Touch Lux 3 - Battery suddenly empties

[rcentros]

I bought a used Touch Lux 3 (it turned out to be the original, heavier version). The battery was completely dead when it arrived, so I figured that's probably why the seller got rid of it. I charged the battery, it seemed good, and I was using it without issue. Turned it off and when I turned it on again, it had dropped below 50%. Charged it again. Next morning it was completely dead.

So I bought and installed a new battery. It took a "good" charge. Seemed to hold it fine — until it didn't. Same behavior as the old battery.

I tried erasing the internal memory and doing a factory reset, taking it out of the cover (with magnet) and turning it completely off each (instead of putting it into Sleep mode) — nothing seems to help.

I've seen that this was an issue in the past on this model. Is it possible that the Touch Lux 3 needs to be somehow "calibrated" to the battery, or that it thinks the battery is charged when it really isn't? Seems to me it charges way too fast. I was never able to find if there was a fix for this in the past. It's possible that my replacement battery is defective, I suppose, but it still doesn't explain the sudden drops in charge, instead of a steady decline.

Sorry for rambling. Just looking to see if anyone has run into something like this and whether there was a fix. I'm also wondering if there could be a short somewhere, but (again) it seems like the issue would be more consistent if that was the case.

I have learned enough from the Touch Lux 3 to know that I want to upgrade to a new PocketBook. Not sure yet if I'll be cheap and get the Touch Lux 4 or go for the Touch HD3.

[Lykke]

This sounds like a stupidly simple reply, but... Have you tried with a different microUSB charger (not the one that came with the device). I had major issues with the stock one.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Lykke

This sounds like a stupidly simple reply, but... Have you tried with a different microUSB charger (not the one that came with the device). I had major issues with the stock one.

Not stupid at all. But I have tried several different chargers and USB cables. I think the next step will probably be opening it back up and seeing if I can spot any place where it's shorting out. It's not that huge of a deal if I can't get it fixed. It's served its main purpose of showing me that I can download DRM ePubs from just about anywhere on a PocketBook, which is important since I don't use Windows and don't have ADE installed on my computer.

Thanks for the response. I'll update this thread if I find out anything.

[Lykke]

That's too bad. The TL3 is an overall good eReader in my opinion, but of course buying electronics second-hand always poses the risk of getting a malfunctioning device. :/

And about ADE: Yep, the Pocketbook firmware can directly read Adobe ACSM files and download the ebook without going through ADE. But if you're using Linux and ever need to run ADE for some reason, this guide still works: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/ADE_2.01_Linux

[nhedgehog]

Quite often it is a faulty book which is causing such a massiv battery drain. The Pocketbook is trying to add it to the internal library and hanging in the process of doing this. I know only the painful way of solving this:
- removing all of the books, reboot, test the battery if failing again and adding books in small numbers to see which one causes the problem.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Lykke

That's too bad. The TL3 is an overall good eReader in my opinion, but of course buying electronics second-hand always poses the risk of getting a malfunctioning device. :/

I knew I was taking a risk. Actually it has taught me what I wanted to know about how PocketBooks work with ASCM, etc. Nice feature.

Originally Posted by Lykke

And about ADE: Yep, the Pocketbook firmware can directly read Adobe ACSM files and download the ebook without going through ADE. But if you're using Linux and ever need to run ADE for some reason, this guide still works: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/ADE_2.01_Linux

I tried this once but I ran into conflicts with my Linux Mint version (which I didn't pursue). But it looks like the page was updated in June, so maybe I can try again. I'm not a big fan of Wine. Running ADE would be the only reason I would use it.

I do like being able to do all this on the eReader itself. It makes the eReader more "mobile."

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

Quite often it is a faulty book which is causing such a massiv battery drain. The Pocketbook is trying to add it to the internal library and hanging in the process of doing this. I know only the painful way of solving this:
- removing all of the books, reboot, test the battery if failing again and adding books in small numbers to see which one causes the problem.

Books removed. One had a Cloud connection. I had to turn on WiFi to delete that one. When I did delete it, the battery life jumped from 23% to 57% (?), which I found really odd (this is not the first time the battery life indicator has jumped up and down). After I fully charge the TL3 I'll test to see if it will hold a charge without any books installed. If it does, I'll start by only adding books locally (and not turning on WiFi) and see if it still holds a charge. If it does hold a charge at that point, then I might be closer to locating the problem, though (if it turns out to be a WiFi issue) that takes away all the benefits of the TL3 over the PB615 (Russian version, which has no WiFi).

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll let you know what I find.

[akam]

Hi. Have you solved the problem with battery? I have the same.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by akam

Hi. Have you solved the problem with battery? I have the same.

No. I'm half-way through a 2 month stay in Texas and I didn't bring the TL3 with me, so I haven' had a chance to look into it for about a month. I opened up the reader before I left and tried to see if there were any shorts but couldn't see anything obvious. It's leaking battery charge somewhere, just don't know where — it loses its charge even when the reader is turned completely off, which almost surely requires a short of some kind.

[ezdiy]

Broken power circuitry. This is a common issue with pocketbooks (and overall just china level build quality). For anyone buying PB: It's a good device, but make absolutely sure you choose a retailer that has enough volume pull so that obreey can not weasel out of their warranty obligations for things like dead charge issues.

If it can't keep charge for at least 2 weeks when reasonably new, it's legit to claim warranty replacement.

[akam]

Mine is out of warranty already.
Can you provide any more detailed information on the issue with power circuitry?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ezdiy

If it can't keep charge for at least 2 weeks when reasonably new, it's legit to claim warranty replacement.

In my case this is not a "reasonably new" TL3. It's an old used one. The PB615 (also reasonably old) holds a really good charge. Is there a way to fix the the power circuit (probably not).