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Zoom · Sep 22, 2004, 03:27 PM

My iPod (3G 40GB) has lately been having some weird battery meter readings. I did a search on this and got tons of hits. I didn't have time to read them all. If this is a common problem, please point me to a link.

The battery meter doesn't read full (all black) when fully charged, it's mabe 1/3 or 1/2. It'll come up a bit after playing it. After maybe an hour or two, it goes to zero (all white/empty)... but the iPod keeps playing. (It must have been going at least a half hour so far, and it's still going.)

I'm guessing the battery meter is actually wrong. Anyone else see this? I think I'm up to date on the iPod firmware, whatever that is.

FWIW, this iPod is less than a year old.

Lancer409 · Sep 22, 2004, 08:18 PM

i think the battery meter lags a bit, i am not sure myself. when fully charged, i pulled it off the plug, and it looked like it was empty .. i was upset. so i packed the charger with me to work to charge it there. but when i got to work and looked at the display, i saw it was full... *shrug*

Ruahrc · Sep 22, 2004, 09:19 PM

Also I think it helps to perodically calibrate the battery voltage meter (like once a month) by resetting the ipod while it is connected to the AC adapter. That way the ipod knows what voltage is "full" and will charge it all the way.

Yeah it will lag a little too, I think if it has been off for a while then you put sudden load on it (spinning up the HD to play a song) the voltage will drop more than usual and then in the next few minutes rise back to normal levels.

Ruahrc

Zoom · Sep 22, 2004, 09:44 PM

Originally posted by Ruahrc:
Also I think it helps to perodically calibrate the battery voltage meter (like once a month) by resetting the ipod while it is connected to the AC adapter. That way the ipod knows what voltage is "full" and will charge it all the way.

Please explain this process. How do you reset it? Do you reset it when it's completely charged?

Can anyone else vouch for this?

Zoom · Sep 22, 2004, 09:46 PM

One more: has anyone tried out the NewerTech battery? What the "mAH" rating on the battery that comes with the 3G from Apple? Seems like a good deal to me.

Secret__Police · Sep 23, 2004, 01:19 AM

Originally posted by Zoom:
One more: has anyone tried out the NewerTech battery? What the "mAH" rating on the battery that comes with the 3G from Apple? Seems like a good deal to me.

Just purchased one of those new batteries, should arrive Thursday or Friday for my 3G iPod.
$25.99 plus tax and shipping.

Ruahrc · Sep 23, 2004, 02:05 AM

To reset the iPod just press the menu button and the play/pause button simultaneously and hold for a few seconds. At least that is how it goes on the 2G which I have. It *should* be the same for 3G and 4G iPods too.

I guess it doesn't need to be charged, but putting it on the AC adapter when it's dead and doing a reset right then might not be the best either. Basically when you plug the iPod into the AC adapter the battery gets charged at 4.2V. So when it's completely full the battery will deliver 4.2V, and thus you want the voltmeter in the ipod to read 4.2V when the battery is full. If you plug a dead iPod in the voltage might not be 4.2V right away, it will take a little while to ramp up. Leave it be for say 5-10 mins and then it should be alright. I guess the same could be applied to a partially charged battery but the time would be less. If you want to be safe then just wait a few minutes and then do the reset.

Over time when the ipod is charged and discharged in normal use, the voltmeter can lose its calibration slightly, and thus incorrect charge levels are reported. You just merely have to reset it back to a known reference (the voltage supplied by the AC adapter) and it should get back on track.

Ruahrc

PS those NewerTech batteries look very interesting indeed! Very cheap too! The last I remember, ipodbattery.com was selling stock capacity batteries for $50! Just think what one of those increased capacity batteries would do in a 4G ipod (which has the same capacity battery as the 3G yet superior battery life)

Zoom · Sep 23, 2004, 11:25 AM

Resetting the iPod seemed to help! I let it charge all night on my Mac. In the morning it said "charged". Without unplugging it, I reset it (per your instructions). After that, it said "charging..." and kept charging for almost an hour. I had to stop it, unfortunately, because I was off to work (and I gotta have my iPod at work), but at that point the battery meter was very nearly at 100%. And so far today it's acting normally.

Thanks! I'll report back if anything else interesting happens.