6th Gen Nano Battery Life

Question

Level 1

5 points

6th Gen Nano Battery Life

How much run time are you getting with your 6th Gen Nano?
The tech specs state "up to 24 hours of play time."
I'm getting less than 6 hours. I charge overnight and listen to podcasts at 1.5x speed. The screen display is off most of this time. I may pause it every 30 min or so, but the screen is "off" the vast majority of time.
The unit is about a week old and only cycled 3 times.
Thanks,
Joe

PowerMac G5 Dual 2.7, MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 2, 2010 8:51 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

T1Stuff

Level 1

8 points

Dec 22, 2010 10:50 AM in response to jttravis

I thought I had a defective batter as well, but I was wrong. I have been using the ipod throughout the day, starting in the Am with a full charge. At the end of the day, using it on and off, it would be about 20% or less. My thought was that I was probably only using it maybe 6 or 7 hours a day and that this is not what apple advertised. So I thought Id put it to the test. I was thinking that because I was changing albums by hand (using the LCD), checking song names occasionally, maybe using the lcd was a problem and draining the battery. So I looped a playlist and plugged it into my headphones and didn't touch it except for a couple times to quickly check the batter meter. It Gave up and quit at 16 hours. I thought for sure that I had a defective unit as thats 8 hours short of the 24 hours claimed. After reading an apple doc on how to extend battery life on Ipods, It mentioned that Turning off the EQ would extend the batter life. I also had another thought. The headphones I use are more DJ style and much larger. perhaps it takes more battery life to drive these things. So I Plugged in the Stock Apple Headphones and hit the reset button on the Ipod, which turned off the EQ and put the Ipod back to factory spec. After a re-run of the test, I got 31 hours and 15 minutes. This is a huge difference. So I guess My ipod is OK,and learned that the headphones I use, the abundant use of the interface screen, and using an EQ setting has a huge impact on batter life. Now I know, Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Dec 2, 2010 10:54 AM in response to jttravis

Not eady to say. I have my iPod nano almost a week now... And I have to say, it's kind of a 'short' battery life.

I have leaved it on playing while it was in my bag though, so now I'm always plug my earbuds out while stored away.

Another fact is that the battery meter is changing all the time... Sometimes it's at 25%, next I turn it on it saying 50%... Weird...

I have charged it already 2 times this week, and I have certainly NOT listened 24 hours music on my iPod.

I'll wait some more before I take conclusions, because it's a really nice product. Only the battery is a bit stange... You can't turn it off completely, it's draining battery while it's off.
Hopefully it gets better with my iPod, otherwise I will probably return it for a new one or try to live with it.

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Answer 3

Dec 10, 2010 2:52 PM in response to mariocali07

Go to settings and select reset. This puts it back at shipping settings.

Then fully charge it. You should get about 24 hours if all you do is playback tracks. Doing radio or other stuff will reduce your battery life.

i

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Answer 4

Dec 10, 2010 8:44 PM in response to iPod Whisperer

It's kinda strange how it can range from 24 hours to 4 hours...hmmmm, maybe you should have made your product a tad bigger, apple, so you could fit an appropriately sized battery in there. I wouldn't have minded..you could've even made the screen widescreen and added video playback then! Or I guess that for the nano 7g..

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Answer 5

rso544

Level 1

9 points

Dec 11, 2010 9:45 PM in response to jttravis

I am getting terrible battery life. I use it to run and invariably I like to change tracks and use the clock stopwatch and lap timer. 2 runs of 35 minutes drained the battery to zero.

I see the battery run down in real time when I swipe a few screens across. For example, the battery indicator will be at 3/4 or 4/5 (as much as I can tell), and then I swipe a few screens and then it's below half.

This is a mess. It's 24 hours if you scrupulously avoid having any use of the touch interface.

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Answer 6

deggie

Level 10

167,537 points

Dec 11, 2010 11:00 PM in response to rso544

Even touching the screen, changing tracks, using the timer, etc. that is way too fast for the battery to run down. I would get it serviced if it were me. Some other people would just complain about it and do nothing.

