -- as the indicator that sort of forgets where 'full' and 'empty' are. A full discharge followed by full recharge will fix that.


NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!!!!!

Did I say no?

Don't do this as a matter of course. Only do it if you are really sure the charge indicator is wrong, and if you do it, make sure you charge the Kindle AS SOON AS it says low battery.

There's only one thing that will harm a Li-Ion battery (which is the sort in the Kindle) and that's if you let it get to low charge and then don't charge it as soon as you can.

Basically, the battery can be irretrievably damaged (ie broken) if it is discharged too much. For this reason, circuitry in the Kindle forces a shutdown when the battery is getting low. However, if you don't then charge it, the small current required to keep the Kindle alive will discharge the battery further, and if this pushes it beyond the point of no return, it will never again take a charge.



cinisajoy said:


> I always or nearly always charge mine when it gets to 15%. That is when it screams low battery.


You can do this if you want, but there is absolutely no reason to do.

What I tell people is, "treat it like the petrol tank in your car". You can run it down and fill it up, or you can top it up regularly, or if you are going on a long journey, fill it back up even if it is already fairly full.

It doesn't matter, it will make no difference to the battery life.

The only thing that will cause harm is, just like your car, if you run it completely empty.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Ah! O.K.  Let me clarify. . . . . my use of the phrase "basically dead" in my mind, meant, 'until the kindle turns itself off'. At which time you should plug it in to recharge. And yeah, I didn't mean to suggest doing it always or even frequently, only very periodically. 

For the record, I tend to charge mine whenever I feel like it.  And I check even kindles I don't use regularly at least once a week or so.  The DX, especially, if I'd forget to turn off the 3G, would discharge just sitting on my desk! 

In my experience people who are concerned that their battery is going down too fast often just have a poorly calibrated indicator and discharging and recharging will help fix that. Or at least make it so you have a reasonably valid indicator with which to judge.


(Sorry Morf.  Didn't mean to give you a heart attack.   )


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> (Sorry Morf. Didn't mean to give you a heart attack.   )


No problem, Morf's very resilient - I'm made of plasticine! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morph_(character)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Ah!  So you're the Brit version of Gumby.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm glad you don't respond with gobbledygook here.


Betsy


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Do you read my posts?

It's *all* gobbledygook!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Oh.  I thought it was just me.



Betsy


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