Dead Battery iPod + AAs = :D ?

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:54 pm

Quick questions about iPods and their batteries. I've wanted an MP3 player for a while, but a lot of the miscellaneous ones at the store don't appeal to me, or they're pretty cheap looking. Plus video playback would be nice... The idea is to buy an iPod with a dead battery off eBay and fit it with a couple AAs. (I have a crapload of 2650 mAh rechargeable NiMh AAs.) An iPod Video would be the best idea, but a Micro wouldn't be bad either. (iPod Linux

)

As you've noticed, the depth of the case doesn't really matter to me much. The convenience of normal batteries, combined with the flexibility of the hardware, is what I'm interested in. (Besides a little extra bulk never hurt anyone, except maybe the Subway guy.)

Apparently Newer Technology has a 2100 mAh replacement iPod battery, which is touted as "high capacity". Does this apply to newer models? (it says it runs on 3.someodd volts) There's a picture ,a href="http://playlistmag.com/secrets/2006/04/ ... p">here</a> that shows a 3 volt, 750 mAh battery. Is that about stock?
http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item. ... IPOD210012

Basically, I need to know 3 things:
1. How much voltage does the iPod need to function? 3.6 to 3.7 volts. Should run fine off 3 1.2v rechargeable AAs.
2. How much current does the stock battery hold, and how long does it last on average? Stock: roughly 800mAh. Replacement: 800-1200 mAh. Bvattery life still unknown.
3. Is this a good idea?

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/30G-Apple-iPod-for- ... em">Here's an example from eBay.</a> It gets "very hot very quickly" when plugged inthrough Firewire, and USB sync doesn't work. (Darnit.) Sounds like the battery is kaput, but would USB hotsyncing work?

Thanks everyone!

Ari · Post by **Ari** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:47 pm

I don't know much of anything about ipods, but it should work on 3 rechargable AAs. I'm geussing it uses 3.6 volts and it'll probably work down to about 3 and up to 4. But it sounds like a good idea. Somebody did that with the PSP (using alkaline AAAs) and it worked fine.

gamer2 · Post by **gamer2** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:19 pm

I wish i would have know about this when my IPOD battery died and I sent it to apple to get it fixed.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:33 pm

Hmm, could the same be done with PSP?
I think that charging and battery state wouldn't be possible for PSP or iPod with the AA's, but then you could just have extra batteries and swap them until you can get to a AA charger.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:34 pm

vskid wrote:Hmm, could the same be done with PSP?
I think that charging and battery state wouldn't be possible for PSP or iPod with the AA's, but then you could just have extra batteries and swap them until you can get to a AA charger.

http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=14053

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:47 pm

How about this one?

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/BROKEN-30-gig-5th-g ... Item">Link He come to town...</a>

They say the motherboard is "bad" but it works perfectly with the new screen installed. (They bent a battery pin while swapping the screen out.)

I haven't really bought anything in a long time and am itching for a couple new toys.

(The HTPC is just one thing,)

I'll probably look for a 3rd or 4th gen, or a Micro. maybe a mini. Preferably not too expensive. (Hmm I wonder if the people at CrapUSA or Best Buy will give me a broken one... I know it's a long shot.)

Do I have to put the music on through iTunes, or can I just dump MP3s onto it in Disk mode?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:19 pm

bicostp wrote:Do I have to put the music on through iTunes, or can I just dump MP3s onto it in Disk mode?

You need iTunes, unless you install rockbox on the iPod. And whats an iPod micro?

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:46 pm

Nano, whatever.

I already have iTunes installed (mainly for the cheap music), so that's not a problem. But dumping MP3s onto it is less of a pain in the butt.

Sir Games-A-Lot · Post by **Sir Games-A-Lot** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:46 pm

Two thoughts:

1: There are actually numerous "iPod battery Extenders" that give the 'pod power from an external battery through the 5v line on the USB connector, as if it were connected to a computer. I have no idea if these will work with the internal battery dead or not present, if they do, I suppose it might be possible to use 4 rechargeable's to make 4.8v and apply it to the right pins.

