iPod USB cable - does it charge the iPod

blorg

...or at least not run the battery down? I'm planning on getting one for my 3rd-gen 30gb iPod.

Basq

USB cable drains the battery when plugged in!

Pretty severely too.. Apple recommend keeping the iPod plugged into a charger when transferring songs.

tman

it doesn't charge the battery.
major pain in the ass tbh. you'll need to have the firewire end of the cable plugged into the charger if you want to transfer a substantial amount of tunes

blorg

Yeah, that is my experience with the Firewire cable when plugged into an unpowered Firewire port. The newer iPods are coming with just the USB cable however - do these not charge it?

Basq

You can only charge it using the Firewire cable.. not possible (as far as i know) with the USB cable.

blorg

Testing with an iPod Photo here in work, the USB cable _does_ seem to charge the battery (it comes up as charging anyway). I'll have to check with my 3rd gen tho. I suspect it might not as around the time I got it the USB cable Apple sold was a dual USB/Firewire with the Firewire supplying the power from the wall plug adapter. Thanks.

steveland?

I have a new iPod mini that came with just a USB cable, this charges the battery when plugged into a pc/laptop

Luckily I have a charger here from my dad's iPod so I can have it plugged in when playing it through my stereo

How can you keep it plugged in when transfering songs when there's only one port in the bottom of it?

Maybe it's just a feature of the newer iPods

tman

blorg wrote:

Yeah, that is my experience with the Firewire cable when plugged into an unpowered Firewire port. The newer iPods are coming with just the USB cable however - do these not charge it?

it does for 4th gen models onwards
just not for 3rd gen or anything older

steveland? wrote:

How can you keep it plugged in when transfering songs when there's only one port in the bottom of it?

Maybe it's just a feature of the newer iPods

the older usb cables had both a firewire and usb connection.
firewire goes into the charger and usb into the pc

blorg

Thanks everyone, I confirmed from reading elsewhere that the USB cable alone (as shipped with the 4th gen) will charge the 4th gen iPods but will not charge anything older than that. Major pain in the ass indeed, especially as the Firewire ports on my notebook are all also unpowered (one dodgy 4 pin on the notebook and two unpowered 6 pin on a PCMCIA card.)

Inspector Gadget

Hmm...

I have a 3rd Generation iPod (I know, I know, but I got it very cheap...), and I have the dock and the combination USB/Firewire cable for it. Like people are saying, it only charges via Firewire.

The thing I find weird is this - the charger is rated at (if memory serves) 1A @ 12v! - considering 5V @ 500ma is the standard for USB, how long does it take to charge the thing?

For comparison, if the old charger is spitting out 12W (12V @ 1A), then if the 4G iPod is charging off a PC, for example, it's only getting 2.5W (5V @ 500mA) maximum! I assume that the charger can deliver a bit more (though it'd have to get 2.4A at that voltage to "keep up"...)

Gadget

Ciaran500

My mp3 player charges for about half a day on usb, and about 2 hours with the charger. Pretty pointless unless I happen to leave it in there. But it does stop transfering songs less of a drain on the battery.

Inspector Gadget

Well, that explains it!

Cheers for that Ciaran500...
Gadget