Cannot charge my PRS-650

[laukent18]

Hi,

I got the PRS-650 in December, and have since been able to chareg it using both my Sony Ericson mobile phone charger and the usb on the computer.

However, i have now come to charge it again and it will not charge.  The "charging battery" and symbol come on, i leave it for a few hours, and when i look again it still says the same.  When i unplug it, it comes up "low power" and switches itself off.

Any help you can give me is much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Drumzman]

Hi laukent18,

Not sure if this will help you, but a couple of things that I have picked up from my own experience with the PRS-650.  I can't say for sure about your Sony Ericsson charger, but my experience is with these sort of mains chargers is they don't work (other than the accessory that Sony do specifically for the PRS-650).  I have a USB charger that I use for my Walkman which is fine, but it won't charge my PRS-650.

I have picked up from reading around that this is because the Reader looks for data coming through the USB cable, and unless it sees this it won't accept the charge.  When you connect to a computer on the other hand, there is always data whizzing about (as long as the PC is switched on i.e. not in standby or sleep mode), and so the Reader does accept the charge.

The best way to check this is, is not to look at the battery symbol on the display, but look for the little red light next to the power switch.  Regardless of what it says on the display (I note in my instruction manual at the back that "The battery icon does not indicate remaining battery power during charging"), if the light comes on it is charging, if not then no charge is being accepted.  So check that the light is on, and if so leave it until the light eventually goes out (could be about 3 hours) - make sure that your PC doesn't hibernate during this time, otherwise the light will go out, but not becuase it is fully charged if you see what I mean.

Really hope this helps.

[laukent18]

Thank you for your help Drunzman!  I plugged it into my pc at work and it worked.

I ha let it run completely flat last time, so i am going to try and charge it before it gets to that next time.

Thanks again!

[Drumzman]

Delighted to be of service - glad it worked for you!

[vaprudh37]

I had mine repaired recently because it was saying charging complete but when disconnected from my laptop itsaid no power and turned itself off.  I can't apply the advice given to watch the red button because as soon as I plug it back into the laptop it says it is fully charged.  Any ideas?

[Drumzman]

Hi vaprudh37,

Mmmm, it does sound like something is amiss here....

Not sure what to suggest except the only thing I might be tempted to try is charging the Reader with the dedicated mains charger - although the downside is buying something unless you were considering it anyway.

I have three reasons for wondering whether this might help:

1) I know that the mains charger does deliver a bit more 'oomph' and is capable of charging the Reader quicker (about an hour quicker to reach full charge I think).

2) Related to the above although pure guesswork, I wonder whether the battery on your Reader has become so discharged that a computer USB connection is struggling?  The reason I say this is that I know when my Reader has been left unused for a while (like when I read the occasional paper book ) and I have let it get really discharged, when I plug it into my PC to charge the display can remain blank for up to 45 minutes before it eventually comes to life and acknowledges it's connected to a computer.

3) At least a mains charger would definitely get the red charging light to come on (if it doesn't there's got to be something else wrong) and you will then be able to see when it is fully charged by virtue of that light going out after a few hours.

Just a thought, depending on where you bought your Reader, it might be worth visiting a friendly retailer and seeing if they have the dedicated mains charger to hand just to see if it successfully gets the red light on (depending on how friendly they are, you never know, they might even let you leave your Reader for a full charge - although that might be pushing your luck! :smileygrin:)

Anyway, hope you get sorted.

[vaprudh37]

Thanks for the comments. Glad to know I'm not going crazy.

I bought the travel charger from Sony which has a uk plug and european plug which is used with the usb cable and even this didn't work!

Sent it back (for the 5 day repari service!!) and its been away over 10 days already.  Clearly its poorly.