# Battery life on HDX 7"



## Bellaluna (May 15, 2011)

I was wondering if anyone else was having the same trouble I'm having, or if I got a defective Kindle.  

I upgraded to the HDX last month and was immediately shocked at how much worse the battery life is on it.  My previous Kindle HD would get a few days on one charge with frequent usage and over a week with infrequent usage.  My new HDX I'm finding I have to charge every other day regardless.  Even when it just sits in my purse unused, it drains the battery.  I fully charged it one night before bed so that I could use it the next morning for class and overnight it had gone from 100% charge to 60% and I hadn't done anything with it.

Other than the battery issue, I love it, but this is getting fairly frustrating since I use it a lot for school, both in reading books and articles that are then discussed in class.  If my Kindle is dying so frequently, it's hard to reference things in class.

Anyone else had this trouble?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I have found my HDX 7 to be great on life compared to my other devices. Have you checked to see what is using up the battery?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using Tapatalk 4


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## Bellaluna (May 15, 2011)

How do I find that out?


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## joangolfing (Sep 12, 2010)

My HDX is using up battery power quickly as well.  I just installed a free battery monitor.  I found that Amazon communication services were using 10.7% and the app store 4.1. I wonder if I can turn off the Mayday help and turn it on only when I want to ask a question.

I might consider turning off my HERE positioning since it uses 3.5%.

Other ideas?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

How bright do you have your screen?  Do you have news apps.that update in the background?

Sent from my Fire HDX7


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Is your wifi on or off?  Like Betsy said, check your brightness.  The brighter it is, the more the battery has to work.


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## laurieb (Mar 7, 2011)

My HDX is same. I was wondering what to do also plus what's the battery sAver you downloaded?


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## Bellaluna (May 15, 2011)

I've turned off the wifi, and that has extended my battery life quite a bit.  I also keep my screen very dim, very rarely going above the 25% thresh hold.  I downloaded the GSam Battery Monitor to track my battery usage.  It just sucks that I have to have my wifi off all the time on this Kindle where on my previous Kindle I could keep it on 24/7 and get decent usage.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I keep my WiFi on all the time.  I guess my question is what constitutes decent usage.  I expect to charge my tablets at least every day, more if I've been using them a lot--several hours straight is going to require a recharge.  I've had an iPad since 2009, and that seems normal to me.  Charging my Fire every other day would be spectacular as much as I use it.  It's pretty simple to plug it in to charge overnight.  (When I remember. )

Betsy


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I keep my WiFi on all the time. I guess my question is what constitutes decent usage. I expect to charge my tablets at least every day, more if I've been using them a lot--several hours straight is going to require a recharge. I've had an iPad since 2009, and that seems normal to me. Charging my Fire every other day would be spectacular as much as I use it. It's pretty simple to plug it in to charge overnight. (When I remember. )
> 
> Betsy


Agreeing 100% with this.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I can sometimes not have to charge for a couple of days -- but that's usually because I haven't used it as much.

The more annoying thing to me is that my PW'13 has lately started draining really fast.  Like 2 days.  I'm sure it's related to the cloud collections thing.


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## joangolfing (Sep 12, 2010)

I'm now turning off wifi when I'm not using it.  Also I will keep the brightness to about 3/4.  I decided to use the MayDay button just for a test run and the Amazon lady told me the same thing.  Rather fun to see a real face on the screen talking to me.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

I just charge it overnight every night. I have it running my sound machine as it charges my Fire:


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

If I  know  I'm going to be out with my Fire for an extended period of time and want to use it a lot for music or reading, I'll turn the WiFi off to save battery until I can be around a charger.

I use my devices A LOT.  My name is Betsy and I'm addicted to my devices.

