When do you usually charge your iPod? Is it whenever you see the red light or do you still wait until your iPod is fully drained? Is it OK to leave it plugged over night? Or is it better to unplug it as soon as the light goes green? What do you think? 🙂
iPod shuffle
These devices contain lithium ion batteries and so should be drained to 0% and charged all the way to 100% once a month (a full cycle) so that it can reset. Otherwise it is ok to charge from any percentage and overnight charging is fine as well because the batteries go on standby mode when fully charged.
However, try not to use your device a lot while it is charging as it can warm up, decreasing battery life. Also keep the device out of the sun and hot areas e.g. Car.
The previous post contains some incorrect information. Apple no longer recommends a complete power cycle. The purpose of that was to recalibrate the battery sensor. It had no effect on the battery itself. You should always avoid draining a lithium ion battery all the way to zero.
It's perfectly fine to use your device while it's charging.
Yes, it's perfectly find to leave it plugged in overnight.
See Apple's thoughts on the matter:
Thank you for your comments and the link! How long do you think can iPod lifespan be if one would play it for about 5 hours daily? About a year maybe? 😀
The lifespan of the iPod? Or the lifespan of the iPod battery? The battery can be replaced. I believe that the battery is supposed to maintain at least 80% capacity for 400 charge cycles.
YuTea wrote:
Thank you for your comments and the link! How long do you think can iPod lifespan be if one would play it for about 5 hours daily? About a year maybe? 😀
The real question is how much battery is left after playing it for 5 hours a day? I'll make a guess, and say 50%. So if you charge it every day from 50% to 100% that counts as a half a charge cycle. At that rate the battery might need to be replaced after 800 days, or a little over 2 years. However, if it's only down to 75% after 5 hours of use the battery would last 4 years.
In my experience Apple's batteries last a lot longer than the "official" life of 400 full charge cycles, so it would probably do better than these figures.
For example, I have a 10 year old iPod Classic that still works just fine, and two 7 year old classics that are still working.
Yes, I ment the battery. 400 cycles would mean more than a year for me I guess. That would be nice. I didn't know the battery can be replaced. I just looked up online and unfortunately as for today official representatives of Apple don't fix iPod Shuffle and don't sell its parts in Lithuania where I live. Is it easy to replace the battery by yourself?
That is very nice to hear! 2 years would be great, but 4 or more would be above all expectations! I will take care to charge the battery when it is half or less drained. Thank you so much for commenting.
Replacing a Shuffle battery is not a task for mere mortals; it requires microsoldering skills. The website that is the standard for self-repair (which I can't mention without my post being deleted) calls it "very difficult." But you can google for "replace ipod shuffle battery" and find it yourself.
I googled a little bit. I'm just a mere mortal, that's sure! 😀
Tips on charging the iPod battery
