Hey everyone, so I just got a transformer + dock from bestbuy and so far I'm loving it. I started reading through the stickies to learn more about the device and it seems like a lot of people are having problems with the dock draining the battery.
One thing I noticed about the dock when I'm using it is that it constantly uses its own battery to charge the tablet. Doesn't this mean that I can only use the tablet+dock as long as the dock doesn't run out of battery? Is there a way to stop the dock from charging the tablet so I can get more use out of "netbook mode?"
In other words, is there a way to manually tell the dock to start and stop charging?
Thanks everyone
The battery of the dock discharges only until 3%.
While docked the tablet is charged from the dock. The tablet uses the docks battery for power until the dock battery is empty, then the tablet starts using it own internal battery.
The idea is that the tablet battery is kept charged (or as charged as possible) while docked so you have a full battery on the tablet when you ndock it.
So based on these two responses it's possible to use the keyboard dock all the time without the dock becoming useless after a while? Just wanted to know just in case I need to use the keyboard all day
Yes, you can use the dock all the time, until the dock battery and TF battery are empty
Vertiginouz said:
So based on these two responses it's possible to use the keyboard dock all the time without the dock becoming useless after a while? Just wanted to know just in case I need to use the keyboard all day
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From what I can see, when you have the keyboard dock connected, the dock will still continue to work even if its battery has nearly run down. This is as long as there's enough battery power in the TF's internal battery to power it just enough to use the keys and touchpad. The point it'll stop working is when both batteries are nearly out, in which case just charge them .
So, short answer is yes if there's enough power left in the TF itself.
[EDIT]: Yeah, pretty much what sr-ha said lol .
So if the dock continuously keeps the tablet battery charged even when it's at 100%, wouldn't that degrade the tablet battery? Or maybe I misunderstood, does the dock stop charging at 100% and power gets taken from the dock until it's at 3%?
I appreciate the responses, still a transformer noob
Vertiginouz said:
So if the dock continuously keeps the tablet battery charged even when it's at 100%, wouldn't that degrade the tablet battery? Or maybe I misunderstood, does the dock stop charging at 100% and power gets taken from the dock until it's at 3%?
I appreciate the responses, still a transformer noob
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The idea is to keep the tablet at full charge so if you undock it is at the maximum level.
I think the Transformer just uses the dock battery when docked since you don't see the charging icon if the tablet is at 100%. The dock drains until its 3%, then the tablet battery gets used.
Is it really that difficult to understand? The dock charges the tablet. Modern batteries are computer controlled to not overcharge so this theory of degrading the battery by charging it too much or two often is a load of crap. No manufacturer would build anything that technologically stupid anymore. Especially not a top notch company like ASUS.
The dock will pretty much always work as long as there is a charge from something. I've never seen the dock go below 3% so I assume once it gets to a certain level it does draw from the tablet battery to maintain useability until the tablet and keyboard batteries are both depleted.
doublen1 said:
Is it really that difficult to understand? The dock charges the tablet.
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Exactly what I was thinkin'
Related
Hello,
Just got my EEE Pad with the keyboard dock today.
I read that for the first time you should charge the batteries for at least 8 hours.
Now, what is best? Charging the tablet docked or to separately charge the tablet and then the dock?
Thanks
I use the keyboard dock as a charging station to be sure both batteries are fully charged. The other reality is that power is power and I doubt there is any real difference except for the convenience and amount of time involved.
Bye.
Yeah in the end I decided to dock the tablet and charge it through there, seeing as I am working until 7, I wont be able to play with it
Hiya,
My keyboard dock battery has always been one to gradually drain regardless of whether my tablet is in sleep mode, powered off or other; this is apparently a known issue, and an update was promised to fix it. I assumed that the 209 dock update was supposed to do just that, and the 3.1 honeycomb update adds a menu option regarding putting the dock in a low power mode.
All that said, with the latest dock and honeycomb firmware, my dock battery STILL drains constantly, regardless of my usage, and then starts draining my tablets battery even if it's turned off and folded up. Do others have this issue or is my dock just naff?
Thanks,
James
no ive noticed the same thing. Then when it does charge it only shows my tablet charging for just under an hour, and it normally takes two hoursto charge with the battery depleted fully. They need a better system which shows the total charge of the battey on the dock and how much extra juice your tablet is receiving fom it, seems weird to me.
My main issue is simply that without the keyboard dock, I actually get a better battery life, which is the opposite of what I was hoping for; I dont use it that regularly, so with the dock attached the battery just drains away while it's off. I think I'm going to return the dock and see if the replacement is any better.
