When to Charge your iPad?

[5er driver]

5er driver: Not true for the iPads (and other Li-Ion) batteries... Gabriel1's description is correct.

What's not true?

 

[Gabriel1]

Slightly off topic but what is the effect on the battery if I charge it whilst using my ipad. Also is it possible to connect a usb extension lead to existing charging cable ?

There is no detrimental effect on your battery if you use your iPad whilst charging.

You can get longer charging leads but the longer they are the weaker the charging will get, there are limits when sending electricity down a cable but it's affected by many things, the actual make-up of the cable, the current being transmitted along the cable, etc (I don't have a clue what the etc might be!). So yes, it's possible but you may not get the results that you require.

The Archangel

 

[steftymo]

There is no detrimental effect on your battery if you use your iPad whilst charging.

You can get longer charging leads but the longer they are the weaker the charging will get, there are limits when sending electricity down a cable but it's affected by many things, the actual make-up of the cable, the current being transmitted along the cable, etc (I don't have a clue what the etc might be!). So yes, it's possible but you may not get the results that you require.

The Archangel

Thanks....I just thought that being the lazy so and so I am I could extend the charging cable so that I could sit on my sofa with my ipad plugged in to keep it fully charged. Do you know whether it is just an ordinary usb 2 cable?

 

[thewitt]

Slightly off topic but what is the effect on the battery if I charge it whilst using my ipad. Also is it possible to connect a usb extension lead to existing charging cable ?

You need to buy a high quality USB cable. Gold plated connectors. Heavy gauge wire. This will limit the current loss.

 

[armoredsaint]

Actually there is no guidance that says anything about 40% and 100%. There are no fixed guidelines, check out this link Apple - Batteries

The Archangel

thanks - i was use to the guidelines on my MBP to re-cal, but wasn't sure if it applied to the ipad

 

[mikeswife]

I always plugged my Toshiba laptop in while using it. This way it stayed charged because otherwise if I plugged it in to charge by itself I might forget about it. With all of our storms in th esouth I didn't want to take a chance of a power surge or lightening strike or just getting the machine hot. As you can tell I'm not an expert on electrical issues. I bought my laptop in 2006 & it has been going strong for years though, showing a high battery indicator. Would this be the wrong thing to do w/ my 1st IPAD?

 

[Gabriel1]

I always plugged my Toshiba laptop in while using it. This way it stayed charged because otherwise if I plugged it in to charge by itself I might forget about it. With all of our storms in th esouth I didn't want to take a chance of a power surge or lightening strike or just getting the machine hot. As you can tell I'm not an expert on electrical issues. I bought my laptop in 2006 & it has been going strong for years though, showing a high battery indicator. Would this be the wrong thing to do w/ my 1st IPAD?

You have no issues with charging your iPad like that, it has no memory effect, these type of batteries actually like charging little and often.

The Archangel

 

[raveneap]

I trust that the charger that comes with the ipad (3) is a so called "Smart Charger" and can be kept plugged in for extended periods of time with no ill effects to the ipad?

 

[Skull One]

LOL.... Smart Chargers.

The charger doesn't dictate the charge on the iPad, the iPad does.

You want to know how you can prove that? Try hooking an iPad to a USB 2 port on a PC. The iPad looks at the power source and knows it isn't strong enough to create a charge that will be more than the drain of actually using the device.

BTW, the reason you don't want a charge that low coming in while using it? Because you can create too much heat and cause early anode plating.

 

[Gabriel1]

LOL.... Smart Chargers.

The charger doesn't dictate the charge on the iPad, the iPad does.

That is probably my error, I looked back through this thread and I made that description, whereas yes, it's the charging circuitry in the iPad that does the clever stuff.

The Archangel

 

[beesknees]

We lose power quite often so we keep ours on the charger when not in use.

On another note I initially thought this was a joke thread because I thought it said change instead of charge.

 

[Skull One]

That is probably my error, I looked back through this thread and I made that description, whereas yes, it's the charging circuitry in the iPad that does the clever stuff.

The Archangel

No biggie. I decided to read the whole thread and I can see no one answered your one question about charging at or before the battery hits 40%.

The technical reason is due to stage 1 charging and duration. While at stage one, which usually lasts to 85%, you are charging at the max rate. So lets assign some bogus numbers for the iPad. 1 minute = 1% charge during Stage 1. The issue is based on how much heat is involved with the amperage flowing into the device. IE is your ambient temp above 85 F (30 C) or is the device in use at the time of the charging? As the battery temp gets above 90 F (32 C) you can introduce plating on the anode. Today's modern Lithium-Ion batteries are based around on of three chemical structures. Lets use an avg of 100 F (38 C) that very very minor plating can occur and it increases as you go towards 140 F (60 C). You don't want to go above 140 F (60 C) because bad things can happen. So if you start charging at 1% you have 84 minutes of charging which means you have 84 minutes to heat soak the battery. Where as where you start with a 40% or higher charge, then you only spend 45 or less in Stage 1 charging. This cuts your ability to generate the "bad heat" range in half. Possible making it impossible to ever reach it. Which is a good thing for a 300 cycle battery.

Hopefully that explains why a lot of companies and people suggest 40% as a good place to start charging.

 

[Gabriel1]

Ok, that's good info (pretends to understand the technical stuff!), is the ambient temperature of the iPad's location a factor?

The Archangel

 

[beesknees]

Good info. Since you seem to be the battery expert can you tell me what I can do to prevent my Harmony One remote from having another bloated battery? I am pretty faithful to put it back on the charger at the end of the evening and I think it has only been completely dead a couple of times. I keep it pretty cool in my house but the way it sits in the cradle doesn't allow for much distribution of the heat.

I changed it a couple of months ago when I realized it couldn't even keep a charge for 7 hours and it was swollen in size. I find that to be a little unnerving.

Sorry for the minor hijack.

 

[Skull One]

Ok, that's good info (pretends to understand the technical stuff!), is the ambient temperature of the iPad's location a factor?

The Archangel

Temperature both ambient and internally to the device are key to the heat issue that can cause plating of the anode during charging. The bigger the devices battery, the more critical the ambient temp can be when it comes to heat dissipation. So yeah, an iPad temp should be watched. If it gets above 120 F ( 49 C) I would let it cool off before charging it.

A lot of Android users had issues with the first dual cores in the summer with cases on. They would come in from outside and the phone would still be at 90 F to 100 F (32 C to 38 C) and then throw the phone on the charger. Some of the phones would heat up to the point of doing a safety reboot because the case trapped the heat.