need battery life
turn off backlight, lower contrast, dont play games. ne thing else?
[115 byte] By [mcwacko1213] at [2007-11-9 12:50:24] 
how can i make my battery life better?
turn off backlight, lower contrast, dont play games. ne thing else?
# 1 Re: need battery life
turn off EQ, lower volume, put songs in a playlist (so HD will need to be accessed less since 32mb of file is stored in the buffer) and retrain from constantly jumping around your collection.IlIlIlIlIl at 2007-11-15 14:16:03 >
# 2 Re: need battery life
Limiting volume is one thing that I (and many others) find very hard to do...it's the one thing that I think you shouldn't worry about too much; you don't want to volume at an uncomfortably low level to save a bit of battery...mongoos150 at 2007-11-15 14:17:03 >
# 3 Re: need battery life
i doubt volume at 2/4 the way will drain much more than 3/4 the way.Are you using Gen3 iPods? @ 8hrs, or Gen1/2?
if gen1/2:
turn off clock by resettings iPod, dont set date, dont use backlight, alarms, timers
EQ again, i doubt drains much.
i get about 9 hrs on my iPod.
file size is about 5 or 6 mb average, i use --alt-preset standard or CBR @ 192
stasyna at 2007-11-15 14:18:02 >
# 4 Re: need battery life
I've found that by turning the volume down to around 3/4's on the Gen 3, UK iPod that battery life is increased by nearly 2/3 hours. Lasts all day now. Shame I can't use it when I get home tho :(Stefan
docevi1 at 2007-11-15 14:19:08 >
# 5 Re: need battery life
Why can't you?Jackonicko at 2007-11-15 14:20:07 >
# 6 Re: need battery life
Im having difficulty believing that turning off the clock will save you battery life. A cheap digital watch lasts a year on the puniest of cell batteries. The EQ however is quite a different story. I STILL havent found detailed information on the onboard hardware of the ipod, (what CPU? What DAC?) but on the fly equalizing is quite the operation. For a non-audio-specialist CPU i.e. pentium/strongarm/what have you I wouldnt be surprised if adding equalisation would add 20% extra CPU overhead, if done properly.
As for volume settings well, I really don't know. I can't see it having an incredible effect but obviously it'll drain your battery more.
Why won't someone be a dear and just TRY it? Make a playlist, charge ipod to full, turn it on and play (dont touch it of course) and time how long it plays with
Everything 'off' (no backlight, no EQ, no games, no clock, 50% volume) and then check how long it lasts:
- just like that
- with 75 or 100% volume
- equaliser on (pick a setting, any setting) (volume back to 50)
Also it would be interesting to see how much having a "128kbit mp3 only" playlist improves playtime compared to "192 kbit only" and "128kbit AAC only" list. I suppose this could be worked out mathematically too, shorter buffer times = more HDD time = major drainage..
(note: you do need to have a headphone plugged in for these tests, phones actually load an ipod, costing more battery than just leaving it running without phones)
To beat the obvious question: "Why dont I do these tests myself?" well I suppose if noone does it I might, but I've already spent quite some time testing and sharing useful (imho) results here: http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3877
puntloos at 2007-11-15 14:21:06 >
# 7 Re: need battery life
Originally posted by Jackonicko Why can't you?
Well of course you can, but what we're saying is it would be fruitless to lower the volume to an uncomfortable level to save a bit of battery...(why conserve battery if your not satisfied with the volume).
mongoos150 at 2007-11-15 14:22:13 >
# 8 Re: need battery life
question about battery charging and what not. can the whole battery problem br fixed with a firmwear update. and by problems i mean the gage that shows how much left. and while chargin showing how much time letf till full charge.mcwacko1213 at 2007-11-15 14:23:16 >
# 9 Re: need battery life
The only things that take a significant part of your battery are those that require the hard drive to work more. Searching through songs will do this as well as EQ and games. Obviously backlight will too. Just for your info, the volume level barley does any battery life draining. I have tested this and the difference is extremely small between full volume and half way.Manifesto at 2007-11-15 14:24:14 >
# 10 Re: need battery life
He said: Shame I can't use it when I get home tho and I asked: "Why can't you?"
Jackonicko at 2007-11-15 14:25:14 >
# 11 Re: need battery life
Originally posted by Manifesto The only things that take a significant part of your battery are those that require the hard drive to work more. Searching through songs will do this as well as EQ and games. Obviously backlight will too. Just for your info, the volume level barley does any battery life draining. I have tested this and the difference is extremely small between full volume and half way.
Ah good to hear I was right about volume impact. As for games well we can't ask someone to game for 8 hours and see when the ipod quits but again I doubt games will have a huge impact.
I do think that decoding AAC will take more out of the CPU (and therefore the battery) compared to MP3. Anyone have stats on this?
puntloos at 2007-11-15 14:26:09 >
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