I just want the damn battery gauge for the dock. Then we'll know what's going on better.
This SUCKS
i agree. I separately charged both dock and tablet to full charge yesterday. After charging it was closed and not used all night. Today I used it continuously for 2 hours watching a live stream, and then an hour of playing some games. And I just got a notice that my battery is at 14%. Its hard to believe I can only get 3-4 hours from the TF and dock. This is only after 3.1, so looks like the update is the culprit.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Hi!
I'm about to receive the Kindle Fire, and I try to cure my curiosity by finding answers to all my questions. XDA has answered most of them, but I've one more question I hope you can help me with.
I know I'll spend a lot of time using the Kindle Fire at home, mostly reading and listening to music. My question is therefore: How should I charge and use the Kindle? Let's say the battery is 100%, and I plug in the charger and start reading - will the Kindle continue to charge it, use some, charge it (100%, 98%, 100%, 98%...), or stop the charging completely and power it directly from the charger?
Will I shorten the lifetime of the battery by plugging in the charger if the battery level is 100%? I know it's good for the battery to be used, so I'll of course do that from time to time.
hachiueno said:
Hi!
I'm about to receive the Kindle Fire, and I try to cure my curiosity by finding answers to all my questions. XDA has answered most of them, but I've one more question I hope you can help me with.
I know I'll spend a lot of time using the Kindle Fire at home, mostly reading and listening to music. My question is therefore: How should I charge and use the Kindle? Let's say the battery is 100%, and I plug in the charger and start reading - will the Kindle continue to charge it, use some, charge it (100%, 98%, 100%, 98%...), or stop the charging completely and power it directly from the charger?
Will I shorten the lifetime of the battery by plugging in the charger if the battery level is 100%? I know it's good for the battery to be used, so I'll of course do that from time to time.
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The life spam of the charger will shorten but not the kindle. If ur kindle is at 100 then the charger wellkeep it at 100.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
If im not mistaken, I believe its good to fully drain and recharge your battery once in a while(since the battery is li-ion) to maintain the lifespan of the battery.
As for needing to be tethered to the wall by the charger, I have not found that as something I need to do at home, especially since I prefer to move around.
In short you can just use the kindle normally while letting the battery normally discharge and then recharge it when it starts to get low. To help with the battery life you should also adjust the brightness according to the light.
Yes, thank you for your answers The reason as to why I'm a bit concerned about this is that I've seen laptop batteries' capacities getting seriously reduced after having the battery installed while having the charger connected simultaneously at all times. I guess this is due to bad charging control, and that the chargers have tried to charge the batteries even though they were 100%.
Since the Kindle Fire has a non-removable battery (more or less...), I would like to treat my battery as good as possible
hachiueno said:
Yes, thank you for your answers The reason as to why I'm a bit concerned about this is that I've seen laptop batteries' capacities getting seriously reduced after having the battery installed while having the charger connected simultaneously at all times. I guess this is due to bad charging control, and that the chargers have tried to charge the batteries even though they were 100%.
Since the Kindle Fire has a non-removable battery (more or less...), I would like to treat my battery as good as possible
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You don't need to worry about kindle fire battery, trust me, it's very good. My Kindle Fire doesn't get charged when the AC Adapter is connected, don't know if it's only me since I don't use an US Charger. I can charge only in sleep mode.
Remember to turn wifi off when you don't need it, even if it is in sleep mode. You will see that the battery will last much longer with wifi off.
Regarding charging kindle fire, I always use it till 30% and then I charge it Full.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk
My battery is sometimes lasting over 4 days with light use so charging is not a frequent thing. I always drain the battery to less than 5% before recharging. I can start a 25 minutes tv show when I'm at less than 10% and not worry about the battery dying before the show is over.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk
hachiueno said:
Yes, thank you for your answers The reason as to why I'm a bit concerned about this is that I've seen laptop batteries' capacities getting seriously reduced after having the battery installed while having the charger connected simultaneously at all times. I guess this is due to bad charging control, and that the chargers have tried to charge the batteries even though they were 100%.
Since the Kindle Fire has a non-removable battery (more or less...), I would like to treat my battery as good as possible
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Click to collapse
These Li-Ion batteries and charging circuits have built in protection circuits to prevent themselves from ever being overcharged (because overcharging a LiIon battery can cause thermal runaway, i.e. it gets extremely hot and then explodes).
