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How often do you charge your iPad?

mloffa

mloffa

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 13, 2009
966
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Just wondering about how often you guys charge your iPad because I'm not sure whether I should be plugging it in every night like my iPhone or if I should just be waiting until it's very low/turned off?

Thoughts?
 
Depends. Usually I'll wait until it's close to dying during normal use, but if I'm going to be and I notice it has a low charge I'll plug it in.
 
Surprisingly, I charge it after 2-3 day of use.

Yesterday, I used it all day and then over an hour watching Videos at LA Fitness and the Battery is only down 20%.
 
mloffa said:
Just wondering about how often you guys charge your iPad because I'm not sure whether I should be plugging it in every night like my iPhone or if I should just be waiting until it's very low/turned off?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I knew a thread like this would pop up. Happens with every new Apple Launch. It's nice to know that you can count on certain things to happen like clock work.

Now to answer your question.

I always plug in before I go to sleep, I have to because I use my iPad as a Night Stand Clock. Also, I'll even plug it in during the day when I'm not using it. It is bad practice and bad for LithIon batteries to deep cycle regularly.

Some will argue that you should drain down once a month. All that does is recalibrate the battery to the iPad's power management. It does not prolong battery life or regain loss in run time. Once in a Blue Moon I'll forget to plug in and I use that opportunity to recalibrate.

PLUG IN WHEN YOU CAN. Simple
 
Last edited:
If I'm lower than 50% at the end of a day, it gets plugged in. If not, I'll way to the following evening. Beyond that, once every other month I'll calibrate it by running it until if powers off on its own and then fully charge it up to an hour beyond it hitting 100%.
 
3-4 days. I charged it the night after I got my iPad 2, and haven't charged it yet since then. It's still got over 50% left, and I've been using it a lot. The difference may be that I don't watch movies or listen to music. Still, I'm surprised anyone would need to charge every night. And if it doesn't need it, I would never do it. A good way to kill your battery.
 
Honestly I don't really think about it. The battery life is so good that I just plug it in whenever it's convenient. I think I've only actually run out of battery one or two times over the course of the past year.

One exception is if I'm playing games on it steadily, then it sucks down the electrons pretty quickly.
 
Kadin said:
If I'm lower than 50% at the end of a day, it gets plugged in. If not, I'll way to the following evening. Beyond that, once every other month I'll calibrate it by running it until if powers off on its own and then fully charge it up to an hour beyond it hitting 100%.
Click to expand...

same here seems that the lower 50% goes faster tha the upper. also i have noted that the battery indicator may stay 100% for even 10 minutes or more and when it finally reaches 99% it starts draining faster.
 
I didnt own an ipad 1 so 2 days isnt enough ipad 2 time to judge, but at home I set it up with charging/stand on the desk next to my monitor. That way I can use it to run netflix on the side, or radio/itunes, 2nd monitor, etc... and always charging.

So yeah, I doubt I'll ever let the battery drop below 50% naturally unless i take a trip.
 
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Thanks for all the replies! Since this is my first iPad, im still not sure of my charging pattern yet. It will most likely be every 1-2 nights. So far, I only charged it the night I got it (Friday) and I'm still at 60% an I have been using it A LOT. Especially GarageBand.
 
Im charing mine today for the first time. Bought it 5pm on Friday and have been using it extensively every since.
 
Overnight usually, but I often miss a day. It rarely gets below 60%.

I actually ran it down to zero the other day - first time in months. It's awesome for battery: I never worry about it.
 
Saberj said:
Still, I'm surprised anyone would need to charge every night. And if it doesn't need it, I would never do it. A good way to kill your battery.
Click to expand...

That is a common misconception, the convention that you can overcharge a LithIon battery.

The iPad's power management will determine when the battery will be charged when it is plugged in. Once the battery is topped off, charging will stop and the iPad will switch from battery power to line power.

Unless you have a faulty iPad, you will never overcharge/kill the battery.
 
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