2. If you connect rechargeable AA's directly to the battery contacts, I have heard that some devices are highly dependant on their orginial battery's discharge characteristics.

Mageslayer · Post by **Mageslayer** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:48 pm

All I can tell you myself is that the battery life is very varied depending on your settings. Having the backlight permanently on absolutely kills your battery life. Before I realized that was the problem, I sent one iPod back due to the fact that I got less than 4 hours of continuous play out of it, only to find that the new one was the same way. Also the fact that my volume never slides any lower than full may or may not have contributed to that low battery life (my stepfather said that the louder you listen to it, the harder the internal amp has to work to power it. That makes sense, but he tends to be wrong sometimes). After turning the backlight to the shortest timer, I got a couple of days out of it. That wasn't continuous, but I dunno exactly how long it lasts, merely that it lasts a lot longer.

nitro2k01 · Post by **nitro2k01** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:57 pm

http://www.ladyada.net/make/index.html
Look at MintyBoost and MintyMP3.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:58 pm

Sir Games-A-Lot wrote:use 4 rechargeable's to make 4.8v and apply it to the right pins.

Do you think the 4.8v would be enough? And what about them having a slightly higher voltage when fully charged/ the voltage drop when discharging?

sgtpepper · Post by **sgtpepper** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:04 pm

bicostp wrote:How about this one?

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/BROKEN-30-gig-5th-g ... Item">Link He come to town...</a>

Lol Rabbit Joint...

Anyway, I think that sounds like a promising auction, but another idea would be to mount a camera battery connector on the back. You could make a mounting bracket for a cheap battery off of Power101 like a Canon NB-1LH that sells for $0.51 (I bought 5 of them 2 weeks ago!). The batteries are rated at 3.7v and 1200 mAh, so they would be perfect for iPod use!

Just one my crazed ideas I thought I'd throw out there...

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:04 pm

I'd rather not make an external battery pack because:

1. More stuff to haul around and juggle
2. Wasted energy (regulators and stuff)
3. The internal battery is dead anyways, so why not replace it?
4. Everybody else has done that already.

3 1.2v 2650mAh AAs will last a few times longer than the stock units. (From what I gather they're between 500 and 900 mAh, less than AAAs.) I figure a semi-custom back plate with a battery door will allow me to pop in some fresh AAs when the current ones get run down.

My only concern is charging. When it's plugged into the computer through USB, does the iPod trickle-charge its batteries? Can you still transfer files between it and the PC with a dead battery, or no battery at all? I just want to clear this up before spending money on something broken off eBay.

This website has been helpful; they have mAh and voltage ratings for all the normal iPod models and the Mini. (They don't service the nano or Shuffle lines.)
http://www.ipodjuice.com

EDIT: According to them the 3g units don't charge via USB:

Please note that 3rd Generation iPods will not charge through your USB port, only via FireWire. The issue stems from the USB cable itself, since a third generation iPod requires a 12v charge, and the USB cable can only carry a 5v charge.

Maybe I should look at those...

sgtpepper · Post by **sgtpepper** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:41 pm

sgtpepper wrote: Just one my crazed ideas I thought I'd throw out there...

Just thought of an even more crazed idea! So I took pictures to illustrate

First, here is a 4th gen iPod without the back casing, and (dead) hard drive visible.

Second, with the hard drive removed you can see the stock battery.

Third, you see the stock battery replaced with a Canon NB-1LH that has a similar, albeit thicker, footprint.

Fourth, (here's the twist) you see a CF card in place of the HD. The CF card is filling the place of what would be a Microdrive if I had one, but the point is you could use a smaller HD equivilant, leaving more room for battery.

The plan is a bit sketchy, but would be especially cool if you were to use a high capacity CF card in place of the HD, therefor creating a skipless iPod with killer battery life! (not the nano...)

From here the only thing missing is whether you would create a custom back casing, or become skilled at the ways of "guitar picking" the back case.