That problem you've seen with laptop batteries can still happen to any Li-Ion battery though (assuming those were Li-Ion laptop batteries too. NiMh batters have their own problems). The problem isn't overcharging the battery but in keeping it at a high charge state for a long time without cycling it. I don't know where these figures come from, but I've been told that to maintain consistent battery life over time you should let your Li-Ion batterys run down every two weeks or so, that for long-term storage when not being used they should be left at around 40% charge, and that not charging them past 80% full can even extend the life of the battery
I don't fancy myself a battery expert, but damn are there some shady information here.
Here's the "down low":
For Li-based batteries (pretty much all modern electronics), they have limited life from the get go, a limited charge cycle (how many times it can get discharged / charged).
If you leave it plugged in at all times, despite what you may think, this will actually KILL the battery very quickly. Why? Batteries are not kept charged at full 100% (it can cause long-term damage if it does so). It charges to 100%, and drains up to 10%, and keeps it steady at that level. If it gets lower, it recharges again (there goes your limited charge cycle in a flash).
What you should do is charge it full, unplug, and recharge when it's "used" (e.g. 30-80%), not when it's almost full (waste of the cycle), or when it's almost empty (suffers too much stress).
Avoid hot areas (leaving the battery / device in a hot car), as heat also reduces the lifetime of the cycles.
For long term storage, as boomn said, 40%, cool and dry place is ideal.
For more info, read it here at Battery University.
Ignore everything above for Ni-based batteries. I won't go into details on prolonging Ni-based battery's life since it's not relevant here, but you can read up on that site Battery University (charging and discharging).
Thank you so much for your replies! A lot of great information here, especially your last answer, Printerscape. Hope to keep my battery in shape for a long time.
Can't wait to get my Kindle... and yes, first 100%, then I'll unplug it and use it for some hours. It will be interesting to see if user replaceable batteries will be offered for the Kindle Fire in the future. After having seen the iFixit teardown, it seems to be a reasonable task.
Printerscape said:
What you should do is charge it full, unplug, and recharge when it's "used" (e.g. 30-80%), not when it's almost full (waste of the cycle), or when it's almost empty (suffers too much stress).
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I was under the impression that a charge cycle doesn't happen every time you get to 100%. Say you run it down to 50%, charge it to 100%, run it down to 50% then charge it to 100% again, only then it would count as a full charge cycle.
dragossh said:
I was under the impression that a charge cycle doesn't happen every time you get to 100%. Say you run it down to 50%, charge it to 100%, run it down to 50% then charge it to 100% again, only then it would count as a full charge cycle.
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This is my impression as well. Apple mentions the same thing regarding charging and cycles: http://www.apple.com/batteries/:
For instance, you could listen to your iPod for a few hours one day, using half its power, and then recharge it fully. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two, so you may take several days to complete a cycle.
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Please discuss everything related to battery or charging in this thread
Great! So I got myself thinking about the dock charging situation: Why is it so that the dock charges the pad instead of the pad drains the dock?
In my opinion it is better (or more logical) that the pad sees the dock as rendundary battery and drains it at need. F.e. the pad runs till 50% then drains the dock completely dry and then uses the rest of its 50%.
Btw: I wonder if the dock charging logic is realized with hardware or software by Asus...
UncleManuel said:
Great! So I got myself thinking about the dock charging situation: Why is it so that the dock charges the pad instead of the pad drains the dock?
In my opinion it is better (or more logical) that the pad sees the dock as rendundary battery and drains it at need. F.e. the pad runs till 50% then drains the dock completely dry and then uses the rest of its 50%.
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Um, at the end of either scenario, aren't you left with the same overall usage time and 2 dead batteries?
And isn't your preferred scenario almost exactly what happens in real world use?
what widgets drain battery?
i know widgets like weather, email, news drain battery because they need to update, use internet connection, so i don't use them to save battery.
but what about "offline" widgets like google play music, clock,... do they drain battery too? they don't update information using internet, but they do update "offlinely" - i mean, for example: google play music, now it shows the song "A", then you open the app and skip to song "B", when you go back to homescreen the widget will show song "B". so it has to update, does this drain the battery?
lol i guess i worry about battery too much, and just figured out that i created the thread "should i use battery saver app", i should have post it in this thread, sorry
and does leaving the charger plugged in to the wall outlet when not charging the tablet harm the charger or waste electricity?
nooktablet said:
and does leaving the charger plugged in to the wall outlet when not charging the tablet harm the charger or waste electricity?
