Poor Battery Life
This is my set up.
Windows XP
2.1 firmware
3G 15 Gig pod
USB 2.0 with charging base (USB cable in computer.. charger plugged into wall.)
I was having lousy battery life (2.5 hours of charge life) so I took my pod back. They gave me a new one. Well guess what, I get the same lousy battery life again. Keep in mind this is after tweaking the heck (Alarms off. Light off. Beep Off) out of all the settings and not touching it while it plays. The new pod, which is now two days old, is getting about 3 hours life. Terrible. I charge on the base for about 5 hours until the screen says charged. I try not to navigate through the menus too much while playing because I know this drains the battery. But really. You need to navigate a little to find music. Still the same bad results.
$400 bucks is starting to feel like a scam to me. I love the idea of my ipod, but the battery life is the pits. Anyone else with poor battery life? Also it felt on my previous pod that 2.1 was giving me even worse battery life than before the purported "upgrade"
Is it me? My setup? Help...
[1133 byte] By [
DaveNYC] at [2007-11-9 15:17:38]
# 1 Re: Poor Battery Life
Don't know what to say. I played mine at work yesterday and got a full day without a charge... (on and off, about 6-hours worth of play)... I have yet to drain it completely of power.
# 2 Re: Poor Battery Life
Thanks lazy for the response. I'm starting to wonder if the USB config (hooked up to computer and wall socket) is somehow faulty. Does one drain the other and cause poor charging? I'd love to hear from anyone that has a similar configuration.
# 3 Re: Poor Battery Life
I do know this -- my i-pod does not charge via the firewire connection (and I'm guessing yours won't charge via your USB). That said, transferring data seems to drain the cells quickly -- don't know why (again, I've only had mine for a couple days and I'm not techie).
# 4 Re: Poor Battery Life
Do you still have your original docking/firewire cable? Try to hook up the ipod just to the AC adapter with the original cable and then test your battery the same way you have been and compare. You are right. you are getting poor battery life. You should get more than what you are talking about.
Check extra calanders. There is another alarm function here. Make this is turned off as well.
Sorry to hear you are getting to duds in a row.
Cheers,
Stu
# 5 Re: Poor Battery Life
If you stay doc'd on USB (even unmounted), the disk will never actually spin down. This may be contributing to a "not quite full" charge. Also, I have read that charging is based on time (duration), not on actual battery storage state/charge.
1. Try charging while un-docked from USB
2. Charge until iPod indicates "Charged" (you may not really be full...)
3. Unplug for a short while (play a few tunes:))
4. Connect to charger again until next "Charged" indication
5. Do a hands-off play of your entire collection w/no shuffle and measure duration. Should be between 6-8 hours.
Note: My iPod is presently charging (using dual USB cable, but not connected to PC). iPod indicates "Charged", but when I disconnect power, battery indicator shows only 3/4 full. When I re-connect power, iPod commences to active charging again.
This is exactly the behaviour I was describing above. Timing is quite funny!!
# 6 Re: Poor Battery Life
Also remember that this new battery icon is "interesting" it is trying to deliver "realtime" charge left based on usage at that time. I don't trust this new battery meter as far as I can throw it personally.
Cheers,
Stu
# 7 Re: Poor Battery Life
I don't trust this new battery meter as far as I can throw it personally.
Maybe not the best metaphor to use. I could toss mine pretty darn far.
# 8 Re: Poor Battery Life
Originally posted by www.lazy-i.com
Maybe not the best metaphor to use. I could toss mine pretty darn far.
I could never through my iPod and I would need to throw it to throw the indicator :D But sure maybe not the best metaphor...
Oh well, Cheers,
Stu
# 9 Re: Poor Battery Life
Yea, I hear you about the battery meter. It takes a while to creep up after you undock. Thanks for the suggestion of not charging with the USB cable attatched to the computer. I'm suprised to hear that the hard drive doesn't spin down if you leave the USB attatched. Even with the computer turned off? I'll have to do a little more research on this. Seems pretty #### silly though if you can't charge in the base the way it was designed to do so. But any suggestions will help.
# 10 Re: Poor Battery Life
Thanks Markp99...I am shocked to find out indeed that my pod's battery life is sooooo much better by charging with the original firewire cable connected directly to the pod, instead of using the base with the USB cable attatched. You are correct. The hard drive never spins down constantly draining the battery while it is charging. Really, really poor design. I'm a little speechless.
But nonetheless, I am happy for your comments. Now it feels like my battery stays charged forever in comparison to what I was putting up with.
thanks
# 11 Re: Poor Battery Life
Does shuffle kill the battery more quickly? I tried charging, playing and charging again... and I'm still getting sucky battery life. I'm losing patience here :( Any other suggestions?
A friend suggested running the battery through 3 cycles, charge then drain, charge then drain.. etc. Is this bad?
chile at 2007-11-15 17:14:36 >
# 12 Re: Poor Battery Life
Turning off all the clocks, alarms, lights, equalizer, etc may help your battery life. I did and it seems to help. Although I'm a bit miffed again. Seems the pod loses its charges after 4 days of sitting there doing nothing. If you use it everday it doesnt charge down. However if you let it sit, it's dead. Go figure
Im starting to wonder if Apple put some .50 cent battery in there to maximize profit. If the military can build a battery to work in -20 degree weather why can't Apple make a battery that keeps a charge for 4 days This really, really steams my shorts. Kinda waiting to what else comes out now in the way of mp3 players. Battery life will surely be a selling point.
