How do you turn off the active pen that comes with Spectre x360?

[yingjie_]

Hi, I recently bought a HP Spectre x360 and the laptop's working great! The pen's controls were a bit confusing to begin with but I eventually got around its quirks and am getting the hang of using it. 

Everything's going well, except I'm wondering if there's some way to turn off my pen to conserve battery.

Unlike maybe the tilt pen, my pen only has two circular buttons and does not have a light next to the clip to indicate whether it's on or an 'eraser' button at the back of the pen. for reference, this is what it looks like: https://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/HP-Stylus-Active-Pen-for-HP-Spectre-x360-HP-original-pen/123292726780?ha...

When I first turned on the pen, I didn't even press either of the two buttons; I simply inserted the battery and it turned on itself. Is there any smarter way to turn it off other than removing the battery? Some threads have said that the pen turns itself off after not coming into pressure contact with anything after 1min but I'm not sure how to test whether that's true or not. 

[David_J_W]

I have no experience of using a Microsoft (N-Trig) pen with a AAAA battery like the one you have with your Spectre x360, but I do have a computer that uses a Wacom Active ES pen with a AAAA battery, which is a similar but competing technology.

My experience is that these pens really sip the battery life - if stored out of proximity of the display and with no pressure on the buttons or tip, the battery will last a long time. There's some sort of sleep mode strategy used, though I can't be sure exactly what.

One time my pen was inadvertently left for a few days with a button pressed down by another object, which killed the battery. AAAA is an unusual size, but is readily available now from online stores. If you are worried about a flat pen battery, maybe it is worth buying a spare battery and storing it in your computer bag. I recommend keeping the battery in the manufacturer's packaging or covering the contacts securely with electrical insulating tape.

Enjoy your new device.