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iPod 7th generation iPod Nano battery life

Dweez

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
I picked up a nano a couple of weeks ago exclusively for use in my car via the aux in port. On a full charge the nano gave me a low battery warning after no more than 45 minutes. I did have the volume at 100% to get sufficient input for the radio.

Might the 100% volume be the culprit in draining the battery so quickly? I've done a factory reset and battery calibration (full charge / full drain / full recharge) with "minimal at best" results.
 
Listening only to music I loaded. Bluetooth is disabled. I'm going to try an alternate audio cable, as my current cable seems to introduce some hiss.
 
808? said:
How much battery life do you get when you run at full volume away from the car with its earpods?
Click to expand...

I don't know, as I haven't use it away from the car. But I'll charge it today, plug the earbuds in and let it run.

The original ipod nano was replaced and the new unit act the same way - max of 30 min battery life when at full volume. I opted to try my iphone 4s vs the ipod and it also introduced hiss to the system.

Replacing the audio cable was a shot in the dark, though in my gut I knew it wouldn't affect battery life I had to try.

My final option was to use my droid razr hd, which I should have tried earlier. No hiss, my expected battery life, a somewhat clunky UI for audio playback but I can live with that.

Walmart won't give my me my money back for the ipod since I don't have the original packaging, so it's sits on the desk in my home office.
 
Quick & dirty test, on a fully charge the ipod has been running for 2.5 hrs at full volume to the earbuds and the battery looks to be around 66%.
 
Maybe it requires a lot of battery power when in use with your car AUX? But 45 mins is too short, let us know if you have any more new results.
 
I noticed the same thing also. And my usage pattern is similar to yours. Namely, I use the iPod nano as a radio and I often turn the volume to max and connect it to a desktop headphone amplifier.

The battery doesn't last more than a few hours when used in this way with some time also spent listening to loaded songs from iTunes.

I took the unit to a Genius Bar and was advised to test using the earpods, starting from a full charge, leave it running overnight at 50-60% volume, and observe how much charge is left the next morning.

I found that the iPod is capable of achieving the claimed 30-hour battery run time this way, give or take an hour or two.

The major battery draw is the radio, running at max volume, and using the display a lot. Also when in "PAUSED" mode, it drains the battery faster than when it is in "SLEEP" mode, even though in both cases music isn't playing and the display is off, "PAUSED" mode still draws some power. Hold the SLEEP button and turn the thing off when not in use. It will wake up where it left off so you don't have to start off from scratch from your playlist again.

This is different behavior than my previous iPod's, including the 1st Gen nano, the 4th gen nano, 2nd gen iPod touch, iPod mini etc. They all didn't draw much power when in "Paused" mode so I didn't really have to deliberately turn them completely off.
 
I think we're going to see a huge update for the Nano in a few months, right after the new iPhone and iOS 7 drop. I'm pretty sure the battery issues in particular have been looked at too. So new interface, less battery usage with bluetooth and radio, and a lot of these things here and there that people have been bringing up in the last 6 months.

I usually don't touch my screen either for the best results, but yeah, radio does kill it REALLY quickly.
 
Dweez said:
I picked up a nano a couple of weeks ago exclusively for use in my car via the aux in port. On a full charge the nano gave me a low battery warning after no more than 45 minutes. I did have the volume at 100% to get sufficient input for the radio.

Might the 100% volume be the culprit in draining the battery so quickly? I've done a factory reset and battery calibration (full charge / full drain / full recharge) with "minimal at best" results.
Click to expand...

Hello, I do not have that problem. I play mine in the car all the time, always lasts at least 2-3 days, yes days. You could trade it in for another.

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Jessica Lares said:
What are you listening to? Music or radio? Radio is known to make the battery drain in a hour.
Click to expand...

Whenever I listen to the radio, it still lasts forever. i don't know why everyone's having problems. Maybe if you buy it from Best Buy, there'll be no issues.

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Dweez said:
Quick & dirty test, on a fully charge the ipod has been running for 2.5 hrs at full volume to the earbuds and the battery looks to be around 66%.
Click to expand...

try charging the ipod every night before you go to bed. Mine lasts 2-3 days and i plug it in at bedtime and out in the morning. Same routine, try that.
 
Will820 said:
Hello, I do not have that problem. I play mine in the car all the time, always lasts at least 2-3 days, yes days. You could trade it in for another.

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Whenever I listen to the radio, it still lasts forever. i don't know why everyone's having problems. Maybe if you buy it from Best Buy, there'll be no issues.

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try charging the ipod every night before you go to bed. Mine lasts 2-3 days and i plug it in at bedtime and out in the morning. Same routine, try that.
Click to expand...

I'll have to try again then. I bet pretty much none of us here bought AppleCare, so we can't really do exchanges or get any support from Apple at this point.
 
I gave up on it after 2 different units exhibited the same behavior. I use either my iphone 5s or work-provided htc one and both performed great!

Will820 said:
Hello, I do not have that problem. I play mine in the car all the time, always lasts at least 2-3 days, yes days. You could trade it in for another.

----------



Whenever I listen to the radio, it still lasts forever. i don't know why everyone's having problems. Maybe if you buy it from Best Buy, there'll be no issues.

----------



try charging the ipod every night before you go to bed. Mine lasts 2-3 days and i plug it in at bedtime and out in the morning. Same routine, try that.
Click to expand...
 
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