Is it bad to leave the Ipod charging when it's full?

[MajinWu]

Recently I've been using my Ipod a lot lesser than usual, and it's been connected to the wall AC charger for almost 2 days. I was wondering if this is unhealthy for the unit or not.

 

[noname]

I shouldn't be a problem, I read somewhere that it stops charging once it gets to 100% I'll find out for sure tomorrow, it's getting late and i'm getting tired.

- Justin

or you can look for yourself at ipodlounge.com

 

[lindrone]

Don't worry about it, Lithium Ion battery like to have its charge full as often as possible. It's the constant complete drain cycle and recharge cycles that kills it. Unlike NiHM batteries, which is the other way around.

 

[Squibbles]

Quote:

Originally posted by lindrone Don't worry about it, Lithium Ion battery like to have its charge full as often as possible. It's the constant complete drain cycle and recharge cycles that kills it. Unlike NiHM batteries, which is the other way around.

Whoa!? Are you serious? So it's better to have it in the dock connected to an outlet when I'm not using it?

 

[Rizumu]

Sorta related question, is it better to wait until the iPod is fully discharged before recharging? Or is it okay to charge it whenever?

 

[lindrone]

Same thing, it's a bad idea to "condition" lithium ion battery as some people do with NiHM battery (and you *have* to with NiCD). This goes not only with the iPod, but just li-Ion in general, even laptops and cellphones are prone to the same thing. It's not a good idea to constantly run it all the way down before recharging it.

You don't have to leave it in the dock the whole time you're not using it. You can unplug it, it's just unnecessary to unplug it everytime it reaches "full charge" or worry about leaving it in too long.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Um, according to www.batteryuniversity.com:

Quote:

Should the battery be kept charged when not in use? Best to store at 40% charge. Cool storage is more important than state-of-charge. Do not fully deplete battery because Li-ion may turn off its protection circuit. Should I use up all battery energy before charging? No, it is better to recharge more often; avoid frequent full discharges.

 

[Rizumu]

Okay, good. I charge my iPod frequently, it never goes fully dead. Same with my laptop. But I always leave my cellphone on until it's as dead as it gets

Oh well, I don't care about it as much

 

[Squibbles]

Heh. I need to charge more often. I always let it discharge fully before charging again.

 

[davidtoc]

me too! i thought i'd be extending the battery life instead of hurting it by discharging completely before charging. ARGH!

 

[darkfusion]

It's impossible to overcharge the iPod isn't it? I thought all Li-ion's have some sort of built in circuitry that cuts out when it's full because if you overcharge a Li-ion it can explode or something

Anyway yeah, the best way to treat the iPod's battery is to keep it as full as you can, try not to let it run completly dead too often. Same applies for all units that use Li-ions, like the MZ-N10, MZ-E10 etc.

There's a whole bunch of information about the iPod's battery here: www.ipodbatteryfaq.com

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Actually, the thing Li-Ion batteries would love most is to sit around doing nothing at 40% charge. Their lifespan goes down when fully discharged, but also when they are continually at a full charge, especially when stored in a hot place. Make of that what you will

The good thing about my new Zen NX is that I can remove the battery when not using it so that I don't have to continuously bake it even after it has been fully charged

 

[aos]

My iPod (2nd gen) that is about 15 months old now is usually plugged in at least 2/3 of the day at home (and usually the whole weekend). I also use it for a few hours almost every day. Just recently I listened to it a whole day, certainly at least 8 hours, and haven't noticed any problem with battery dying prematurely (it could still go on after 8 hours).

 

[PYROTAK]

careful not to charge it before its empty too often or you will develop lith ion memory!

phew good thing my lith polymer on my iriver is fixed of that ailment

 

[lindrone]

Lithium ion batteries don't have memory problems.