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CHARGING/DISCHARGING TIP:
LET THE DEVICE (THIS GOES FOR ANYTHING WITH A RECHARGABLE BATTERY) FULLY CHARGE.
UNPLUG, THEN LET IT FULLY DISCHARGE...ALL THE WAY!-- JUST LET IT DIE WHERE IT WONT TURN ON.
Doing this will increase battery time, decrease battery wear/tear, possible damage done by overcharging.
Do this on a regular basis, and youll start to see it will last longer then 10hrs
Because of this, i run alot of widgets, on performance mode, i have around an extra 30MIN, so 10hrs 30min is my batterys life.
*leaving the device plugged in,charging when its full, is bad!
*using the device, while charging, burns up the battery, youll notice it getting hot.
Picked this tablet up the other day. I noticed that when I took it in the car and plugged it's charging cable into my car usb charger (kengsington powerbolt) that it did not show that it was charging. Is this common? The charge has worked for all the phones I've plugged into it.
CyberdyneSystems said:
CHARGING/DISCHARGING TIP:
LET THE DEVICE (THIS GOES FOR ANYTHING WITH A RECHARGABLE BATTERY) FULLY CHARGE.
UNPLUG, THEN LET IT FULLY DISCHARGE...ALL THE WAY!-- JUST LET IT DIE WHERE IT WONT TURN ON.
Doing this will increase battery time, decrease battery wear/tear, possible damage done by overcharging.
Do this on a regular basis, and youll start to see it will last longer then 10hrs
Because of this, i run alot of widgets, on performance mode, i have around an extra 30MIN, so 10hrs 30min is my batterys life.
*leaving the device plugged in,charging when its full, is bad!
*using the device, while charging, burns up the battery, youll notice it getting hot.
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Click to collapse
I believe you are mostly right, but letting the battery constantly drain and recharging from 0-10% makes it work really hard and it makes in turn the life of the battery less. But in terms of life we are talking about a couple of mins less every half a year or so, since these devices get replaced by new ones every 1-2 years I guess it is ok.
If you want to sustain the most battery life just charge it from time to time when it gets lower than 40%. If you are having problems with battery duration, charge to 100% let it discharge completely then charge again until 100% without interruption. I do the full discharge and charge every month or so.
CyberdyneSystems said:
CHARGING/DISCHARGING TIP:
LET THE DEVICE (THIS GOES FOR ANYTHING WITH A RECHARGABLE BATTERY) FULLY CHARGE.
UNPLUG, THEN LET IT FULLY DISCHARGE...ALL THE WAY!-- JUST LET IT DIE WHERE IT WONT TURN ON.
Doing this will increase battery time, decrease battery wear/tear, possible damage done by overcharging.
Do this on a regular basis, and youll start to see it will last longer then 10hrs
Because of this, i run alot of widgets, on performance mode, i have around an extra 30MIN, so 10hrs 30min is my batterys life.
*leaving the device plugged in,charging when its full, is bad!
*using the device, while charging, burns up the battery, youll notice it getting hot.
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Click to collapse
i heard many people say letting it fully discharge (use until it turns off) and charge back to 100% will harm the battery, (or battery's lifespan). i read many guides online and all of them say this. i asked other people in other forums and they said the same thing.
but i guess you're right that it will improve battery life, in about a half year or a year (depending on how often you charge), then the battery won't be able to hold a long charge anymore. it won't be a problem it you plan to change/upgrade your device next year anyway.
The best battery tips that I use
Remove unnecessary widgets
Use a clean rom
Set your CPU to ondemand and put it on lowest frequency
Turn of wifi when you are not using your device
If you don't need your device for longer than an hour, turn it off
I use it for about an hour during the mornings up until dinner, then it gets a workout and I have never had my tablet die on me, or a need to rush for a charger.
The note is a disaster for me when it comes to charging.
If your battery is low and you start charging it but using it at the same time, it doesn't get worse, but it doesn't get better either i.e. actually charge the thing, it just holds its own.
I have got to say I am not impressed with this!
I am not facing such problems. Charging takes pretty long yes but not as bad as you said. A larger battery will of course need a longer time to charge. But I wonder sometimes too if it's the battery problem or the charger output problem and if there's a way to speed up the process.
Jasonchewy91 said:
I am not facing such problems. Charging takes pretty long yes but not as bad as you said. A larger battery will of course need a longer time to charge. But I wonder sometimes too if it's the battery problem or the charger output problem and if there's a way to speed up the process.
