Battery Maintenance

[TFarmer]

Just got an iPad Monday. Should I let the battery run down before charging in or can I top it off each night? Which way will make it last longer and hold its charge longer down the road?

 

[pallentx]

The last thing I read about Li Ion batteries said that the worst thing you can do for them is to keep them at 100% all the time. You dont need to drain them, in fact draining them completely can reduce life. They do recommend draining them once a month or so, however, because it resets the mechanism that tells you how much power you have left in your battery.

 

[DM51]

The battery in the iPad is a Lithium Polymer (LiPo) Lithium Ion battery, using Lithium Cobalt (LiCo) chemistry. These batteries have no memory effect and can be topped up as often as you like. You will not decrease battery life by doing so.

The battery will have ~1,000 charge/discharge cycles in its life, but partial charge/discharges do not count as full cycles, so in practice you may well be able to recharge it >2,000 times, i.e. every day for 6+ years. That's about as long as modern LiIon/LiPo batteries are likely to last anyway, so you need have no fear of causing a problem with daily recharging.

These batteries are better kept topped up rather than empty. If you do happen to run the battery down to empty, this won't damage it as long as you recharge it as soon as possible afterwards.

If you need to store the iPad for an extended period (say 1 month) do so with the battery indicator between 50-80% full.

You'll know if you start getting a problem with the battery - it will no longer hold a full charge. The state-of-charge indicator will drop within ~30 minutes of charging, even when the iPad is switched off. When it drops from 100% to 80% in 30 mins unused, its useful life is effectively over. By that stage you should notice the iPad overheating while charging, which is not a good sign. But that is a long way off for all of us...

 

[Lost1592]

Have a read of the apple website for the batteries (can't post link until I get my post count up haha, but just google "iPad battery apple" and it will come up)

Just try to keep the temperature around room (21C) and don't physically damage it. Don't leave it on charge for more than 4 hours at most (usual charging time from about 8%) and don't leave it dead for days on end.

The whole myth about having to run the battery down before charging doesn't apply to the iPad. It's for the previous generation. Like the old mobile phones and stuff. Not quite sure of the names or chemicals that they used. The iPad does not suffer from a memory battery issue which I would find very annoying if it did.

Just follow apples tips and advice and you should get along fine. Like pallentx said "draining them down once a month" (100% to dead null) will let the iPads system calibrate for any changes to the battery state and help you get a more accurate reading from the meter.

It will charge faster if you don't use it while charging. Seems obvious but it's tempting. It's much better than a laptop on your bed haha (which I'm totally not doing at the same time)

 

[Bluesjam]

I get two evenings easy from one charge, if it's above 60% I go another day.

 

[Hasty]

Thanks for the info Lost.

 

[cmalinowski]

I get two evenings easy from one charge, if it's above 60% I go another day.

Wow, I can go all weekend for the most part (day and night). Granted, that's not continuous use, but picking it up all the time and checking mail and such. Playing games. I do have my brightness set to zero--which seems to start at 50% for some reason. But so far, my battery has been stellar.

 

[TFarmer]

Lost, I do not see anywhere where it says not to charge for more than 4 hours. Can you point me to where it says that? Thanks.

 

[Lost1592]

trip

That's not an apple thing Im just going by experience from my last laptop. I charged that baby for hours and hours and it eventually just died. Like 10 mins bat life haha. I don't think it would hurt to have it on longer, it's just I prefer to keep charge times to a minimum. Stops parts heating up as well.

Again I doubt it would hurt if u need to keep it on longer.

 

[kierandill]

Another factoid I've read about LiIon batteries is they lose approx 10% capacity per year, whether you use them daily or they are sitting in a package on a store shelf.
i.e., the battery that lasts 10 hours new will only last 9 hours a year later, and so on.

 

[pallentx]

Another factoid I've read about LiIon batteries is they lose approx 10% capacity per year, whether you use them daily or they are sitting in a package on a store shelf.
i.e., the battery that lasts 10 hours new will only last 9 hours a year later, and so on.

yep, I have read that as well. Also to clarify, the issue with keeping them at full charge has nothing to do with memory like the old NiCd batteries. Ill see if I can find the article again. Its something about the battery staying at 100% - like people who keep their laptops plugged into docking stations all the time. I dont remember if its heat or some chemical breakdown that happens. You don't develop a memory, but the overall life of the battery decreases.

 

[Hasty]

The great thing is that as computer users we are used to an upgrade cycle of every couple of years. I will certainly be buying the next version of the iPad even though I don't care about a camera, so battery life won't be a priority.

 

[Demandarin]

Hands down, the ipad has the best battery life of any electronic device this size and caliber. Im still not used to it yet. Lol. I always wanna plug it up to the charger, by habit. Im constantly usimg this for everything i can and battery still goes. Apple definitely scored big in this department. Unbelievable. People be amazed whn they hear how long the battery life is. Especially compared to laptops. Laptop needs at least 3 charges to keep up with our 1 charge. ;-). Saves time n they say time is money.

 

[STEVEMS2305]

Everyone has an opinion BUT this is from APPLE:

Use Your iPad Regularly

For proper reporting of the battery’s state of charge, be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).

 

[Sonny Burnett]

Just got an iPad Monday. Should I let the battery run down before charging in or can I top it off each night? Which way will make it last longer and hold its charge longer down the road?

The standard procedure is to run the battery down to 20% before recharging it and allow it to go to zero once a month.