How to Charge a Kobo Clara BW

Page created: 2026-08-05

I’ve been very happy with my Rakuten Kobo Clara BW.

The one weird thing about it is that every time I give it a charge, it goes a little crazy and…​ discharges itself?

So here’s the steps I take to get a 100% problem-free charge:

  1. Plug it into a quality USB-C power source. I don’t think it’s as picky as I first thought, but it’s always good to use a quality charger that can do proper power negotiation with the device. The one that came with my phone works great, but when in doubt, buying a modern GaN (wikipedia.org) charger is worth the investment because it’ll charge everything you have (my "good" one can also power my USB-C soldering iron!)

  2. While asleep, the E-ink display will show the charge percentage, so you can just walk away until it’s 100%.

  3. Once it’s reached full charge, hold the back power/wake button for a moment (about 3 seconds?) to power it off.

  4. I wait for a moment (5 seconds?) to turn it back on. This may not be needed.

  5. Hold down the power button again for a couple seconds until the tiny white LED light on the front top right corner comes on.

  6. The Kobo will "boot up" and…​

You’re done. You can now read a book or put the Kobo to sleep with a touch of the power button or, if you have one, by closing your magnetic sleep cover.