nano 6th gen doesn't stay charged - recall replacement

My Nano 6G dies within about half a day if put in standby or deep sleep mode. I will be testing continuous play soon, but I did to a battery drain test in Diagnostic mode and it drains in about half an hour from full at ~250ma drain current (per the diagnostic screen info). That means it has the requisite ~100mah+ that the match the battery specs. The battery also charges at about 25ma in a reasonable time. All that seems to indicate the battery meets the spec. So there is either something else draining the battery in these faulty units, or the battery has some odd parasitic internal discharging going on when not under load. I do notice that just running the diagnostic screen and watching the battery status, there is ~95ma of drain which seems mighty high for just running the diagnostic screen...but maybe not.

Continuous play using Apple earbuds was about 4.5hours, as others have reported. I think that is about the same as if the Nano is in standby, and maybe even deep sleep. Regardless, in no circumstance can it last a full day (24 hours), so not too useful. Again, the battery looks like it is in spec through internal tests, but something is draining it. So replacing the battery may work, or it may also be useless. Probably won't try and just install this nano on a car stereo that will power/charge it whenever it needs to be used.

There is a screw close to the solder points for the battery leads. Upon taking mine apart, it was apparent that the factory was careless: the black lead on the underside was pinched by the screw with some wire strands poking through the insulation. It's likely the battery was shorting out. Class action?! 😑

I would say something is draining your battery. Do you keep it tethered to your PC? Because if you do, when your PC goes to sleep the USB port may actually drain the battery. Also check to see if your player is set to repeat songs or continuous play or some setting that may be on and you have not noticed. One thing I would do is hold down the power button until the Nano powers down. Then see if it drains. I suspect your not turning it off only pushing briefly on the power button which only puts it in standby.

appleG13,

My 6th Generation Nano has been doing this for the past year. I had it replaced 3 times and it keeps doing the same thing. The one I have now is a new replacement and it didnt even work when I got home and charged it! I am seriously ******, never bought an apple product before and never will after this! I have charged it in a different computer, wall socket, other people's computer just to make sure mine was not causing the problem. The computer will not even recognize the Nano being connected. My next choice is to switch out the cord. This really does suck, I bought this to run and workout with, but I maybe had a chance to do it with all of them 10-12 times since I bought the first one in early 2011.

I have a 6 gen that had same prob. Would charge it fully and power off. Charge would be gone in 24 hrs. Now won't even charge. Just gets really hot. Chestnut Street store guy's response, "It's out of warrenty. It'll be cheaper to buy a new one." This is all I get after 15 mos (plus 3 iphones, a MacBook Pro, an ipad and an appletv)???

I also got a replacement 6th generation that won't hold a charge. The battery on mine only lasts about 40 minutes. I wish I just had my original Ipod nano back. Apple has been completely unwilling to help and wants me to buy a new one.

Same here. I got a replacement 6th generation and it too won't hold a charge. Couldn't figure out why it kept dying so quickly. I tried everything from factory reset, using wall charger, making sure I actually turned it off, etc. To add to the frustration, I can't stand the little screen and the interface. The click wheel is much better, especially for running. I wish I never bothered with this replacement program. I have owned Apple products since 1989 and this is honestly the first Apple product I am really disappointed with.

I was able to fix this on my own ... the problem seemed to be that the nano thought it had less battery life than it actually did. There is a way to get to an OS screen (I can't remember how). But from there you can force the device to do a full battery drain. After that happens charge it fully before turning it on.

It completely fixed my problem.

... of course the "geniuses" didn't even suggest anything like that. They just told me to buy a new one.

Anyway here is a video showing how to do what I did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHQ6M3TXvw

Good luck!

Thanks ZuchinniOne! I tried this yesterday night and let the nano recharge overnight. It partially worked for me. The nano held a charge longer but definitely not the 20 hours of play stated on the Apple website. I was able to keep it "on" without playing any music for about 4 hours (mostly black screen but not turned off -- I reset it in iTunes with latest updates but did not transfer any music over yet before starting this). I would periodically check the battery every 30 minutes to an hour. A lot more than I was able to get before. Thanks again for this as it may at least make it through a workout now. Hopefully others having the same problem will find your solution.

We got the same problem, so how to fix it? I really need the solve immediately, important

Hi, I tried what ZuchinniOne did work prefect thank you I,m on nine hours and still playing. Why couldn't Apple tell us this?

Thank you, ZuchinniOne!

it really worked! here's link to similar video about how to get to diagnostics mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVdoBrVSK7k

i had problem with my ipod that it was not working without being pluged-in. otherwise it would just turn off.

then i first restored the ipod. as it would not work without contant energy supply, i've pluged it into a socket (not to the laptop as usual), after which went to the diagnostics mode, as shown in the video and set the battery drain.

after that fully charged it and now it works, hopefully! 🙂