Eli5: Why do charged electronics (Game controllers, eReaders,) lose their charge when they’re not being used?

Question

Eli5: Why do charged electronics (Game controllers, eReaders,) lose their charge when they’re not being used?

In: 1469

Answer 1

Many have mentioned the self discharge rate, but a bigger thing is the fact that we as a society chose buttons over switches for powering on and off.

A switch used to cut a circuit off, so the battery wasn’t slowly flowing power through a circuit while it was off. With buttons that turn things on the battery is always in a completed circuit waiting for the devices computer to sense the button press and turn on. Not only does the a completed circuit kill batteries faster (9 volts in flashlights), the computer itself requires a small amount of power to be ready to respond to the button.