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To Turn Off or Put To Sleep

4924 Views 18 Replies 16 Participants Last post by  dog
Do people turn their Kindle off, or put them to sleep when they are done using them?

I've had my Kindle for 2 months now, and usually turn it off before I goto sleep, and put it to sleep during the day.
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I am curious about what others do as well?
I'm a sleep mode person. I hadn't turned mine off for weeks, until a few days ago when I was having some problems and I thought turning it off my solve the problem (it didn't).

It seems like turning it off just turns it off and when you turn it on it comes right back to where your were. If you really want to clean out the memory and so on, it seems like a reset is required.

L
It is my understanding that the screen uses power only when it is changing the display - page to page or going to the sleep mode. Otherwise it holds the screen in a steady state and uses no power. Given that the off-to-on startup sequence has to use more power (things are chuggin' along to get those little letters 'luminated ya know), my pea-brain figures it's more efficient to just let it coast in sleep mode.

Mine's been powered on for months without a hitch.

On the other hand, I really don't see that turning it on & off every day will use that much more power, so for me it comes down to being lazy - why mess with the switch when you don't have to?
As far as I gather, the only difference between sleep mode and turning it off is that in sleep mode, the Kindle will still check the wireless connection to see if you have any subscription material to download (if the wireless is turned on, naturally). I normally leave it in sleep mode.

I'm not sure that the Kindle is actually "off" when the power switch in the off position considering how long it takes to get back to operating mode when it's reset. Being a long-time computer geek (got my first computer in 1981), I realize that Linux does a really good job of "garbage collection" without having to restart, but I just feel better doing a reset once a month, just as with my Mac and Windows machines.

I leave mine in sleep mode, but turn it off once a week. I read on Amazon forum that if you turned it off it may work faster. I honestly can't tell a differnce. I guess it is a personal preference.

Linda
I turn it off if I'm not going to be using it for any appreciable length of time. I also plug it into the wall charger every night. In my case it has nothing to do with energy use....I just turn things off when I'm finished using them.
Mine is on all the time.  If I'm not reading it's sleeping.  When I go to bed at night I plug it in.  (One night I went up to bed and realized I hadn't brought it.  I went back downstairs to get it and told my husband I had to plug my book in before I went to sleep.  He made a face at me  :-\).

I also don't generally turn Whispernet off.  I've never had it go below half full, unless I was actively doing a lot of on line stuff.  If I weren't sure I'd be going home at the end of the day, I'd probably turn it (Whispernet) off to save juice.

Ann
I don't think mine has been off since July.. no reason for it to be.. just make sure the whispernet is off however or that will drain the battery
I turn my off - no particular reason I guess, but why waste battery energy  (and there is a bit of that to maintain the screen).  but I do charge my battery frequently as amazon suggests.  Not the kind of battery that should go to the bottom and then be recharged.  When I turn it off and don't plan to read for awhile I just plug in the charger.
I usually use sleep mode. I do sometimes turn it off if I'm charging it, but I have no idea why, frankly. Just seems like the right thing to do.

I really love the battery life on the Kindle (when I'm not using Whispernet, at least).
I turn mine off, guess that is what I have always done to anything that takes power. (Now why I don't turn off my computer, can't answer that one.)  I do keep Whispernet off except when I need to d/l.  My battery usually last 8-9 days. That reminds me that I need to charge tonight.  Oh well does this sound to anyone else like rambling.
not rambling. I am amazed at how whispernet sucks battery power; perhaps in view of how little is taken from reading.  It certainly restricts any desire I have to use the experimental browser. I have on occasion for email when no computer, but whoa, a power drain.  Perhaps reinforcement that is is a reader first and foremost!
I never turn "A Readable Moment" off. I do reset it once a month or so. I usually turn whispernet on for a few minutes in the morning to download blogs and then turn it off when I wake my Kindle up. (I already get the Washington Post on my doorstep every morning; I don't need another newspaper).
G
I do both. Sometimes I turn it off overnight, sometimes I leave it in sleep mode.

Whispernet really does drain the battery quickly. As soon as I turn mine on the battery drops a notch.

I've seen that a lot of people charge their's overnight. I would be very hesitant to do that. The battery fully charges in less than 2 hours and overcharging it could lead to overheating and possibly even blowing it up. You hear of that happening in cell phones and even iPods. The Kindle uses that same type of battery. The dealer told me when I bought my last cell phone never to charge it more than 2 hours because of that.
I used to turn mine off every time I was done reading.  That was until I found out that there's no danger of burn in and that sleep mode doesn't drain the battery.  Now I just leave it on.
We leave our Kindles on all the time and put them in sleep mode whrn not reading.  They will go to sleep automatically, of course.  We leave Whispernet off unless actually downloading a book. 

The type of battery used in the Kindle doesn't like to be deeply discharged and then charged back up, unlike the old Nicad batteries many of us grew used to in small electronic devices.  I try to not let my battery drop below the halfway point before recharging.  Don't know about possible overcharging, the Kindle charging light goes out when the battery is charged but I don't know for sure if that means all charging stops.  Amazon has not warned against overcharging so I suspect that it does stop.

Something to consider is the extra wear given to the on-off switch (a mechanical device) when it is operated, perhaps unnecessarily, every day Those of us brought up to conserve power by turning off lights and appliances find these ingrained habits hard to break but in this case no harm is done by leaving your Kindle on all the time. 
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asordu said:
I do both. Sometimes I turn it off overnight, sometimes I leave it in sleep mode.

Whispernet really does drain the battery quickly. As soon as I turn mine on the battery drops a notch.

I've seen that a lot of people charge their's overnight. I would be very hesitant to do that. The battery fully charges in less than 2 hours and overcharging it could lead to overheating and possibly even blowing it up. You hear of that happening in cell phones and even iPods. The Kindle uses that same type of battery. The dealer told me when I bought my last cell phone never to charge it more than 2 hours because of that.
I am not sure if that is really correct. I was told with my Iphone that its battery would not 'overcharge'. That is just accepts in coming power to charge the battery and when it's done it turns it off and cuts off electricity coming in. I always plug in my Iphone overnight to charge and even sometimes have forgotten it during the day so it would have been on the charger for 24 hours and it didn't overheat. I believe these new batteries are much better then the electronic/cell phone batteries of old. I also don't have to drain the battery and recharge like with some batteries (my laptop recommends doing that once a month)
As someone pointed out, the light goes off when the charging is complete so I bet that this battery works the same way as my Iphone.
I don't ever leave my battery on overnight.  But I do frequently recharge as amazon recommends.  Easy to do when I am reading or not reading.  so far, have had the battery over 10 months with no problem.
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