[jpash549]

With Battery Guru app which is inexpensive and very useful you can get data on charging rate versus time. The area under that curve will give you an estimate of the watt-hours you have put into the battery. Don't know how good this estimate will be. The nominal battery capacity of the playbook is 19.95 watt-hrs. Maybe the Guru will comment if he sees this thread.

[WilliamJH]

If you call rim, they will suggest/make you fully charge and fully discharge till it turns off, at least twice to try recalibrating the battery. So you can try that. Or call them and say you did so if you are convinced it is not working and needs repair/replacement.

The PB has a one year warranty to the original purchaser. It also has 90 free Tech support. I do not know how Rim deals with "quasi-tech support v. warranty"

Rim Support
Tel:
Canada Toll Free: 1-877-644-8405
United States Toll Free: 1-877-644-8410
Puerto Rico Toll Free: 1-855-651-4936
Email: [email protected] (this route generally does not work and a call is necessary)

(UK Support) 0800 096 2805

Playbook French Support
http://fr.blackberry.com/playbook-ta...ok-support.jsp
Phone : 0800 914 533 (within 90 days from activation)

Called RIMM and they want me to reload the OS. Neither wall charger nor cradle charger will charge it, hence the reload OS routine.

Found out that the mini-USB to USB cable used for Playbook to computer connection (to reload OS) must be specific to the Playbook - my generic cable would not work. They are sending me a cable at no charge. Was told there should have been one in the box but I don't remember ever seeing one. Have to wait on the cable before reloading OS again.

Also, turns out I have been inserting the mini-usb wall charger cable in upside down which bent the flat prong inside the mini usb port on the Playbook. Took a knife and pushed it back into position. This is a bad design on the Playbook, at least it is on my Playbook. The port on the Playbook doesn't match the shape of the mini usb port on the cable. If you look at the cable, it has 2 angled sides (making it a 6 sided box) but when you look at the port on the Playbook, it is only a 4 sided box. This makes it way too easy to insert the cable in upside down. This may have been posted elsewhere in the forums but I was told they would fix this free of charge if it ever gets damaged so that is no longer useable (in or out of warranty) - they said this is a VERY common problem.

[WilliamJH]

With Battery Guru app which is inexpensive and very useful you can get data on charging rate versus time. The area under that curve will give you an estimate of the watt-hours you have put into the battery. Don't know how good this estimate will be. The nominal battery capacity of the playbook is 19.95 watt-hrs. Maybe the Guru will comment if he sees this thread.

Guru is actually a great app - I would never have known both my chargers were not working with the Playbook without the app. The app showed me that the Playbook was charging for a few seconds and then fell off to zero charge. The Playbook makes no distinction (that I can find) between charging and connected to charger. In my case, it was connected to the charger for days and always showed the volt symbol on the battery. Guru told me it was connected but not charging. Neat program.

[FF22]

Called RIMM and they want me to reload the OS. Neither wall charger nor cradle charger will charge it, hence the reload OS routine.

Found out that the mini-USB to USB cable used for Playbook to computer connection (to reload OS) must be specific to the Playbook - my generic cable would not work. They are sending me a cable at no charge. Was told there should have been one in the box but I don't remember ever seeing one. Have to wait on the cable before reloading OS again.

Also, turns out I have been inserting the mini-usb wall charger cable in upside down which bent the flat prong inside the mini usb port on the Playbook. Took a knife and pushed it back into position. This is a bad design on the Playbook, at least it is on my Playbook. The port on the Playbook doesn't match the shape of the mini usb port on the cable. If you look at the cable, it has 2 angled sides (making it a 6 sided box) but when you look at the port on the Playbook, it is only a 4 sided box. This makes it way too easy to insert the cable in upside down. This may have been posted elsewhere in the forums but I was told they would fix this free of charge if it ever gets damaged so that is no longer useable (in or out of warranty) - they said this is a VERY common problem.

This is actually a "design" feature. The port is intended to eventually allow what are called OnTheGo usb devices to be connected using a cable that matches that shape. But the pb does not currently support it. But, yes, too many folks have bunged the port up by trying to insert the usb cable in upsidedown.

I am pretty sure that I've used non-rim/pb cables to attach between computer and pb. I've got a very long micro-usb one from the back of my computer that I've used. But it might be best to use the one they provide.

[micht]

Hi
This doesn't sound right, I would return your blackberry to the shop! it sounds faulty. to get 10% of my blackberry playbook charged, takes 25mins its also on standby when I charge it.
Hope this helps.

[Bubblefat]

Called RIMM and they want me to reload the OS. Neither wall charger nor cradle charger will charge it, hence the reload OS routine.

Found out that the mini-USB to USB cable used for Playbook to computer connection (to reload OS) must be specific to the Playbook - my generic cable would not work. They are sending me a cable at no charge. Was told there should have been one in the box but I don't remember ever seeing one. Have to wait on the cable before reloading OS again.

Also, turns out I have been inserting the mini-usb wall charger cable in upside down which bent the flat prong inside the mini usb port on the Playbook. Took a knife and pushed it back into position. This is a bad design on the Playbook, at least it is on my Playbook. The port on the Playbook doesn't match the shape of the mini usb port on the cable. If you look at the cable, it has 2 angled sides (making it a 6 sided box) but when you look at the port on the Playbook, it is only a 4 sided box. This makes it way too easy to insert the cable in upside down. This may have been posted elsewhere in the forums but I was told they would fix this free of charge if it ever gets damaged so that is no longer useable (in or out of warranty) - they said this is a VERY common problem.

Wow. To my knowledge, you are the only person who doesn't pay attention to detail and carelessly damaged their usb port in this manner. I can be in the dark, and orient my micro usb cable right side up and I still manage to plug it into the port properly. I worked in retail, and I swear I get sick of careless, arrogant people claiming that their own stupidity is a result of design flaw or mechanical/electrical defect. Give me a break...

[FF22]

Actually, quite a few users have somehow managed to ding their usb port. The port is not a standard usb micro port. It is intended to accommodate usb-to-go cables. The port's non-standard, more or less rectangular design, unfortunately permits cables to be inserted or, at least, partially inserted up-side-down. That tends to result in bending the connector board out of its proper plane. Some can be fixed by gently re-aligning the connector but some are more seriously damaged. Maybe Rim should have had the manual emphasize this issue.

[jpash549]

The manual does tell you how to plug in the blackberry stock charger but I suppose they should have anticipated that many people would have tried to use whatever wire or charger they had handy or even if using the stock charger had not carefully read the discussion on charging which is found I believe toward the back of the manual. The situation is further complicated because the plug is actually inserted with the standard charging symbol down - in other words opposite to the usual way. Have never heard why this orientation of the type AB micro USB port was necessary.