I may have solved the famous battery problem on Nook & Nook Touch!

[foredog]

Hi,

I've been using Nook for two years and Nook Simple Touch for 5 months or so.

I've rooted both my devices and used them that way (until my original Nook got those screen problems and became unusable)

Starting from first days I realized that the battery life was quite shorter than advertised. In fact it was almost unacceptable, like draining %10-15 a day while standing by (at the regular screensaver)

First I thought this was caused by the rooting and custom firmware. I tried the regular disabling of services, but to no avail. After a while I decided to return to the stock 1.1 firmware (on NST). To my horror I saw that nothing changed. Then I rerooted the hardware, still same.

One day, while I was reading a book I got a call and had to leave the house very fast. Thus I bagged the NST and got out of the house.

After returning home, I left that bag in my living room and did not open it for five days. After five days I picked up the NST, which was %70 charged five days ago, sure that I had to charge it again. To my surprise I saw that the charge was still %62. How could this happen, I began to querry. And remembered that I did not manually activate the screensaver -which was my general behaviour.

After that day I did not manually activate the screensaver even once and the battery drain is never more than 1-2%/day.

I'm not an Android developer, I'm a regular computer guy (using computers for almost 30 years) but I have strong gut feeling that this may be the problem, that manually activating the screensaver is not same as activation after a time out.

I guess many people over here, being -not regular users but optimization obsessed technical people- prefer to activate the screensaver manually. Thus they have the drain problem.

If you are suffering the same problem, please test this and write your feedbacks over here. May be one of the coders can look into this problem in the end.

With kind regards

 

[Renate]

You may be onto something there.
I certainly believe that the problems are related to not fully going into sleep mode.
I have caught the Nook many times that it was supposed to be sleeping and the touch screen was still running.

I always used the power button when I'm done, I had the screen timeout set on one hour.
I just set my screen timeout to 10 seconds to play with this.
I couldn't get the Nook to act up with the power button shutdown.

To set your screen timeout to a arbitrary value (time in milliseconds):

adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db settings.db

sqlite3 settings.db
update system set value=10000 where name='screen_off_timeout';
.q

adb push settings.db /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

 

[ApokrifX]

foredog,
Could you clarify a bit, please?
Nook can go into screensaver via
timeout,
front button,
back power button or
"button savior Off" button.
Which button you referring too to manually activate the screensaver?

 

[cbay]

After that day I did not manually activate the screensaver even once and the battery drain is never more than 1-2%/day.

I use my Nook Simple Touch minimally and almost always use the back button to activate the screensaver. I see pretty good battery life upto 20+ days. The only thing I do differently from you is turn off wifi before I activate the screensaver. Maybe wifi is the main cause for the battery drain.

--

 

[ApokrifX]

I use my Nook Simple Touch minimally and almost always use the back button to activate the screensaver. I see pretty good battery life upto 20+ days. The only thing I do differently from you is turn off wifi before I activate the screensaver. Maybe wifi is the main cause for the battery drain.

WiFi is definitely a big one.
Any easy way to "auto turn it off" with screensaver activation?

 

[ZilverZurfarn]

Don't know about that - I always use the "sleep" button to activate the "screensaver". Right now, I'm up to a month of use, and like 30% batt still. I turn wifi on when I need it, and off again when I don't. Glowlight on for like 20 min/day.
Actually really impressed with NST Glow.

 

[foredog]

Sorry I did not mention, that my wireless is always off.

@Apokrifx: I'm using the power button at the back to go to sleep mode.

What you all are saying is similar to general behavior. Everyone is not experiencing this drain among Nook users, only some.

In my case, letting NST time out really solved the problem.

What Renate says is really similar to my experience. Time and time I accidentally touched the screen (while it was on the screensaver and it asked for the swipe motion (meaning the touch interface is responding) which should not happen in the sleep mode.

I'll let you know if anything changes.

Thank you for the feedbacks.

 

[mjj777]

I think the original post info is quite accurate. I notice when I don't go back to the home screen, and leave it on the stock reader when I put it down-- battery life is much better.

It appears that, when the stock reader is running, it shuts down most background services. But, that's just a theory.

