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Home > iPod Battery Guide
The iPod Battery - A Guide
Is the iPod Battery faulty?
So your iPod is misbehaving and someone has told you its the battery. Here are a few simple tests before you send it back to Apple(TM) or, God forbid, take a screwdriver to it. We look at the best ways to treat your beloved iPod to ensure you get the most out of its little Li-ion (Lithium ion) battery and reveal a few truths about its make-up, its drawbacks and estimate its lifespan.
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| The iPod Battery - A Guide |
Lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries.
A brief introduction to modern battery technology.
Ok, I dont want to bore you. In fact, only the First Generation iPod had a lithium polymer type of battery. All other iPods since had lithium ion. Why did Apple change so early on to lithium ion? Well, Very low profile batteries resembling the profile of a credit card are feasible with this kind of battery but higher cost and lower energy density and decreased cycle (recharge) count compared to lithium-ion. Another kick in the pants is that lithium polymer batteries have no standard sizes. Most cells are produced for high volume consumer markets. All in, your lookig at a higher cost-to-energy ratio than lithium-ion.
However, they are lightweight (gelled electrolytes enable simplified packaging by eliminating the metal shell) and offer improved safety (more resistant to overcharge less chance for electrolyte leakage).
The energy density of lithium-ion is typically twice that of the standard nickel-cadmium. There is potential for higher energy densities. The load characteristics are reasonably good and behave similarly to nickel-cadmium in terms of discharge. The high cell voltage of 3.6 volts (the iPods default voltage!) allows battery pack designs with only one cell. There is no memory and no scheduled cycling is required to prolong the battery's life. In addition, the self-discharge is less than half compared to nickel-cadmium, making lithium-ion well suited for modern fuel gauge applications. lithium-ion cells cause little harm when disposed.
Despite its overall advantages, lithium-ion has its drawbacks. It is fragile and requires a protection circuit to maintain safe operation. Built into each pack, the protection circuit limits the peak voltage of each cell during charge and prevents the cell voltage from dropping too low on discharge. In addition, the cell temperature is monitored to prevent temperature extremes. The maximum charge and discharge current on most packs are is limited to between 1C and 2C. With these precautions in place, the possibility of metallic lithium plating occurring due to overcharge is virtually eliminated.
Aging causes lithium-ion batteries to lose their longevity and is a concern for many manufacturers who are constantly improving lithium-ion cells. New and enhanced chemical combinations are introduced every six months or so. With such rapid progress, it is difficult to assess how well the revised battery will age.
So is the battery faulty?
Don't let the battery meter fool you!
Every time you charge the battery, the meter can potentially get further out of calibration. This is usually a minor glitch, but in some cases, the meter can see the battery as 'dead' and it will shut down your iPod after a small amount of playing time. We have already learned that Lithium ion batteries do not like to run all the way down (protection circuit kicks in), so the iPod will switch off. The battery warning symbol shows before this happens.
The first thing to try is re-calibrating the battery meter. This will not give a meter that will tell you at a glance the difference between two hours and three hours playtime remaining (it was never designed to do that!), but it may fix the problem. Try to run the iPod until it shuts down. Recharge fully, using the AC power adapter (not a USB or Firewire port). Then do not recharge until the iPod shuts down due to low battery again. Don't leave the iPod running for hours, just use it normally with no "top-up" charges!
You could also try resetting your iPod and/or restoring it. Then repeat the full cycle of discharge and recharge. If your going to restore your iPod you will lose the music on it until you connect it back up to iTunes and it syncs with your computer.
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