Betsy


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## Suzsmarmie (Sep 11, 2010)

I bought a portable charger so I could charge my Kindle Fire if needed. We went on a trip after Christmas (airports and such) where everybody is fighting over the charging stations. I was able to plug my Kindle into the portable charger to keep it up to speed. My husband laughed at me until his Iphone needed charging.... he who laughs first.. yes, my name is Debbie and I am, not only a gadget addict, I want to make sure I can USE my gadgets no matter what happens..lol.... Back on topic though, is this problem occurring in the 8.9 HDX too? That would really kind of be a pain?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

WWell, it kind of depends on who you talk to whether there is a problem or not.  I find the battery life on both my HDX 7 and 8.9 to be very good.  They don't use a lot when I'm not using them.  I use the 8.9 less, so I charge it less often.

Betsy


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## Suzsmarmie (Sep 11, 2010)

So you use your 7" hdx more than the new 8.9 hdx? I really fell in love with the bigger screen with my 8.9 hd. That's why I've been holding out on buying the new one. But if you are just as happy with the 7, then I might consider that one.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I had both the 7" and 8.9" HD models . . . liked the 8.9 better.

But I actually like the 7" HDX better than the 8.9 HD.  For that reason, I've held off getting an 8.9" HDX.  

Though I'll probably eventually succumb.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> If I know I'm going to be out with my Fire for an extended period of time and want to use it a lot for music or reading, I'll turn the WiFi off to save battery until I can be around a charger.
> 
> I use my devices A LOT. My name is Betsy and I'm addicted to my devices.
> 
> Betsy


Hi Betsy. You mean you don't have a case just for chargers to take with you on all day trips? 
My name is Cindy and I am addicted to devices too.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

I use my device constantly (but just have a dumb phone).. so the current device (HDX 8.9", previously HD 8.9", before that, Original Fire, and in the past various Kindles) goes on the charger when I turn out the light at night, and I have a charger downstairs by my chair and often have it on the charger here.  Of course when I'm out I'm not usually on a charger, though I had the luck to find a chair next to an outlet the other day when I knew I'd be waiting for a long time while my patient waited a long time and then spent a long time with his oncologist and elsewhere.. and since they have wifi, I knew I wanted to read, email, and play games.  Probably didn't need a charge but it was nice to have that capability.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

cinisajoy said:


> Hi Betsy. You mean you don't have a case just for chargers to take with you on all day trips?
> My name is Cindy and I am addicted to devices too.


Usually I take my charger sets, not always. Sometimes, I'm not in the car, so the car charger doesn't help and there's not somewhere to plug in the wall charger where we are. At which point I use my plug in battery that's always in my purse. But sometimes that runs down, too. We do a lot of day trippin'. 

And sometimes I forget, or it's in the other car, or....

Betsy


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## Basket lady (Aug 19, 2010)

Suszmarmie, what kind of portable charger do you have? One of the lipstick shaped cell phone charger?  I am soon taking a trip to Italy and would like a portable charger for the air trip and while busing around the country with my group. I wasn't sure if those small ones, I think they are 2600 something, are enough to charge a Fire HDX.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Basket lady said:


> Suszmarmie, what kind of portable charger do you have? One of the lipstick shaped cell phone charger? I am soon taking a trip to Italy and would like a portable charger for the air trip and while busing around the country with my group. I wasn't sure if those small ones, I think they are 2600 something, are enough to charge a Fire HDX.


The 7 inch fire HDX supposedly has a 4500 mA hour battery. You'll only get a fraction, probably around two thirds or three quarters of the rated capacity out of a portable charger. So the 2600 unit would give a respectable boost to a 7 inch HDX, but almost certainly less than half of a charge.

I've been using an Energizer charger of this type for my smart phone on long trips for several years, but it is losing its ability to hold a charge and is too low-capacity to help much on a big tablet. During one of the Christmas deals at Amazon I got a 13000 mah Anker charger to replace it, but haven't given it a good test yet. The Anker chargers seem to get good reviews, and it should give a full or nearly full charge to my ipad Air (8800 mah capacity).