 

[speedman2202]

i guess when u activate ur screensaver that wont drain power from ur battery ..... cuz in screensaver mood the animation on screen stopped like calculator screen ..... just display image and didnt move any pixels on screen ..... so .... ummm .... i guess ur problem may u not charge battery well .... let me tell u .... u must per month empty the battery until nook tells u that ur nook device cant power on .... and that will guarantee to u long life to ur battery also keep ur battery more efficiently and working perfect

hope i helped ..... best regards

 

[Renate]

Actually, I've had no battery problems in a while.
I've got rid of almost all the B&N stuff though.
USB host mode, with its polling seems to take a bunch of battery though.
It's still manageable.

 

[Areinu]

I got my glowlight nook recently(after I stepped on my old Nook ST, ouch). When you have glowlight on and the Nook goes into sleep mode the glowlight turns off. It happens even if you press the back button. But... I had few instances when the screensaver activated and the glowlight didn't turn off... Can't reproduce this issue too often and with glowlight at least I know when it didn't turn off But other services might have simmilar issue.

 

[_ig_]

I wonder whether this has anything to do with the wi-fi sleep mode you can tweak on normal Android phones... maybe the default sleep disconnects the wifi too, while the sleep button in the back just activates the screensaver.

 

[antonook]

You may be onto something there.
I certainly believe that the problems are related to not fully going into sleep mode.
I have caught the Nook many times that it was supposed to be sleeping and the touch screen was still running.

I always used the power button when I'm done, I had the screen timeout set on one hour.
I just set my screen timeout to 10 seconds to play with this.
I couldn't get the Nook to act up with the power button shutdown.

To set your screen timeout to a arbitrary value (time in milliseconds):

adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db settings.db

sqlite3 settings.db
update system set value=10000 where name='screen_off_timeout';
.q

adb push settings.db /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

Hi,
The UK went crazy with the Nook last week and I got one. I also got the problem with the battery. I have tried this:
This is taken from qvc forum. I cannot paste the link, as this my first post. This is what Bogeygirl says: (you will need to google the text below, and find this on qvc)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I love my Nook Simple Touch that I purchased in February of this year. I was so disappointed that after this short time and charging to 100% it would drain to 8% over night..This happened twice. I did NOT have the wi-fi on and the automatic shutoff I had set to 2 minutes so no issue there. No recent updates had been done to cause an issue like this.

I was not worried because it was still under warranty and would be replaced. So I called B&N CS and went through all the steps with them to make sure it was in fact defective.

He asked me to totally shut it down and do a hard reset and re-re-register the unit. I was not hopeful that this would work at all. I know that a hard reset can fix a multitude of sins but I never would have thought it would work to fix this battery draining issue..To my surprise it worked.. Battery charge is holding just like before.. I read a lot and usually charge it once a month.. I am so glad that this worked. Such an easy fix but I will continue to monitor the battery charge just in case.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have tried it, and it seems to work fine, holding charge OK. Bogeygirl says hard reset, but it is the soft one. Foredog says that you don’t need to click the power button to sleep (just leave Nook to do the job for you), but I do click it to sleep, and I do also tap the screen, just to make sure that it is properly sleeping. It is fine at the moment. I think the whole problem with the battery is a software error with sleeping mode, as you say here. I think you are right.
I don’t have it rooted, as I only want it for reading.
Do you have any other advice for the battery? Or easier? I think everybody is having problems with the battery.:crying:

Thanks

 

[smayonak]

Deep Sleep Battery Saver?

Does Deep Sleep Battery Saver help with the power-button not sleeping properly?

It performs several functions:

1. Supposedly automatically puts the device into sleep mode whenever the screen turns off (if you configure it properly).

2. Functions as a task killer, with a whitelist, to clear out buggy apps.

3. The Whitelist allows you to prevent useful apps from being killed.

I still use the power button to put the NST to sleep. Last night it drained about 7% overnight, although I leave WiFi on and read RSS feeds for an hour before putting it down. Also, DSBS is configured to wake up the device every four hours.

 

[kuskro]

Does Deep Sleep Battery Saver help with the power-button not sleeping properly?