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I think it is more to do with the actual charger, seems like a trickle charge or something.
Yes if charging and using at the same time you would not expect it to charge as quick, but mine doesnt really charge at all, just stays the same.
My acer iconia will charge like lightning even when i am using it, smaller battery or not it still charges!
This was one of the things i was looking forward to with the note, but this slow charge seems to make it more or less the same as what I am used to.
I have the usb plug which comes with the kindle, might it do a better job?
If anyone manages to find a proprietary charger which can produce better charging I will like to know too
That is common the charging is very slow and if you are playing HD games then the charging is almost in negative. May be its because of the voltage of the charger inputs and it is to low. Samsung must have done it for a reason may be its because of the proprietry port or the battery itself we do not know but we need to live it
Agreed, charging this thing takes a long time. Keep in mind that the battery is 7000 mAh and the charger is most likely a 2 amp charger, pegging the charge time at around 4 hours with no other losses. So if you're using it, it should take even longer.
MJ-12 said:
The note is a disaster for me when it comes to charging.
If your battery is low and you start charging it but using it at the same time, it doesn't get worse, but it doesn't get better either i.e. actually charge the thing, it just holds its own.
I have got to say I am not impressed with this!
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No such issue here. I charge to full capacity while using all the time.
I get what he's saying. Because it draws so much power when you're using it; having it charging at the same time doesn't move the needle much. For example, if you're watching a movie while it's charging you'll probably be at the same point battery wise when the movies over. People complain about this all the time when their using their devices as a GPS. In some cases not only doesn't it charge but it actually continues to drain so you're worse off from where you started. We're using 21st century toys powered by 20th century battery technology.
BarryH_GEG said:
I get what he's saying. Because it draws so much power when you're using it; having it charging at the same time doesn't move the needle much. For example, if you're watching a movie while it's charging you'll probably be at the same point battery wise when the movies over. People complain about this all the time when their using their devices as a GPS. In some cases not only doesn't it charge but it actually continues to drain so you're worse off from where you started. We're using 21st century toys powered by 20th century battery technology.
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This is a better way of saying what I mean, thank you.
I also have to say one thing I do not like doing is turning the screen brightness down. After all we all get these things as they look so good, so I am not going to make it look worse when I am using it, what would be the point in that? Its a bit like saying yeah my battery life is 14 days but actually it is on standby for that time lol...
Anyway, I still believe it should be better and the primary cause is the weak charger for what ever reason sammy decided to make it that way, but its not a good thing.
It seems like I remember someone recommending a charger that was more powerful so the note would charge faster. Can anyone confirm this?
What a fail thread. If you know ANYTHING about charging, you would know why this happens and why this is NORMAL.
But why even search or educate oneself, let's post a thread on XDA and whine a bit.
It could be worse. It takes six hours to charge a N10.
I dont face this problem i charge mine when surfing the wep
On a slightly related side note, doesn't it suck that the brightness just turns down completely when the battery is low?
The zslower charge rate protects the batteries life ,reduces the possibilty of heat and battery damage trickling insures a full charge
if you don't want your screen to dim don't use the power saving setting.
Sent using Tapatalk2 from my Note 10.1; the choice of Royalty
For all those facing the slight unresponsive screen please change the source of power, I had mine connected to UPS power supply as soon as I changed and connected it direclty the problem was gone.
Even if you read the user manual of Samsung Note its says thats one of the reasons
How Manhattan hours per day do you use the note? With a 10hrs battery life I find an overnight charge is sufficient
Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk HD
Szadzik said:
What a fail thread. If you know ANYTHING about charging, you would know why this happens and why this is NORMAL.
But why even search or educate oneself, let's post a thread on XDA and whine a bit.
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Wow! many friends?
Anyway moving on.. so i just got my note 10.1 about a week ago, loving it but saw that while plugged in it was not charging at all while i was using the tablet and never quite getting to 100% overnight. By not charging while using, i mean to say that it was actually discharging. Yes of course i am using the stock charger and cable.. and even stock note.
so just tried something silly. Unplugged and plugged the usb from the block repeatedly about 5 times. Now its not only recognizing and charging, but charging relatively quickly even while using. To test, i unplugged for about 20 min and plugged back in. Same great results.
Just thought i would share instead of hoarding my new found knowledge like others..
Quick update: it charged about 10% in 20 min.. Nice
I don't charge mine - I paid cash for it