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Answer 7

arecore

Level 1

0 points

Dec 13, 2010 6:15 PM in response to deggie

I returned the 1st 6gen nano that I purchased in October due to out of spec battery life (16hrs). I read somewhere that there are defective batteries being used on some batches, so I gave it a go on a second 6gen nano. This unit has given me 26 hrs of play back and it is still going. Bar graph shows about 10% remaining after 26 hrs.

Before I began run time test I;
(1) unpacked (new)
(2) drained the battery through Snowfox diagnostic menu
(3) Registered, sync'ed, and charged on a PC for 3 hrs 15 min.
(4) plugged in a head phone and started playback
(5) still playing after 26 hrs.....

I'm not certain if it was the "defective battery" on the 1st unit or the fact I conditioned the battery before any use on the second unit. I did not condition the battery on the 1st unit. But hey, I'm happy with the 2nd unit so far.

I'll let it play until it shuts down, then fully charge the unit and let the unit sit for 34 hrs to see the battery drain (before 36 hr shut down)

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Answer 8

Dec 13, 2010 7:25 PM in response to jttravis

On sundays I work a 6 hour shift. On the drive to work (~20 mins) I throw it on shuffle. when I get to work, I plug it into the stereo and play my own music. I usually hand pick songs, unless it's a good album. After the shift, I plug it back into the car and shuffle on the way home. When I am home I check it, the nano is sitting around 10 percent. Thats pretty lackluster if you ask me. I don't have a defective battery, if I let it sit overnight it doesn't drain, if I play without any feedback I get long times.

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Answer 9

arecore

Level 1

0 points

Dec 15, 2010 12:01 PM in response to arecore

Finished the "run time" test.

At 50% volume the 2nd unit;

* warned (spoke) "low battery" at 29 hrs and a change
* then shut off at 31 hrs and a change.

I then recharged the unit for 3 hrs and let it sit 28 hrs => no noticeable change in battery bar graph.

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Answer 10

Dec 22, 2010 11:08 AM in response to T1Stuff

The batteries are not defective, they are just under powered. My old Zen which had a claimed battery life of 25 hours would last days in my car without needing a charge. A little more than a week actually. And it was messed up (return to the store, instead of turfing it I took it). Basically the screen drivers were messed up, and the screen wouldn't sleep and it was stuck at 100% brightness. And yet it still outlasted my nano which gets a max of 2 or 3 days in the car.

Pretty much, I feel chinced by Apple, kinda like how I feel chinced by cheap chinese products, except I'm spending a lot less on those.

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Answer 11

Dec 31, 2010 8:17 AM in response to T1Stuff

Its a very small unit with an obviously small battery. I didn't expect it to play non-stop for days before needing a charge. I have not tested it but got it for christmas, put one disc on it and put it to sleep with the headphones plugged in and didn't touch it for 4 or 5 days. It did draw power (manual states that it will do so) but still had a charge. You can shut it off by pressing all three buttons, waiting for the software screen and hitting the sleep button again butyou will have to reset the clock when you turn it on. I can understand the design/mechanics because of the size and the amountof functions it has. What I don't understand is why does it have to be in sleep mode for 36 hours before it shuts off. No one is going to need a quick response for that long a period of time. Maybe the next software upgrade could shorten the sleep mode to 4 or 6 hours to preserve battery life. I have no problem waiting an extra 15 seconds for the unit to boot up. Hear that Steve Jobs?

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Answer 12

Dec 6, 2010 9:29 PM in response to jttravis

i have the same problem i get 4.1/2 hours of music playback and i have only had this ipod for 2 days i don`t know the people in apple chat say to call the apple care center

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Answer 13

Dec 17, 2010 1:21 PM in response to rso544

I don't see this kind of behavior at all. Perhaps you should call service or exchange it.

i

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Answer 14

rso544

Level 1

9 points

Dec 31, 2010 3:03 AM in response to deggie

Returned it - they sent it back to me. Totally pointless endeavor.

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