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Correct Way to Charge an iPod?
JAHA wonders: "I've seen two schools of thought regarding the proper method for charging an ipod so as to maximize the lifetime of the battery: let the iPod completely drain before re-charging; or keep the iPod completely charged as often as possible (i.e. leave it charging while you listen to it if you can). There doesn't seem to be any official word from Apple on their website, so I was hoping the smart people here could clear it up for me." For those looking for a definitive resource on the proper care and feeding of your iPod batteries, try this site.
The lifetime of a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery shortens considerably if it is left 'topped up' on a charger for extended periods of time(weeks, etc). That's one of the reasons they are never used as backup sources of power.
So, don't leave it on the charger. The battery will last longer.
Ni-Cd: Drain them out completely and then recharge them until full.
Ni-Mh: I think it's same as above, but the memory effect isn't as bad as it is for Ni-Cd.
Lithium-ion: Try to keep them around 40% or so, never let them go completely empty.
I might be wrong thought.
I have experienced problems with my iPod when I let it run down completely, it drops into 'zombie' mode and cannot be woken without unplugging the battery. This is a pain in the arse when I'm going to be away from my computer for a long time. The iPod is one of the first of the first generation and can now only hold charge for around an hour. I don't think that it'll make much difference how you do the charge/discharge dance, you just have to accept the fate that the battery dies. What we really want is sony to release the batteries to the general public (UK) so we can refit them cheaply ourselves.
An iPod with a dead battery can still be plugged in to the wall. It might be possible to buy (or create) an external battery pack in which the electricity is converted from DC to AC and you could "plug it into" the battery pack. I'm not sure of this is possible, but if someone has setup something like this, perhaps using massive D sized batteries, you would never have to worry about the iPod's crappy battery ever again.
Of course this would ridiculously bloat the size of your iPod. The battery pack alone could be twice the size of the unit. In my case, if I ever bought an iPod I'd probably be using it at work mostly, and there's a wall to plug it into =p
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Pretty Pictures!
Li Ion batteries are strange you don't want to discharge them completely but you don't want to leave them topped up. My recommendation, discharge to about 50%, recharge, rinse wash repeat.
Don't drain your batteries. Cells in a pack will discharge at different rates. When one dies and is driven in reverse by the other cells, it will be permanently killed. ESPECIALLY NiMH.
Memory effect is real, but you will not ever notice it, unless you do dozens of discharge cycles that are all the same length, to an accuracy of a few seconds. This isn't going to happen in normal use.
Basically, use your iPod. Charge it when you like. Don't run it all the way down.
This is America, damnit. Speak Spanish!
It's rather funny what google can turn up...
I think the consensus is Li Ion and NiMH batteries are better kept close to full charge, and NiCads should be drained fully before recharging.
iPods use a Li-Ion battery.
MasterCard.
What is the firewire cable to either my PowerBook, PowerMac, or do the wall plug that came with my 2nd generation 20 Gig iPod?
seriously though I have to say that everything I have that is Apple has been superior quality, I know some people get a bad apple from time to time, my friend had a PowerBook that just would not play nice, but overall the quality is better than other companies, its because of this pedestal they are on, that the few exceptions really stand out.
Only on Slashdot could a thread meant to simplify things end up confusing the issue!
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
correct way to charge a GBA SP?
I have a 20gb original iPod, with the non-moving wheel. I have had it for about 6 months. Before that it belonged to a friend, who rarely used it. Recently, it has developed a problem with the headphone socket. The sound from the left headphone is intermittent. I have tried using several different pairs of headphones, but the problem remains, so it looks like it's a problem with the contact inside the iPod rather than the headphones. I was wondering if any other slashdotters have had this problem, and if so, if you have found a solution.
Thanks,
not_cub
q='echo "q=$s$q$s;s=$b$s;b=$b$b;$q"';s=\';b=\\;echo "q=$s$q$s;s=$b$s;b=$b$b;$q"
I've kept my rev A 10 GB ipod plugged in constantly for a couple of years--it's my main source of music at home and is plugged into my stereo at almost all times. But, on recent international flights, it has given me a solid 8 hours of music. I don't know why there is so much complaining about bad battery life.
Q: Why doesn't Apple make the battery easily replaceable? Or use different batteries, like AA? A: Because if they did either, the size of the batteries and/or the access panels and mechanisms required to access the battery would make the unit significantly larger than it is, likely by several millimeters in thickness at a minimum, and would also affect other dimensions, as well as weight. It was an engineering decision to use an integrated battery; if it were not integrated, the unit would not have the small, sleek form factor that makes it so attractive in the first place. Additionally, the iPod's battery is indeed replaceable, as has been discussed above.
