Nook Simple Touch reader battery life - lousy

[Aradyn]

I have to agree with the OP (not sure if this topic is dead yet or not... but I'm so conflicted). I got my Nook Simple Touch yesterday exactly, closer to five in the afternoon. I charged it for a few hours until it claimed full battery. I used it a few hours that day, and a total of 15 minutes today and I'm already down to 88% and dropping...

I feel like that's not normal for batterylife on a brand new one just bought the day before and fully charged...

[tmr4]

Give it a few charge/discharge cycles.  The software needs to calibrate the battery meter.

[BeachCatFan]

---

tmr4 wrote:

Give it a few charge/discharge cycles.  The software needs to calibrate the battery meter.

---

I agree. I have found that these batteries seem to need time to "settle in". I did some beta testing for Motorola and this was the case with each and every Android update and upgrade that we tested before it went public........and it held true on several different phones, too.

[sci]

after charging your nook--turn it off, and then back on.  I had the same problem on two of them.  This solved it.

[kalinux]

I found out that on unregistered nook touch the battery is discharging very fast...Only 4 to 5 days to zero without any reading and wifi turned off.. Tested on 2 units

[R-Y-Zeal]

When I first got my NST, the battery life was not what was advertised.  I was still impressed, but it didn't see to be anywhere near what was advertised.  I got roughly two weeks on a charge.

When the first software update came in, I noticed that there was a drastic improvement in my battery life.  In fact, I intentionally avoided anything that could charge the device after the first update to see if this did anything.  With a few exceptions of quick sign-ons to buy books, I kept the wi-fi off.  That was somewhere around mid-September, if I recall correctly.  Before this, I'd have a quick drop to 88%, followed by a quick drop to "Your battery's low.  Please charge."  The update has been a difference maker, as far as I can tell.

I just recharged my NST for the first time since then.  For the record, I tend to read for three and four hours at a time, mostly side-loaded content (if that makes a difference).  For those of you who are still having cruddy battery life, make sure your reader's firmware is up to date.  That update was the only thing that I did differently before the battery life improved.

...as a matter of fact, noticing was an accident.  I forgot to charge for three weeks. 

[gibbs_]

I received a Nook Simple Touch for Christmas.  From full charge to absolutely no charge was three days with less than three hours of reading.  I returned it for a new one. From full charge to absolutley no charge was less than a day with 0 hours reading.  The third one is down to 97% after about three hours of reading.  This is what I would expect.

[RHWright]

---

gibbs_ wrote:

I received a Nook Simple Touch for Christmas.  From full charge to absolutely no charge was three days with less than three hours of reading.  I returned it for a new one. From full charge to absolutley no charge was less than a day with 0 hours reading.  The third one is down to 97% after about three hours of reading.  This is what I would expect.

---

They could have been bad batteries. Or see discussions in various threads about battery meter calibration.

[sharno22]

I am on NST #3 d/t battery issues.  I've had this latest one for a few wks.  I charged it last night to 100% and let it go to sleep.  The wifi is off.  Four hours later it said 91%.  Tonight is says 34%.  I'm tired of returning these things.  I wish I would've kept the last one.  That device seemed to require 3 charges each time to get the battery to 100% without immediately discharging.  This one seems hopeless.  I'm wondering if the screensaver is affecting the battery life somehow. I only had a battery problem 1 time with my N1E.  I'm not sure what to do anymore. 

[vlee]

---

sharno22 wrote:

I am on NST #3 d/t battery issues.  I've had this latest one for a few wks.  I charged it last night to 100% and let it go to sleep.  The wifi is off.  Four hours later it said 91%.  Tonight is says 34%.  I'm tired of returning these things.  I wish I would've kept the last one.  That device seemed to require 3 charges each time to get the battery to 100% without immediately discharging.  This one seems hopeless.  I'm wondering if the screensaver is affecting the battery life somehow. I only had a battery problem 1 time with my N1E.  I'm not sure what to do anymore. 

---

Have you tried turning it off after recharging and then turning it back on? Mine discharges really quickly unless I restart it right after a recharge.

[RossTexas]

I also have a problem with the battery. It's not that it is using too much battery reading. It is that it is using battery while it is off/sleep. After I am done -let's say battery is at 30% - I press the back button. I may not read for a week. I come and see that a message says the battery is too low to power on. That's the main problem of the battery loss.

The thing is that no sleep mode is even necessary. It should automatically power off, or press the back button and it powers off. Basically it shouldn't be using so much battery when it's not being read. This is unacceptable.

[Moshmuffin]

I live in the UK so bought a Simple Touch with the intention of only side loading content.  With this in mind, I skipped the OOBE/Registration.  I was getting around 5 days of battery life on 1 charge, this was with minimal use and Wi-fi off.  The Nook would seem to discharge itself very rapidly when left on standby.  I was resigned to this as returning or refunding was not an option until I came across a forum after much Googling, that suggested if I factory reset, then go through the registration process and create an account with B&N, it might improve the battery.  I had nothing to lose so tried it, and lo and behold, my battery life has now improved 100 fold!  I haven't charged it for about 2 weeks now and battery gauge is showing 87%.  Yay!

The only reason I can think of why this happens is that B&N must have set the Nook to purposely nerf the battery life unless you register the device with them.

Hope this helps anyone reading as I feel your pain!

[tmr4]

In many cases here there is likely nothing wrong with the battery but just that the software needs to go through a few cycles to calibrate the battery meter. This is especially true with new devices and from the comments it seems that the calibration doesn't begin until after the device is registered. Kind of makes sense as this is the natural first step in starting the device. Skipping it likely skips other startup routines, such as battery calibration.

[japerry]

---

Schwa wrote:

Laurel to you for coming back and posting about resolved issues 

---

I laureled you too for coming back and telling us the outcome. 