It performs several functions:

1. Supposedly automatically puts the device into sleep mode whenever the screen turns off (if you configure it properly).

2. Functions as a task killer, with a whitelist, to clear out buggy apps.

3. The Whitelist allows you to prevent useful apps from being killed.

I still use the power button to put the NST to sleep. Last night it drained about 7% overnight, although I leave WiFi on and read RSS feeds for an hour before putting it down. Also, DSBS is configured to wake up the device every four hours.

The battery drain is due to some BN apps and Android System apps, mainly. I use the last version of "SystemApp Remover" for disabling apps (eg:AFfileDownloadService.apk,AccountAndSyncSettin gs.apk, BnAuthenticationService.apk, BnCloudRequestSvc.apk, DemoMode.apk, DeviceManager.apk, DeviceRegistrator.apk, Music.apk, NookCommunity.apk, Phone.apk, QuickStartActivity.apk, Shop.apk, Social.apk ,TelephonyProvider.apk, WaveformDownloader.apk).

 

[smayonak]

The battery drain is due to some BN apps and Android System apps, mainly. I use the last version of "SystemApp Remover" for disabling apps (eg:AFfileDownloadService.apk,AccountAndSyncSettin gs.apk, BnAuthenticationService.apk, BnCloudRequestSvc.apk, DemoMode.apk, DeviceManager.apk, DeviceRegistrator.apk, Music.apk, NookCommunity.apk, Phone.apk, QuickStartActivity.apk, Shop.apk, Social.apk ,TelephonyProvider.apk, WaveformDownloader.apk).

I thought it was due to the device not sleeping after the power button was pressed?

I also removed those APKs from the system directory, thanks to many of you guys.

 

[assembler31415]

Switching Wifi Off Worked Well

WiFi is definitely a big one.
Any easy way to "auto turn it off" with screensaver activation?

I had a Kobo mini & was not happy with the formatting of PDFs, hence I *had* to get a Nook Simple Touch ... the PDF formatting is excellent. However, I soon suffered the battery problem & couldn't get it to charge. I followed the advice on this page and it works so much better now. This is what I did :-

1) Switch off the Wifi. I have no need for it anyway as everything I read is PDFs loaded via SD card.

2) To charge, make sure the device is fully off using the back power button.

3) I charge it using a wall socket, rather than a computer. I have heard that this makes a difference in charging times.

It's early days, regarding how long it stays charged, but I reckon I will be resorting to switching the power off, rather than putting it on standby. I'm just pleased I managed to get it to charge at all and I am back in business.

 

[NOOK!E]

I had a Kobo mini & was not happy with the formatting of PDFs, hence I *had* to get a Nook Simple Touch ... the PDF formatting is excellent. However, I soon suffered the battery problem & couldn't get it to charge. I followed the advice on this page and it works so much better now. This is what I did :-

1) Switch off the Wifi. I have no need for it anyway as everything I read is PDFs loaded via SD card.

2) To charge, make sure the device is fully off using the back power button.

3) I charge it using a wall socket, rather than a computer. I have heard that this makes a difference in charging times.

It's early days, regarding how long it stays charged, but I reckon I will be resorting to switching the power off, rather than putting it on standby. I'm just pleased I managed to get it to charge at all and I am back in business.

You probably don't want to resort to always powering off your Nook all the way, because the boot-up sequence uses about 3 or 4 times as much battery as regular use, making multiple reboots take up a large amount of battery.

 

[kazikas]

To set your screen timeout to a arbitrary value (time in milliseconds):

adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db settings.db

sqlite3 settings.db
update system set value=10000 where name='screen_off_timeout';
.q

adb push settings.db /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

Is there a way to change default values?

 

[Sourgirl]

I have a nook simple touch glowlight, it's about 5 years old. Recently it has been saying battery too low to use. I plug it in and it goes to restart right away. When I look at battery life it my be at 89% (this was today). Is there something I can do to make this stop? It's quite a pain to to this everyday. I read on this a lot about a 1000 pages per week. In the "old" days a charge would last 20-30 days! Please help, I hate to get a new on, I love my nook!