Kobo Forma Poor battery life

ururk · 12-13-2019, 01:48 AM

I stopped using my Kobo for the summer as I was spending all of my waking time on a project. My battery had discharged, so I charged it, though it seemed to take a long time to charge. After charging I updated the firmware (9/30/19 firmware). I read three books on that charge, about 800 pages total. 3/4 of that time was with 10% backlight. It discharged to 50%, which seemed reasonable.

Well, a week later I pick it up and it's at 7% battery life.

I'm a bit concerned I killed the battery by not keeping it charged above a threshold. I know LiPo batteries are best kept around 75% in storage, and going too low can damage them. I just, well things got busy.

Any thoughts?

HolyAura · 12-13-2019, 03:17 AM

Was your Wi-Fi on? Leaving Wi-Fi on may cause some battery drain.

ururk · 12-13-2019, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HolyAura

Was your Wi-Fi on? Leaving Wi-Fi on may cause some battery drain.

Yes - ultimately I don't think it is necessary. I transfer books via Calibre, so should I just turn it off except when an update comes out?

ururk · 12-13-2019, 05:37 AM

I was just browsing the new firmware thread (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...light=firmware) and there was a post about battery life/battery/sync/wifi.

For now I turned Wi-Fi off, will update the firmware when it is over the air, I'm not in a hurry to mess with my config to force it to install.

prom king · 11-19-2020, 06:06 AM

I was reading some books that were epub and the battery seemed to be almost unbothered by it (I even turned off any screen glow) but the moment I switched to reading some magazines that were on PDF, battery started draining like crazy.

Anyone else noticed this issue?

compurandom · 11-19-2020, 08:20 AM

I've had issues with pdf draining battery as well. Sometimes rendering the PDF is cpu expensive. But if you're scrolling around a lot, that might also cause it, as screen updates eat power.

Sometimes converting or optimizing the pdf will reduce cpu drain. It's easiest on a mac, but you can use gs to do it in linux as well. The converter in calibre breaks formatting which occasionally is an improvement, but wouldn't be my first choice.

12-13-2019, 01:48 AM	#1
ururk Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2018 Device: Kobo Forma	Kobo Forma Poor battery life I stopped using my Kobo for the summer as I was spending all of my waking time on a project. My battery had discharged, so I charged it, though it seemed to take a long time to charge. After charging I updated the firmware (9/30/19 firmware). I read three books on that charge, about 800 pages total. 3/4 of that time was with 10% backlight. It discharged to 50%, which seemed reasonable. Well, a week later I pick it up and it's at 7% battery life. I'm a bit concerned I killed the battery by not keeping it charged above a threshold. I know LiPo batteries are best kept around 75% in storage, and going too low can damage them. I just, well things got busy. Any thoughts?

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12-13-2019, 03:17 AM	#2
HolyAura Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 201170 Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: Singapore Device: Kobo Clara HD	Was your Wi-Fi on? Leaving Wi-Fi on may cause some battery drain.

12-13-2019, 05:37 AM	#4
ururk Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2018 Device: Kobo Forma	I was just browsing the new firmware thread (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...light=firmware) and there was a post about battery life/battery/sync/wifi. For now I turned Wi-Fi off, will update the firmware when it is over the air, I'm not in a hurry to mess with my config to force it to install.

11-19-2020, 06:06 AM	#5
prom king Sloshed Posts: 65 Karma: 2112464 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Kobo Forma, Sony PRS-500	I was reading some books that were epub and the battery seemed to be almost unbothered by it (I even turned off any screen glow) but the moment I switched to reading some magazines that were on PDF, battery started draining like crazy. Anyone else noticed this issue?

11-19-2020, 08:20 AM	#6
compurandom Guru Posts: 920 Karma: 417282 Join Date: Jun 2015 Device: kobo aura h2o, kobo forma	I've had issues with pdf draining battery as well. Sometimes rendering the PDF is cpu expensive. But if you're scrolling around a lot, that might also cause it, as screen updates eat power. Sometimes converting or optimizing the pdf will reduce cpu drain. It's easiest on a mac, but you can use gs to do it in linux as well. The converter in calibre breaks formatting which occasionally is an improvement, but wouldn't be my first choice.

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