[Byteguy]

---

RossTexas wrote:

I also have a problem with the battery. It's not that it is using too much battery reading. It is that it is using battery while it is off/sleep. After I am done -let's say battery is at 30% - I press the back button. I may not read for a week. I come and see that a message says the battery is too low to power on. That's the main problem of the battery loss.

The thing is that no sleep mode is even necessary. It should automatically power off, or press the back button and it powers off. Basically it shouldn't be using so much battery when it's not being read. This is unacceptable.

---

Sleep mode IS necessary.  That's how it knows to stop watching the screen (which takes a lot of power).  How else is it going to know?

What's the "back" button?  Are you talking about the "n" button?

Make sure you hold that down for 5 seconds when you're done to put the unit to sleep.  That turns off the touch-sensors.  Otherwise, you could be doing what someone else here was doing and closing the case to find out that the CASE got close to the screen and looked like one big finger to the nook and kept the unit awake for hours and hours and hours and ran down the battery.

5 seconds is not too much to ask to say "I'm done, go to sleep, save your battery so I can read you again."

[keriflur]

---

Byteguy wrote:

---

RossTexas wrote:

I also have a problem with the battery. It's not that it is using too much battery reading. It is that it is using battery while it is off/sleep. After I am done -let's say battery is at 30% - I press the back button. I may not read for a week. I come and see that a message says the battery is too low to power on. That's the main problem of the battery loss.

The thing is that no sleep mode is even necessary. It should automatically power off, or press the back button and it powers off. Basically it shouldn't be using so much battery when it's not being read. This is unacceptable.

---

Sleep mode IS necessary.  That's how it knows to stop watching the screen (which takes a lot of power).  How else is it going to know?

What's the "back" button?  Are you talking about the "n" button?

Make sure you hold that down for 5 seconds when you're done to put the unit to sleep.  That turns off the touch-sensors.  Otherwise, you could be doing what someone else here was doing and closing the case to find out that the CASE got close to the screen and looked like one big finger to the nook and kept the unit awake for hours and hours and hours and ran down the battery.

5 seconds is not too much to ask to say "I'm done, go to sleep, save your battery so I can read you again."

---

Holding the button down turns the nook off, which is not ideal for, well, anything.  Just press the button in the back all the way in once.  This will put it in sleep mode.

[arnold3k]

My NST was doing well from the day i bought it.  Didn't have to charge the battery for 4 or 5 weeks at a time.  I took it with me on vacation with a full charge and for 3 weeks never used it.  When I finally switched it on the battery was too low to even switch on the unit so i charged it.  Now the battery drains fast - in 4 days it's down to 30% w/o use or wifi on.  I went to a B&N store and they promptly gave me a new Nook - wow! Nice of them when I had this unit for over 2 months now.  Customer Service in a B&N store I find always very helpful then calling online.  I didn't see this thread so maybe I should've tried the switching the NST completely OFF then ON again after my first recharge when I let it go down to almost 0%.  I wonder then if that's what killed my battery - allowing the unit to go down to almost 0% and recharging it. 

[joeDR]

My Nook ST seemed to hold a charge for several weeks at first, but most recently only 3 or 4 days. This is with Wi-Fi shut off and 1 hour of reading per day. I am now doing a full "shut-down" (all power off) and the battery drain appears to be still occurring. I will test for a few more days and then attempt a return to B&N. I hope they exchange it (purchase was from Best Buy). I have had this for a little over 2 months. Very frustrating. From the number of complaints, I believe B&N has a serious problem with this unit.

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

---

joeDR wrote:

My Nook ST seemed to hold a charge for several weeks at first, but most recently only 3 or 4 days. This is with Wi-Fi shut off and 1 hour of reading per day. I am now doing a full "shut-down" (all power off) and the battery drain appears to be still occurring. I will test for a few more days and then attempt a return to B&N. I hope they exchange it (purchase was from Best Buy). I have had this for a little over 2 months. Very frustrating. From the number of complaints, I believe B&N has a serious problem with this unit.

---

I honestly haven't seen that many complaints about the NST.  I certainly don't see enough to justify the statement taht "B&N has a serious problem with this unit".  Keep in mind that what you see online for the most part are complaints.  People that are happy usually don't post saying that.

[sixhotpeppers]

I really felt a need to report back to this forum and find the topic I knew would be here. This one. LoL. I was a very happy owner of a Nook Color last year. This year I sold the NC (yes it was difficult to let go of) on ebay, and upgraded to the Nook Tablet. I'm still 100% satisfied. I very much favor Barnes & Noble Nook and I doubt that will ever change... especially since I've made lots of great Nookbook purchases in the past. Anyway, I went ahead with the New York Times deal, and recieved my Nook Simple Touch yesterday. I LOVE THIS THING!!!!

Let me mention something about the battery life. I thought I would be smart and use the power adapter for my Nook Tablet to charge my brand new out-of-box Nook Simple Touch. UGH. When I realized it wasn't charging very well, I looked online and saw that is a no-no. So, after about an hour of hopefully-NOT destroying my new Nook, I charged it to full charge from usb on my pc (the correct way lol.)

Last night I read for about 2 hours and was horrified to see that I was down to 75% on my battery. I really expected better. BUT... This morning, when my battery was down to 50% from just being on standby, I went ahead and recharged it to full capacity. I read on it for nearly 5 hours straight today (horray for Sundays) and my battery was only down to 98% WITH WI-FI ON after 5 hours.

My point is... to those that are having terrible battery life from their new Nook Simple Touch, try messing with it a few times, recharging to full capacity, etc. Don't give up hope when after the first intitial charge if the battery doesn't seem right. Give it a few rounds.

Just my opinion.