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## Suzsmarmie (Sep 11, 2010)

I have this one...http://www.amazon.com/myCharge-Peak-6000-Rechargeable-Power/dp/B008PQAFTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390525228&sr=8-1&keywords=my+charge+amp+6000

I actually got it from Shop NBC on a Todays Special Value price. I actually got it before I began seeing the little "lipstick" chargers. The only drawback for you, Basketlady, is that it does plug into a wall outlet to recharge. If you plan to take a converter or stay in a place that has US plug in capabilities then you'd be fine. The one thing I liked about this one was that I didn't have to carry the extra cords with me to charge all of my devices on the go. I'm sure there are geeks who hate this one, but I've really liked it.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Suzsmarmie said:


> I have this one...http://www.amazon.com/myCharge-Peak-6000-Rechargeable-Power/dp/B008PQAFTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390525228&sr=8-1&keywords=my+charge+amp+6000
> 
> I actually got it from Shop NBC on a Todays Special Value price. I actually got it before I began seeing the little "lipstick" chargers. The only drawback for you, Basketlady, is that it does plug into a wall outlet to recharge. If you plan to take a converter or stay in a place that has US plug in capabilities then you'd be fine. The one thing I liked about this one was that I didn't have to carry the extra cords with me to charge all of my devices on the go. I'm sure there are geeks who hate this one, but I've really liked it.


I have a VAAS I got from Dailysteals for cheap. And you shouldn't need a converter--you should only need an adapter. Check the manual or the small print on the adapter.

Betsy


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## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

I have an Anker E4 13000mAh charger that works well for me.

I purchased it last August and gave it a worked earlier this month when I spent 4 days in the hospital.

It was able to charge my iPad 4, iPhone 5 and Kindle HDX 8.9 before I needed to plug it in.

The only problem was that it will only charge two devices at one time.


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## Bellaluna (May 15, 2011)

Ok, after downloading the GSam battery app, I'm seeing that when WiFi is off, I get around 11 hours of battery life.  Once WiFi is turned on, I seem to get less than half of that.  I turned WiFi on last night before bed so that my reading could sync with my devices and I was at 58% battery.  This morning I opened my Kindle to read and the battery was dead.  I just don't remember the battery life on my previous Kindle being THIS bad, and I always kept the WiFi on on that device.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

More important than the effect of WiFi, you should be checking to see what other apps are running in the background.  If you had 58% when you went to bed, and WiFi was off, you should have easily had 30%, maybe more, when you get up based on my experience with my HDXs.  You've got something running constantly.

I'll check to see how much mine go down overnight tonight.  I have both the 8.9 HDX and the 7 HDX.

Betsy


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## joangolfing (Sep 12, 2010)

My GS battery monitor shows battery life on my HDX7 to be 3 hrs 7 min. for a complete charge.  With the screen on 1 hour and 28 min.
Might some of us have gotten an inferior battery.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I haven't checked what GSAM says about battery life, will do so. Certainly it's possible that some devices have bad batteries.

Before I blamed the battery, though, I would look at what apps are running. When I went to bed, both of my HDXs had about 86% battery left. I got up this morning, six hours later, both have about 81% remaining, with WiFi on. This is normal for my devices.

If you're using GSAM (either edition), and you're looking at the main GSAM screen that has the battery in the upper left hand corner with "Time Remaining" next to it, tap on the first icon in the black band across the top, that looks kind of like an oil can or carpet sweeper. This will take you to the app suckers. Look to see if any of your downloaded apps are sucking your battery. On my HDX 8.9, the native email app takes up the most, at 7.8%. I don't see any apps that alarm me in their usage, on mine.










If you have an app that is behaving badly, consistently staying on in the background and using a lot of battery, consider removing it from your device and trying a different app.

Note that you can force stop running applications. If you are using GSAM, tap on the oil can/carpet sweeper icon, then tap on the app you want to stop. Be careful of stopping Amazon or Kindle apps; they are running your device. On the list of apps that appears, tap on the app you want to examine. Then, tap on Manage in the upper right hand corner. You'll be able to Force Stop the app on the next screen.










