iRex Forum

[emaxt6]

We need to face the fact the DR1000 - at the present state - is affected by a design error regarding the battery capacity.

Face it, 1200mah it is simply not enough, it is like a battery of a basic cell phone.

We can hope for a better firmware, sure, but this will simply not enough, with a battery like that it will never last days, also with perfect software.

And the statement on the web page product saying

"he chargeable built in Lithium Ion battery has sufficient power to last for days."

is - strictly speaking - false advertisement.

bye

[omro]

Erm...

The BeBook uses a nokia phone battery, a nokia BL-5C battery to be precise. That's rated at 850mAh.

The eInk technology is incredibly power efficient and the size of the battery isn't at fault.

The fact that it isn't user replaceable, that's a huge mistake.

The fact that the innards of the DR draw too much power, that's a huge mistake.

[emaxt6]

I know, I also have a cybook gen 3 that with a 1000mAh battery lasts weeks in sleep mode with occasional reading.

But DR has a wacom panel. Stylus. And more complex software stack and kernel and more features.

Simply this hardware can't follow such software stack and features and panel.
Actually, I think that if they will be able to squeeze more than 24h from this device only by software updates they are definitely geniuses or necromancers.

I bet that they are thinking in which way they can accommodate a future wireless version with such an hardware. They will surely upgrade the hardware for decency toward their user base.

BUT IN MEANTIME PLEASE REMOVE THE STATEMENT THAT THIS DEVICE WILL LAST *DAYS* IN THE PRODUCT PAGE, THIS JUST FOR A RESPECT TO A SENSE OF ETHICS AND DECENCY TOWARD YOUR USERS.

Otherwise I think that this device will - yes - last days, but in warehouses.

[Shaggy]

[emaxt6]

Shaggy, I don't want to be misunderstood... This is exactly what I've said answering to the user in the post before me, that DR has more features and complex software stack, so can't be compared to a "basic" reader in term of power requirements ( I consider cybook gen3 quite basic ).

I appreciate your precise notes about type of stand-by, but more features, more possibilities of interaction, complex software, stylus, lookups... this has an impact on energy consumption... it is just physics...

And the fact that the DR ( with much more features ) has a battery quite comparable in terms of mAh to a "bare" ebook reader, this clearly suggests that the battery choice is poor by design for such a device.

If they can reach a little more than 24h for a normal user just by software updates, this will be a miracle.

bye

[TSmith]

The ability of mine to hold a charge has slowly degenerated since I got it a month ago. Despite following the instructions for charging, it has slowly gotten to the point where it shows 100% when turned on, then shuts down saying it's dead less than 3 hours later.
Very annoying, and from what I've read here, iRex is guilty of blatantly false advertising. In fact, from what I've read on this forum, iRex is incapable of making a properly functioning e-reader.

[Shaggy]

Contact their tech support. It sounds like you have a bad battery.

[robvh]

[spinozaq]

I have a first version Iliad, and I've been quite happy with it. I load it up with all kinds of PDFs and read it on my porch... take it on trips, it's great on an air plane.

However.. I'm really quite appalled at hearing the same tired story from IRex about battery life of these devices. Always in the _NEXT_ software release. Suspend is _COMING SOON_....( In the case of the original Iliad, we now know this was all smoke and mirrors. The hardware doesn't even support suspend.) .... it's annoying, and frankly, in bad taste.

The DR is the second major series of devices produced by IRex which have ZERO power management when sold, but have stamped on the box some crazy long battery life. Why has the exact same mistake been made twice? From a business perspective that's really inexcusable. Was the person responsible for these mistakes forced to resign ? Where is the accountability ?

If you wish to win customer respect and praise you need to stop over promising and under delivering. It's OK to stamp the "real" battery life on the box. We'll respect you a lot more for that then an out right lie.

Personally I can manually replace the Lithium batteries in my Iliad when they lose capacity. I know many others aren't capable of that. In addition, I can deal with 6-8 hours of battery life. I still would have made the purchase. I'd just rather not be lied to.

[Kent Walters]

Hello All,

In ‘Inside the iRex DR1000s’, posted by maandag (13 april 2009) Here:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44648

we find the following info (along with some very nice pictures of the DR1000S’s innards):

DR Battery (Varta PoLiFlex PLF 503759 B): 3.7 volt, 1140 mAh

Which is something less than what we are told.

Also, my Astac EZreader (AKA Hanlin V3) will hold a charge for weeks, while it waits for me to turn it on. The only thing on the DR that could/MUST be draining power, while the DR is ‘off,’ is the Cap Sense switches (unless there is a serious flaw in the design), and they must recieve power in order to sense a finger touch; the pen, Wacom tablet, and etc., are all irrelevent to power drain while the unit is ‘off’-- like microwave ovens, televisions, and so many other modern devices, that don’t really turn ‘off.’

My own current plan is to, at least, install a hardware on/off switch on the battery positive lead, and perhaps replace the Cap Sense switches with hardware switches. Cap sense switches are nice, but not at all necessary in this application, and often bothersome in use; sometimes apparent sluggish response (due, I think, to a slow Cap Sense clock pulse, implemented to keep power consumtion low), accidental page turns, and accidental 5 page jumps, and etc.. On my EZreader, I’m not bothered at all by anything like this, and button response is uniform and reliable.

I suspect that the decision to use Cap Sense switches was founed in some notion that High Tech Wiz-Bang features would aid marketing, but whatever the reason, I think it was a big mistake.

The hardware on/off switch will allow a fully charged DR to remain charged for days or weeks of non-use, and replacing the Cap Sense switches would extend use time (greatly, with the Wacom turned off) to what we expect of an eInk device.

I love my DR1000S, and I’m going to make it better,
Kent Walters

[robvh]

[Kent Walters]

In the first post of this thread, Karel stated, 'The iRex Digital Reader has a battery of 1300 mA (milliampere), and his calculations are based on that number.

The label on the battery shown on the Mobileread forum cited above reads 1140 mAh, and the battery spec in robvh's link shows 'Typical Capacity' to be 1140 mAh, with a 'Nominal Capacity' of 1100 mAh.

No matter how you cut it, It seems to me that Karel's number is high; perhaps he might explain it. If I have missed something, I'd like to know.

I think longer use times will be gained through hardware than firmware, at least on the DR, and I will pursue the goals I mentioned earlier; any future software/firmware gains, whether from the community or iRex, will be added and desirable pluses.

Kent Walters

[robvh]

[Kent Walters]

Thanks, robvh, for the battery info.

I have just recieved my broken screen DR1000S; the one I'm going to conduct my nefarious experiments on

I'm not planning replace the battery before I finish testing other approaches. I will first install an on/off switch, and see how much that helps. Anyone who needs to replace the battery should consider the larger one ref'd by robvh. I will post precision battery space dimensions next week, so we will know exactly how big (xyz) we can go.

I have already figured out how to remove the corner pieces w/o damage: they have hidden latches that can be depressed with a bit of plastic cut from a water bottle--pics and details later. This weekend I'll make a fixture to pop the case, also w/o damage.

I'm thinking that with all that I'm planning to do, I should start another thread perhaps on Mobileread Opinions, anybody

Happy as a clam
Kent Walters

[csv]

Has anybody tried http://www.lifetrons.ch/Products/Products-LT035.htm yet? I guess the uptime can be doubled with this tool.