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They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
Where I work I need to know a lot about rechargeable batteries. My impression of Li-ion / Li-Polymer is that they don't mind having a "float charge" at all... what the previous posts fail to mention is that for safety reasons, all Li-based chargers are intelligent enough to not overcharge the batteries (except cheap offshore chargers and car adapters, but you won't likely find anything like that for your ipod). In other words, I believe it is safe to leave an ipod plugged in indefinitely.
We picked up a battery analyzer from Cadex, which is really cool, and I use it every day.
But the really cool thing is that the charger came with a little paperback book called "Batteries in a Portable World", which offers a lot of insight into varying battery chemistries, even though it is sort of a pitch for Cadex products.
Nevertheless there is an online version of this book. Go to chapter 2 and read up! There is some very valuable battery maintenance info in there -- if you own a single rechargeable battery it is a very good read. (The website asks for your email address, but you can probably just use a fake one).
... as a rule of thumb multi-cell battery packs should never be completely drained which can destroy individual cells within the pack leaving the capacity of the pack as a whole quite diminished.
here
You know what?
You could go here:
4 .htm
http://ipodbatteryfaq.com/
Or here:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-3
Come on guys.
This is a GREAT summary of lithium-ion battery tech, as found on Mac OS X Hints:
0 30 314081843218
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20
Don't forget to check out the source material to which the article links, as well. Good stuff.
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
Then, when the battery ivariably goes dead, it may have some extra protection.
Check out the Battery University for the answers to all your battery questions.
Ask Slashdot, and you get 1000 geeks posting conflicting answers they "know" to be correct, all with conflicting "supporting evidence" from people that "know" it is correct.
Way to go.
I've listened to all sorts of advice and have conducted limited experiments.
I believe the great unstated truth is that rechargeable batteries just plain have a limited life.
In fact, the lifetime on any one particular cell seems to be subject to a great deal of variation. For about ten years I tried to power all my AA, C, and D-cell-powered devices from rechargeable Nicads, and even when usage and recharging patterns were similar, some batteries _bought at the same time in the package_ might died after a year and a half, while others would be going strong after four years. I suspect this variation is one reason why manufacturers are so vague about lifetimes, and also contributes to peoples' superstitions (as they try to correlate the random behavior of individual cells with what they did to them.)
People who try to share rechargeable devices tend to bully each other and try to impose their personal superstitions about it ("I TOLD you not to keep it on the charger, Mabel!"), and companies who do not wish to replace dead batteries certainly are inclined to reinforce this. If I were a support person and someone phoned me with a battery issue, I would certainly suggest that they discharge the battery fully and recharge it. Why not? It would get them off the phone, and it MIGHT work, and when they called back to say it didn't it would be someone else's problem.
As for leaving batteries in the charger, at some point you have to assume that the people who make the batteries and the charger know what they're doing, and that the charger is smart enough not to deliver life-threatening quantities of charge to a fully charged battery. Certainly this should be true in these days where the chargers and batteries have microchips in them.
So I say, don't kick yourself over it. Accept the fact that rechargeable batteries are a) damn expensive, and b) only last a couple of years. Yes, it sucks, but lots of things do.
"Rechargeable" batteries sound as if they should last forever. So did "permanent needles" (ha! anyone else remember THOSE?), permanent waves, and permanent-press clothing.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I'm no battery expert, I don't even play one on the internet, but I can relate my own experience as a true early adopter.
I've got a 5 gig iPod purchased in Nov 2001. I use it at least 6 hours+ every day at work. I rarely use it on weekends. When it's not in use, it is on the charger (the AC adaptor, not hooked to my computer) - always, no exceptions.
It's now 26 months old and as far as I can tell the battery is almost as good as new.
So, my secret to success in a nutshell:
- almost never run it all the way down
- use it on a very regular basis
- always on the charger when not in use
Of course, YMMV but this has worked extremely well for me.
This is almost entirely wrong.
LiIon batteries have a maximum lifespan, aroudn 500 cycles. The deeper the discharge, the more "life" you use from the battery. Like lead-acid batteries, they are NOT forgiving of complete discharge and charge cycles. They also self-discharge like Lead-acid batteries, and need a small amount of current to keep fully charged. All this is taken care of for you(see below) unless you've bought a real POS device. iPods also never "shut off" fully(on my 3rd gen iPod, I can actually hear the processor cycling if I put it up to my ear- its a periodic "bruup!" noise) and that consumes battery power. Left off a charger, your iPod WILL have very little charge left after a couple of days.
