Battery Continually loses its charge--this is my 4th Nook replacement

[pjhiker]

What is wrong with the batteries on Nook Color?  What a waste of $250.00 plus warranty.  I have probably read a total of 6 books.  One Nook just quit altogether.  Second, third - battery discharged at a rapid rate down to zero charge and the Nook was not even turned on.  The WII has been turned off in all instances.  If there is no fix for this B&N needs to tell it's customers.  Yesterday, the Nook was charged to 100%.  Six hours later when I went to read a book the Nook didn't even have enough power to turn it on.  Forget Customer Service---you might as well be talking to a brick wall.  They don't know either. 

[bklvr896]

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pjhiker wrote:

What is wrong with the batteries on Nook Color?  What a waste of $250.00 plus warranty.  I have probably read a total of 6 books.  One Nook just quit altogether.  Second, third - battery discharged at a rapid rate down to zero charge and the Nook was not even turned on.  The WII has been turned off in all instances.  If there is no fix for this B&N needs to tell it's customers.  Yesterday, the Nook was charged to 100%.  Six hours later when I went to read a book the Nook didn't even have enough power to turn it on.  Forget Customer Service---you might as well be talking to a brick wall.  They don't know either. 

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Not sure why you are having so many issues.  I've had my NookColor for about 8 months (it was a certified pre-owned one) and I've had nary a problem with it.  I leave the WiFi on almost all the time and I still get about 8 hours with it, depending on what I'm doing.  And while there are reports of people with issues with battery charge, it's definitely not a universal or apparently significant problems.  If it were a significant problem happening to a lot of users, you can bet there's be hundreds  + posts on the boards.

Do you have any Apps installed, maybe one is running continually in the background causing the problem?

[pjhiker]

You certainly are lucky is all I can say.  I have never downloaded an app or know how to put one to use.  The most I ever got in reading time was 5 hours.  I turn off the Nook with the on/off button (upper left) so I don't see how an app could be running.  Do apps run even if the Nook is completely turned OFF?  I'm not convinced that many people are not disappointed and frustrated over the battery on this Nook...and it can't even be changed!  So I will keep trying to find an answer, and hoping there may be a class action suit filed.  My Nook is useless. 

[DanRNJ]

Are you fully powering off the Nook Color or simply switching off the display?  Unless you hold in the power button long enough for the unit to display a dialogue saying "Nook color is powering off" you are only shutting down the screen but not the Wifi receiver or any other functions that may have been launched during your use.

[NookGardener · Accepted solution]

Couple of things to also check:

1) When you hold the power on/off button on top left for a few seconds, you will get on option "Do you want to power off? yes/no" or something like that.  Don't select anything.  Just keeping holding the button until the device powers off. 

2) Have you set up an email account on your NC?  If so, check your settings and change the default to manual.  (On the NT, the default setting was to check for new mail every 5 minutes.  Even with wi-fi off, it would still try to check for new mail. Which equated to about 4-5% battery usage per hour just sitting there.)

3) What's your screen time out set to?  Change it to something low like 2 or 5 minutes.

4) Screen brightness also affects battery life.  Get it below 50%.

5) If you have an SD card installed, take it out.

6) If it's in a case, take it out of the case when you charge it. (Have no logical, sensible rationale for this one.  Except somewhere along the line, someone reported that their battery life issues were solved by this.)

[bobstro]

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NookGardener wrote:

Couple of things to also check: 

[...]

6) If it's in a case, take it out of the case when you charge it. (Have no logical, sensible rationale for this one.  Except somewhere along the line, someone reported that their battery life issues were solved by this.)

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One possible rationale more related to battery consumption when not in use rather than charging: Many cases press against the screen when closed, keeping the unit on. While you may conscientiously power off before closing the case, some apps may wake the device up. While the slider lock should prevent an inadvertent screen press from keeping the unit awake, there might be circumstances where it doesn't. I'd try taking the unit out of any case overnight and comparing just to eliminate something obvious as the cause, especially if more than one unit has been "defective".

I've got 4 NOOK device (3 NC, 1 NT) and have yet to have any battery issues that weren't caused by apps or configuration. I expect to get many days on standby, and about 10 hour of continuous use out of each.

[orb9220]

Yep (1) NE1 and (2) Nook colors and none had battery or any other issues. Still working flawless without issues. And get about 8 hrs of reading time. Of course app use wifi,etc.. brings that down to about the 4-5 hr range.

.

[TarHeelGirl00]

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NookGardener wrote:

5) If you have an SD card installed, take it out.

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I have not experienced any significant battery issues with my NT, but I still appreciate the pointers on how to get more battery life.  Thanks for the tips, NookGardener!

However, I do have an SD card installed and was wondering the reason for taking it out.