Note that you can also force stop apps outside GSAM: Swipe down > Settings > Applications > Manage All Applications. Change the drop down menu from All Applications to Running Applications. You won't be able to sort them in order of usage, but you can force stop any app that doesn't need to be running by tapping on them and then "Force Stop." (Note this is the same screen you come to using GSAM to force stop an app.)










Betsy


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## Bellaluna (May 15, 2011)

I used the mayday button last night and talked to kindle support.  They said that my battery life was definitely not normal and they are replacing it for me.  My new one should come on Wednesday and hopefully will have better battery life. 


Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## Bellaluna (May 15, 2011)

Betsy, I used GSam and looked at usage.  There are no apps running in the background that would be sucking the battery so significantly.  Amazon communication services is number one (likely because I used mayday last night and that took a lot of battery)and email is number 2.  Everything else is under 1%.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Bellaluna,

having your battery go down that much overnight with no apps sucking the battery down is obviously an issue, as the MayDay people said.  Let us know how the new one works!

Betsy


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## joangolfing (Sep 12, 2010)

averages per complete charge:
battery life 3 hours 7 min. (1day 8.4 hours standby)
screen on: 1 hour 28 min.
Amazon Comm. services 7.7%
Kernel 3.1%


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Joan, are those numbers from GSAM?

Betsy


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## joangolfing (Sep 12, 2010)

Yes, they are from GSam.  Yesterday I checked every hour and with it turned off, my HDX used 3% an hour with no usage.
Today's GSam Battery life 3h 17 min. (1 day 5.8 hours standby Screen on: 1 hour 21 min.


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## joangolfing (Sep 12, 2010)

I just called the Mayday support.  He suggested I turn it off totally (not putting it to sleep) when not in use.  That might be an easier option than turning off the wifi each time (as he suggested as well).  I'll give this a try for a while.  I do know that the HDX is much faster doing a complete startup than any of the other Fire's have been.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

joangolfing said:


> Yes, they are from GSam. Yesterday I checked every hour and with it turned off, my HDX used 3% an hour with no usage.
> Today's GSam Battery life 3h 17 min. (1 day 5.8 hours standby Screen on: 1 hour 21 min.


I have had similar results, and similar comments from Mayday. If I don't turn it completely off, and just let it sleep, my Fire will drain itself in a day by running in place. The Mayday staff suggested that turning off Wi-Fi would help a lot. My android phones, iPad tablet, and other android tablets I've had do better than this at managing their battery life when not being used.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

I take a charger with me in a little bag that I keep in my pocketbook.

I also got a bunch of chargers at shophq. 

Right now, 2 of my Fire HDX's batteries are draining down in a few hours. I think it might be some app that I recently put on. I ended up taking my PW2 with me today because of that.


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## aleelee (Feb 13, 2011)

I'm having an odd battery issue with my HDX as well.  I charge it every night and unplug it in the morning before I leave for work.  When I get home, my battery has somehow lost around 10%.  I have tuned off wifi and it still drains 10% or more during the day.  I use GSAM and the usage is coming from wakelock.  That is not an app, so I'm not sure how to fix it.  I'm wondering if an app is turning on the screen?  Is that what wakelock does?  I'm not sure.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

I don't know. The name sounds like it though. I rebooted/ restarted both. Only checked this this one tonight as I am using it. It's working again. I did delete an app that didn't work on one of my Fires.


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## aleelee (Feb 13, 2011)

I figured out my battery issue!  It was Evernote.  GSam was only listing wakelock as the culprit until this morning.  It finally listed Evernote as using over 50% of my batter while sleeping!  I checked my settings and it was set to sync every hour!  No wonder my battery was draining.  Sometimes the wifi signal is weak in my bedroom and it would just get hung up trying to sync.  I set my sync option to once a day and now my battery is the same when I turn on the Kindle Fire as it was when I turned it off!  Im am happy to have finally solved the mystery!


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks for letting us know. I'm glad you found the problem.


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