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ipod charging question

J

justinshiding

macrumors member
Original poster
May 7, 2004
99
0
Chicago, IL
I finally got around to buying an ipod and I love the little thing. 40 gigs should be enough space to keep me for a long long time. The only question I have is about charging it. I generally only use it for two hours or so a day give or take. If at the end of the day I set it on the dock to charge...will that adversly affect my battery life ? I know with older rechargeable batteries they had a "memory effect" I know the ipod doesnt have that, but is it still a good choice to run the battery down all the way? I don't want to somehow ruin my new little toy..

Thanks for you help :)
 
For me I like to play it safe and drain the battery before putting for recharge, I think that you can charge it at anytime but maybe at the end of the month you should make sure that it gets a full recharge by draining it and then letting it charge

Thats what I think anyway, might not be right so I would take someone elses opinion :D
 
I am with the cmdr.

As to the "memory effect" here is article from Max PC.

this is from Maximum PC August 2004 issue page 44.

Today, however, most batteries for advanced devices - like laptops and cell phones - are made with Lithium Ion, which has greater immunity to the memory effect...But Lithium Ion batteries aren't invincible; they can suffer from power leakage when not being used
 
justinshiding said:
I finally got around to buying an ipod and I love the little thing. 40 gigs should be enough space to keep me for a long long time. The only question I have is about charging it. I generally only use it for two hours or so a day give or take. If at the end of the day I set it on the dock to charge...will that adversly affect my battery life ? I know with older rechargeable batteries they had a "memory effect" I know the ipod doesnt have that, but is it still a good choice to run the battery down all the way? I don't want to somehow ruin my new little toy..

Thanks for you help :)
Click to expand...

A battery can only do a certain number of full charges; doing this constantly will SHORTEN Li-Ion Battery life.

However, you should do this at least once as soon as you use your device for the first time to "calibrate" the battery. Do it now, if you haven't yet. Also, if you wish to make the meter more accurate after a long period of use, it helps.
 
justinshiding said:
There we go ... Thanks so much. I got used to using batteries that did have the memory effect problem soI basically became a recharge nazi...No more :)

Justin
Click to expand...

NO POWER FOR YOu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! come back four hours ;)
 
Answer all your questions

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

and

http://ipodbatteryfaq.com/

Basically it says that always fully discharging and then charging a lithium-ion battery is a bad idea. Also, on the Battery University site, there is a cool little graph that shows you why it might be a bad idea to always charge it up to 100%, especially if you don't plan on using it for a couple of days (yeah, right!)

You should, however, calibrate the battery approximately once a month by fully discharging, then charging the device (should be done for both iPods and laptops, etc.). Also, don't store it in a hot place. NEVER leave it in your car, even if just for a few minutes. At least, I wouldn't.
 
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