Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

"When fully charged...." question.

S

Soundburst

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 4, 2006
691
20
Hey,

I feel bad charging my iPad overnight.

If an iPad is fully charged....does it ignore all power from the plug or does it effect the battery. I don't want to wear out the battery by keepin it plugged in while fully charged.

Also...would it waste a lot of electrical energy leaving the plug on all night? Or does the power output from the wall socket stop using power when it senses the iPad needs no more power.

I guess I'm kind of afraid that the plug keeps giving iPad power even though the battery is full meaning it'll kill my battery :)

Thanks for any answers
 
I would think once the battery is fully charged, the power plug will stop charging and will only help to keep the attached device powered without really using the battery.

But I'm no battery expert.
 
Yeah! I know with my MBP that when it's fully charged the power from the plug bypasses the battery completely and powers the device meaning the battery is left fully charged and without power running through it until you disconnect the MagSafe.

I'm kinda hoping that's the same with iPad. I'd hate to think I'm killing my batterys health by having power constantly charge it. :(
 
I should mention this though, I used to own an iPod that had a pretty decent battery life. I left it plugged in the charger before I left for a one month long trip. When I came back, the iPod literally would not last 15 min with full battery.

This was like 6 years ago.
 
Soundburst said:
Yeah! I know with my MBP that when it's fully charged the power from the plug bypasses the battery completely and powers the device meaning the battery is left fully charged and without power running through it until you disconnect the MagSafe.

I'm kinda hoping that's the same with iPad. I'd hate to think I'm killing my batterys health by having power constantly charge it. :(
Click to expand...

Worse case scenario: you cough up some $$$ to have the battery replaced with a new one.

I think by the time your iPad battery life becomes nonexistent, iPad 4 will be here anyway.
 
Yea you have it backwards, OP.

Once the iPad is fully charged and plugged up to a power source, that source powers the iPad alone.

So, it would be bad to keep the iPad plugged up all night if it's fully charged, not because doing so will somehow phantomly drain the battery. You actually want to drain the battery down more often than not to ensure the battery lasts longer.

And it's much easier on your electric bill if you unplug once it's fully charged. iPad's standby time is pretty spiffy and removing it from the outlet or usb won't automatically drain the battery.
 
How far are you wearing down your iPad every day? I have found that I can get 3 or 4 days on one charge. Since my iPad 2 seems to take a lot longer than my iPhone 4 to fully charge (probably about twice as long) I leave it on the charger overnight after it's gotten below 10%. About once a month I let it run all the way down until it turns itself off. I have not once been able to get this to happen in one day. The first week I got it, I used it for 5 hours straight one day to stream Hulu+ and Netflix, read books, listen to music, play games, download apps, etc. Even that day after 5 straight hours of use, I only got it down to 50%.
 
Because it takes 4 hours to charge I was just going to stick it on charge before bed and let it charge overnight for a full battery next day.

Reading some replies I'll not do that...I'll just stick it on charge and wait during the day for it to fill :)
 
overnight isn't going to kill it... i'd be willing to bet the engineers at Apple account for overnight charging as it's how/when most people charge their electronic devices
 
Once the battery's fully charged, the iPad only receives a trickle charged to keep it fully charged. Charging it overnight will not affect it's lifespan.
 
Soundburst said:
Hey,

I feel bad charging my iPad overnight.

If an iPad is fully charged....does it ignore all power from the plug or does it effect the battery. I don't want to wear out the battery by keepin it plugged in while fully charged.

Also...would it waste a lot of electrical energy leaving the plug on all night? Or does the power output from the wall socket stop using power when it senses the iPad needs no more power.

I guess I'm kind of afraid that the plug keeps giving iPad power even though the battery is full meaning it'll kill my battery :)

Thanks for any answers
Click to expand...

The iPad's power management is smart enough to know when to charge, when to stop charging and when to draw power from the battery or the line. Fear not my friend, plug in before you go to sleep and all is good.
 
srxtr said:
I should mention this though, I used to own an iPod that had a pretty decent battery life. I left it plugged in the charger before I left for a one month long trip. When I came back, the iPod literally would not last 15 min with full battery.

This was like 6 years ago.
Click to expand...

You are talking about an iPod 6 years ago. Today the power management is much more advanced and I would have no hesitation, barring a sudden power surge, to leave my iDevices plugged in all the time.
 
Soundburst said:
Because it takes 4 hours to charge I was just going to stick it on charge before bed and let it charge overnight for a full battery next day.

Reading some replies I'll not do that...I'll just stick it on charge and wait during the day for it to fill :)
Click to expand...

Please stop spreading or confirming misinformation. It is perfectly safe to charge over night.
 
iSingandiDance said:
Yea you have it backwards, OP.

Once the iPad is fully charged and plugged up to a power source, that source powers the iPad alone.

So, it would be bad to keep the iPad plugged up all night if it's fully charged, not because doing so will somehow phantomly drain the battery. You actually want to drain the battery down more often than not to ensure the battery lasts longer.

And it's much easier on your electric bill if you unplug once it's fully charged. iPad's standby time is pretty spiffy and removing it from the outlet or usb won't automatically drain the battery.
Click to expand...

This is untrue about the batteries used in the iPad. You always want to top off. Draining will shorten the service life of the batteries.
 
A lot of people are still using information that was true of the older rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries today actually get better the more you charge them early on in their lifespan, and charging doesn't shorten their lifespans. They do have a limited number of times you can charge them, I believe (several hundred or several thousand), so you may not want to charge them when it's really not necessary just as not to waste a charge cycle.

They do say, however, that you might want to drain the iPad battery once a month to calibrate the battery so that the meter remains accurate. But modern batteries do not, and should not, be drained regularly to keep them running. You'll shorten their lifespans instead of prolonging them.
 
TheWheelMan said:
A lot of people are still using information that was true of the older rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries today actually get better the more you charge them early on in their lifespan, and charging doesn't shorten their lifespans. They do have a limited number of times you can charge them, I believe (several hundred or several thousand), so you may not want to charge them when it's really not necessary just as not to waste a charge cycle.

They do say, however, that you might want to drain the iPad battery once a month to calibrate the battery so that the meter remains accurate. But modern batteries do not, and should not, be drained regularly to keep them running. You'll shorten their lifespans instead of prolonging them.
Click to expand...

The battery is rated for 1,000 charge cycles, at which point the battery will drop to 80% of its initial capacity. A charge cycle is defined as a full charge, so depleting it by 10% and then charging it back up is not a full charge cycle.
 
Thanks a lot.

Seems it is safe :)

I feel it was harsh to tell me to stop spreading misinformation as I was only asking the question :confused:
 
xraytech said:
This is untrue about the batteries used in the iPad. You always want to top off. Draining will shorten the service life of the batteries.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the correction.

I've been doing this and was told in a recent thread I was doing it wrong.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back