NiCad batteries- you got that all right except for "short overall life span". They have the least energy density, but last forever. I have 15 year old NiCads that are still quite serviceable. The most common death for NiCads are either getting cooked(left on a charger improperly) or developing "memory"(this is actually internal resistance) or shorting out due to crystalization.
The answer is common sense. Follow the recommendations in the manual, and don't be over-obsessive about charging it. Any device made in the last 5 years or so, especially with LiIon, has a sophisticaed battery management system. LiIon batteries --require-- very specific charge methods based on temperature, current and pack voltage so there are a lot of IC's dedicated to battery management(some/most of these chips also integrate capacity estimation, serialization, voltage+current monitoring, etc).
Please help metamoderate.
The 'charging system' is, like almost all LiIon devices, managed by a dedicated IC. Go to Maxim's website- they have all sorts of chips specifically for this sort of thing. LiIon batteries pretty much can't be charged except by a very intelligent circuit. But yes, if you have a cheap charger on any other battery type, you will cause damage. Lead acid batteries are easily damaged if kept on an incorrect float current/voltage; I have a $60 5-stage charger for my lead-acid batteries that keeps them properly topped up for months at a time. Buy a $20 charger at Sears, and your battery will be dead in a manner of days/weeks.
However, what MAY affect things is that I've noticed a great deal of iPods left connected to a mac do get very very hot.
If the iPod is mounted, yes, my iPod(3rd gen) will get warm- warmer if left on a blanket or something that's not a very good heat conductor.
However, unmounted from the desktop and not charging, the thing's pretty much at room temp. It'll shut itself off and go to the 'charging' or 'charged' display after about 15-20 seconds afer getting unmounted, and that's that; it's basically off.
I think it speaks volumes against the "don't leave it plugged in" theory that Apple sells a dock which is designed to hold the thing all the time(and keep it charged all the time.)
Please help metamoderate.
Something I heard awhile ago, but haven't seen any discussion of is the importance of the *number* of charge/discharge cycles. Li-Ion batteries are limited to about 1000 charge/discharge cycles. A cycle is defined as a switch between charging up and then discharging or vice-versa. Therefore, when you plug in your device to charge, -1 cycle. If you "use up" your cycles in 2 months by continually plugging & unplugging, so be it. Or over 3 years, same number of cycles. This may explain the "left in charger" syndrome if a charge deactivates charging when it's topped off, but then restarts when the battery dips below 100%. This is like a bouncing affect and burns away your charge/discharge cycles. Therefore, for my devices I attempt to limit the times I plug & unplug them. With laptops I go so far as to remove the battery before plugging it into the wall just to ensure that it isn't used if I know I'm going to be working at one place for awhile. It may just be another myth, but I have 2 laptops, 1 that is 3.5 yrs old and another that is 1.5 yrs old and both are holding their charges fine! (iPod going on 1.5 years too)
.... Like in my Palm Zire 71?
I had a problem a while back where my 2nd generation iPod (only a few months old) would lose it's charge completely overnight. So I took it to the genius bar at my local Apple store and determined that:
... just not enough to spin up the hard disk, decode compressed audio and play through your headphones. If you take your iPod to an Apple store, they can *fully* discharge it overnight for free.
1) I was leaving my iPod in my car overnight (this was wintertime) and the iPod would 'freeze', which at the very least causes the iPod to *think* the battery is dead. (I wasn't clear if the battery was actually dead from freezing, or if the iPod just 'though' it was dead.) The only way to get it back to useable condition was to warm it up and recharge it.
2) Apple has a special gizmo that can fully drain your iPod's battery to help reduce the memory effect. Apparently, when you see the iPod dead battery icon, there is still quite a bit of charge left in the battery
The only way an average user can fully drain the battery is to play songs until it shows the dead battery screen, then leave the iPod unused for a week while its internal clock slowly finishes off the draining. When it's fully drained, you won't see the dead battery screen anymore. It will be DEAD.
The genius further told me that it was NOT good to leave the iPod plugged into its charging adapter for long periods of time once it's charged. (Again, this is a second generation iPod.) My presumption is it would be OK to leave it plugged in as a mounted Firewire drive.
Finally, he said Apple had been getting a lot of complaints, that the iPod had been built and tested in a part California where it never got as cold as it did here in the North East, and they were "discovering" the limits of the batteries in cold weather. Luckily, I don't think the effects are premenant, and my iPod was just fine all last summer =)