Handheld
scanner (100), including: a housing (115) with an opening (125); an internal power source (155) located inside the housing (115) and having an
active state in which output power is provided and a shutdown state in which no output power is provided; a power source
monitoring system (160) configured to detect whether the internal power source (155) has reached a predetermined
discharge level at which the internal power source (155) should be switched off to prevent damage to the internal power source (155); an
image sensor (135) directed towards the aperture (125) and configured to (i) be powered by the internal power source (155) when the internal power source (155) is in the
active state, and (ii) capture image data representing an environment in a
field of view of the handheld
scanner (100); a
barcode decoder (140) which communicates with the
image sensor (135) and is configured to (i) be powered by the internal power source (155) when the internal power source (155) is active, (ii) receive the image data and (iii) decode a
barcode captured in the image data; an indicator (175); and a processor (145) configured to: to be supplied with energy by the internal power source (155) when the internal power source (155) is in the
active state, to detect, based on one or more outputs of the power source monitoring (160), whether the internal power source (155) has reached the predetermined
discharge quantity, and when the internal power source (155) has reached the predetermined
discharge quantity: to configure the indicator (175) to provide an indication that the internal power source (155) is switched off while the internal power source (155) is in the shutdown state, and to put the internal power source (155) into the shutdown state, so that the
image sensor (135), the character decoder (140) and the processor (145) are switched off.