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Posted on January 2nd, 2009 by Barry Collins
Over-charging the iPod Nano?
I treated myself to a new 16GB iPod Nano over Christmas and have to say I’m overjoyed with the little blighter, except for one standout irritation: no dedicated charger.
The device truly is magnificent. It’s so light you genuinely don’t notice it’s in your pocket, and the tiny 5.5in screen packs such a high resolution that I’ve found myself downloading free videos (Lily Allen for Christ’s Sake) for the sheer novelty factor. Not to mention the fact that my 4-year-old daughter is ridiculously amused by the video automatically flipping its orientation depending on which way up you hold the device, thanks to the built in accelerometer.
But the lack of a dedicated charger is really quite irksome. I’ve perfected an overnight charging regime over the years: laptop gets charged once a night, iPod every other night, mobile phone every three days. Using the Collins Formula, I can’t remember the last time I ran out of juice.
But now I have to find a way to charge the iPod Nano during daylight hours. It won’t charge off the laptop when it’s in sleep mode, and I’m damned if I’m going to leave a PC running overnight just to top up my MP3 player. And when I’m at work, all my laptop’s USB ports are occupied by other peripherals.
I know you can buy a dedicated charger for the iPod, but I think Apple is taking the Richard Bliss by charging £19 for the device. Which leaves me with the faintly Russian Rouletteish option of using my old 4th generation iPod charger with the iPod Nano. I’m worried the old charger will have too much juice for my svelte little beauty and fry Lily Allen and friends the second it’s plugged in.
My colleagues Darien Graham-Smith and Jonathan Bray assure me it will be fine. I’ll be blubbing like an X-Factor finalist if they’re wrong.
Update: According to this notice on the Apple support site, my shiny new iPod is incompatible with the old FireWire charger of yore. Lummocks. Thanks to hjlupton and David for their help on comments.
12 Responses to “ Over-charging the iPod Nano? ”
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January 2nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
It should be fine, the modern cables are capable of working with all manner of older iPods just as the older cables work with the newer iPods. it’s all standardised as the iPod range is charged off the low voltage of USB. So as long as it’s a USB cable, the iPod will take care of the rest.
The new nano is a fantastic piece of kit, and it’s where Apple has the clear edge over other MP3 player manufacturers – design. Enjoy your new iPod, you should have plenty of happy use out of it
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I use a powered hub to recharge USB only devices – no PC required!
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
hjupton – I have a feeling the old 4th gen iPod charger has a FireWire rather than a USB connection (don’t have it with me to check).
David – that is a fantastic suggestion.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Barry, I’ve just a quick look at the manual on the apple website, the 4th gen charger is indeed firewire based. with everything up to and including the 3rd gen nano, the firewire pins were still in place in the ipod for charging over firewire.
the recent releases such as iphone 3g and ipod touch (2nd gen) no longer have these firewire pins, meaning that if they were plugged into a firewire charger, nothing should happen (and irked many as many accessories no longer charged their ipods!) I can’t say categorically, but with this move away from firewire support, the 4th gen nano may not have the ability to be charged via the old charger. that being the case, as David suggests a powered usb hub could be the answer.
Hope that helps
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Terrific work, hjlupton. I may have to revert to David’s powered hub suggestion. Thanks both.
Barry
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Or for more portability (if you need it that is), a simply plug with a usb socket would surfice.
Like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumnique-Adapter-Charger-players-Digital/dp/B000W49K0U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1230913539&sr=8-2
My mp3 player (a Creative Zen) only charges by USB, and this thing does it fine.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Bought my youngest an IPod touch for Xmas, whilst my eldest has a slightly older shape ‘touch’ (more square backed than the newer curved back models), anyway the eldest child’s charger (which she acquired when she bought an old style ipod nano a few years ago) will charge her ‘touch’ but not my youngster’s newer model. When you plug it in to charge, it displays a message about the charger not being compatible with this model of ‘touch’. Strangely, she has a clock/radio/IPod docking station which charges both models. Maybe this is the solution for your ‘nano’ problem
January 4th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
It took me a year to summon up the scruples to buy an iPod charger. Once I’d realised that the device was comparable in cost to some laptop power supplies, and is so well constructed that it is likely to last a lot longer than the battery in my iPod, I took the plunge. I can’t say I regret it. When you look at the alternatives there is really not much choice–you either need a charger or you don’t. I wouldn’t rate the Amazon market place device much–you do get what you pay for, and it doesn’t look like it will last more than a few months.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:25 am
my grandaughters nano g4 charges fine from a computer usb port but not from any of 3 mains powered integrated ( and cheap, about £2-£3) usb power supplies or a car /usb adaptor.
Now each has only 4 wires, and power at 5v is present on identical pins all round, So WHY???
There must be a simple explanation and fix, perhaps using the 2 data pins somehow which perhaps an active PC does.
It seems the only possible area of influence. Can anyone help. I know ‘proper’ ones arn’t expensive but thats not the point here.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I too am having trouble charging my Nano from the mains, it only charges via my laptop!
I bought a usb plug off ebay but the darn thing doesn’t seem to charge either! Any ideas?
February 8th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Power Shack…
If you walk into any random office in a home or business in any city, you are sure to find a few very similar items in use. You will find a notebook, keyboard, a mouse, possibly a set of speakers. You are very likely to find a desk lamp and an iPod as …
February 16th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
i just acquired a 3G iPod nano, and have been doing a bit of digging round the net and experimenting. to persuade the new iPods to charge, it seems you need to connect together the two USB data wires.
the _best_ solution is to open up you cheap ‘USB charger’, and cut any tracks that are connected to the data pins on the USB socket (the two centre pins), then place a blob of solder to bridge between them. alternatively, get a USB extension cable (plug to socket) and carefully cut the cable open, making sure you don’t damage the four inside wires. now cut the white and green wires, and strip and twist them together on the iPod side. use this cable between the charger and the iPod cable.
some older iPods may require a more complex arrangement (of 4 resistors) connected to the data pins, but i’d suspect that newer firmware would negate this need – just connecting the data wires together is now a part of the USB standard, and i’d expect apple to follow the standard.
cheers,
rob