[eaglewomanEP]

I've had my NOOK color for way over a year,  no charging or battery problems, but have noticed that I need

I need to plug the cord into the NOOk first then into the wall to get a prooer charge.

[bklvr896]

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pjhiker wrote:

You certainly are lucky is all I can say.  I have never downloaded an app or know how to put one to use.  The most I ever got in reading time was 5 hours.  I turn off the Nook with the on/off button (upper left) so I don't see how an app could be running.  Do apps run even if the Nook is completely turned OFF?  I'm not convinced that many people are not disappointed and frustrated over the battery on this Nook...and it can't even be changed!  So I will keep trying to find an answer, and hoping there may be a class action suit filed.  My Nook is useless. 

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Apparently I'm extremely lucky as I have 3 Nooks (N1E, NST, NC), my mom has a NST and my good friend has a N1E and a NST, the last 3 for which I'm also responsible for fixing any issues.  None of them have had any issues, battery or otherwise.  

No, it can't be change, but then, neither can my iPods, nor from what I understand can the iPad.  What you can do with those, however, is send it in and they will send you a different one as a replacement, not replace your battery and send yours back, but send you a "new" one.

[brucet]

My first Nook Colour had real battery issues. It would go flat in as little as 20-30 minutes at times. The best I ever got out of it was a few hours. BnN swapped it for a new one. No questions asked. (Every time I have dealt with BnN staff they have been excellent. They tell me there are issues but wont elaborate. This is in diffent stores as I travel extensively).  The second one was/is just as bad. But I'm now in the habit off turning it OFF each time I finish reading. It's a pain but I'm getting much longer use. Almost the 8 hours they advertise. So there is something wrong with battery use while in sleep mode. And yes brightness is way down. WiFi is OFF. Sound is OFF. No emails account set up. No APPs are installed or used.

So somewhere some how the Nook uses power while in sleep mode.

If this is not fixed BnN will have a problem that will cost them in the long run.

[easy-readerNY]

Mine too, I was going to call, I still will and see what can be done. Actually I found out that mine turns itself on and that's why the bettery goes quickly.

[SusanStearns]

I have recently been having the same problems with my battery.  It used to stay charged for a long time, but now barely makes it a day, with only 2-3 hours reading time.  Then it won't turn on because of low battery power.  Have had it a little more than one year.

Wondering how much the battery costs to replace?  And the time it takes to get it returned, assuming it must be sent off somewhere?

[FantasyPhanati…]

I have the same problem as well. My battery life is charged at one hundred and then a few hours later, about 10 percent or nothing left. I'm taking it in tomorrow, and hopefully I can get a battery replacement or an exchange. The warranty expired, but I'm hoping something can be done. (no wi-fi, SD card, apps and device turned off). Been happening for about two months now.

[Mackie77]

I was finally able to get my new Nook connected to our wifi; however, I've noticed that the charge is used within a couple hours even with no usage. I charged my Nook overnight, and the charge is at 23% by that afternoon (again no usage). This has happened the two times that I've charged it. At this point, between the charging issues and having difficulty progressing through my library, I'm not finding any value to the Nook color.

[5ivedom]

Mackie77

If you let us know what apps you have installed on your Nook we can let you know if perhaps one of them is causing issues.

[petesnook · Accepted solution]

In addition to a potential problem with one or more of the apps, as 5ivedom alluded to, another battery-eater can be wifi, particularly if there is a weak connection.  Try charging the NC fully, turning off wifi, and letting it sit unused for a few hours, then checking the battery level. That could rule out the wifi if the battery is still losing power rapidly.

[PirateFoxy]

I've had my Nook since May 2012 and it's suddenly started not holding a charge when not in use. I don't have Wifi turned on and I use it with the brightness all the way down most of the time, and while I will double check the email settings I don't think that's set to check - it sounds like some Nook Colors just have dud batteries that don't last as long as they should, is that accurate?

I don't want to go through the hassle of getting a replacement if I'm doing something wrong, but my use hasn't changed (if anything it should be lasting LONGER now because wifi is turned off all the time at home due to a router configuration change) and it's kind of annoying to go to pick it up and discover it's plain old DEAD, you know?

[NookGardener]

See the 6 points outlined above.  Start with soft reset (#1).  Have you installed any new apps lately? Or updated any apps? Check settings on them, especially if they can phone home. (Here's an easy example of  why: Used to have the Pulse app installed, liked it a lot at the time. One of their updates changed the default settings so it was looking for updates every 5 minutes. This was causing battery to drain more quickly. Think the minimum update setting was once a day so i changed to that. Eventually replaced it with a better app as more options became available.) So check any app that usesan internetconnection. Then do another soft reset. Give it a full charge overnight, and let it sit and see what happens.