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Proper Battery Care, Battery Life, and Options.

There seems to be a lot of concern about the battery life of the iTouch. A couple of quick things to point out working with the battery industry:

1. When you first get your iTouch charge it completely before doing anything! Even though you'll want to turn it on and play with it right away with any charge it was shipped with, you'll want to bypass that and charge it up fully right out of the box.

2. This step is critical. Once fully charged, play with, use, mess with the iTouch until it is fully discharged from your initial charge in step 1. DON'T recharge the battery until you have drained it completely after the first charge! Although many claim that new no memory Li-Ion batteries don't have memory problems and it shouldn't matter, it does. Trust me.

3. After fully discharging, charge it completely again. You should now have the battery set to give you maximum performance and rechargability for the life of the battery. Enjoy.

Also, here is a good alternative option for a portable power source from APC (as well as other markets). I have used mine with all of my iPods and Nanos and it works great. Best of all it can found in most Office Depots, Staples, or Office Max stores. No special ordering and waiting. If you are going on a long trip plug this in first. It will power the device saving the device battery for last. This will help prolong the life of your battery. Also, your USB iPod power cord plugs right in the top. You don't need any special adapters.

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspecindex.cfm?basesku=UPB10

Hope this helps.

Custom PC 4GB RAM/Dual Core 6400/Nvidia 7950GTX Graphics/2.5TB HD, Windows XP, Apple TV, 80GB Ipod Video, 30GB Ipod Video, 1GB Nano, 1GB Shuffle

Posted on Oct 3, 2007 6:39 AM

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9 replies

Oct 3, 2007 7:00 AM in response to Dadof2Girls

Thanks for the guide. Although I still have a bunch of questions:
When charging the iPod for the first time:
-When I first plug the iPod to my USB port, it will synch with my iTunes library automaticlly (I think so...), isn't that a problem?
-For how long do I need to charge it for the first time? (I usually charge for full 12 hours, some say 6 is enough though)

Oct 3, 2007 11:08 AM in response to QQQQQ

Having it sync to your library right off the bat isn't neccessarily bad. The key is just to leave it plugged into your power/USB source until the battery is fully charged. You can even mess with it while it's charging and it won't effect it as long as you leave it plugged in. The iTouch shows a battery icon on the screen that will go from red to yellow to green until the picture of the battery is completely green. Then you know it is fully charged. There is no need to leave it on past this point and any additional time just sitting there does not benefit the battery. It should charge in about 3-4 hours.

If you want to avoid the sync process you can select the option to only "manually" update your iPod in iTunes. This bypasses the automatic sync when you plug it in. Or plug your iTouch in using either a USB outlet on a seperate computer/laptop that doesn't have iTunes on it (if you have one). No iTunes, no sync. You can also buy the AC plug adapter that allows you to use the iTouch USB sync cable and an AC outlet. Almost any store has them, or has an accessory kit that includes one. This will also charge it without it syncing to your computer. I usually use the AC plug with my iPod/Touch if I just need to charge it and don't have any updates to my library that I want added or changed on the unit.

Hope this helps.

Oct 3, 2007 11:57 AM in response to Dadof2Girls

quote from dadofgirls
"Although many claim that new no memory Li-Ion batteries don't have memory problems and it shouldn't matter, it does. Trust me."

Sorry dude but I think you might be wrong with the above quote. these batteries work on a cycle system. If you use 80% of the battery and then charge it up to full you still need to use 20% to complete 1 cycle. 100% discharge = 1 cycle however you use it. 47% used then recharge needs anther 53% to be used for another cycle to be chalked up. Appe wont say how many cycles but its a **** of a lot. You are getting confused with old batteries, especially sonys.

Message was edited by: rebusuber

Oct 3, 2007 5:07 PM in response to rebusuber

rebusuber, there is accuracy to your statement. Dude, thanks for correctly pointing out the facts that Apples states on their battery life. However, I am referring to the first full charge and discharge out the box. Notice, I did not say everytime you charge the Ipod you have to do this process, but the very first charge and discharge. Subsequent charges and cycles after that to which you refer are supposedly on a cycle basis. Time will tell.

Also, there are wild claims by Apple of these batteries providing up to 22 hours of music playback. Uh huh. Most early users are claiming an average of 8 or less, even with settings set to lowest power usage. Some have reported only 4 hours. Each person can make the decision they want for themselves, and based on their own expertise or knowledge base. I choose to err on the side of caution and 1 full charge and full discharge to put my mind at ease is worth the extra time to do it, the peace of mind that I have done everything I can to make sure my battery gives me maximum performance, and for as long as possible.

Message was edited by: Dadof2Girls

Proper Battery Care, Battery Life, and Options.

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