iPad battery drains when connected to dock

jdiddy81jdiddy81
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
when my ipod(4g) is connected to my dock the battery drains, fast. i noticed it within the past few weeks. i'll fully charge my iPod and then connect to the dock and after about an hour on the dock i'll take it off and my batttery will be empty

any suggestions?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    johnqjohnq Posts: 2,763member
    Phew! I thought I slept through MWSF and missed the iPad introduction!



    Are you playing it while its in the dock? Is it plugged into power or a computer?
  • Reply 2 of 10
    jdiddy81jdiddy81 Posts: 13member
    the dock is plugged into my mac. i dont play with it, just put it in the dock, it updates, then i leave it alone, then battery drains
  • Reply 3 of 10
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jdiddy81

    the dock is plugged into my mac. i dont play with it, just put it in the dock, it updates, then i leave it alone, then battery drains



    make sure you are ejecting the iPod. if not, the hard drive is constantly spinning and this could be your problem. also make sure the backlight isnt always running.



    edit: i also believe that the firewire port you are plugged into with the iPod must be one of the native ones that came on the machine for it to support charging. my roomate has a PCI-card with a firewire port on it and his iPod wont charge through it.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    printoprinto Posts: 5member
    I am also having this problem.

    I am ejecting the pod and the backlight is set for 10 seconds.

    could it be the cable, is it damaged?
  • Reply 5 of 10
    jdiddy81jdiddy81 Posts: 13member
    thanks for the help.

    ok, i just tested it out again. i put my fully charged ipod in my dock, it did an auto update with itunes, i ejected my ipod, it said "charging" on the screen, left it for about an hour, took it off my dock, and the battery was at half charge.? half my battery drained in one hour? my backlight is set on 10 seconds. my dock is plugged into a 4-port usb hub. its only been goin on like this for a few weeks.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    What is probably happening is that the hub is not powered, and so they simply connected the two power wires from the 6 pin FireWire cable. So you are essentially short-circuiting the iPod's battery. I would stop doing that if I were you, and call the manufacturer to ask if this is what is happening. Or you could find a electronics-geek with a multi-meter to verify my hypothesis.



    The iPod dock will also drain the iPod if it is not plugged in, but that is because the wall-wort has a transformer, and transformers will absorb power from any source available.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    johnqjohnq Posts: 2,763member
    Why are you plugged in via USB? I don't think USB ever charges things. That's why FireWire is "fire" wire, it can put out enough power to charge things. You're on a Mac? Use FireWire then.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by johnq

    Why are you plugged in via USB? I don't think USB ever charges things. That's why FireWire is "fire" wire, it can put out enough power to charge things. You're on a Mac? Use FireWire then.



    USB does indeed power things. But if you're on a Mac, use FireWire.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    johnqjohnq Posts: 2,763member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    USB does indeed power things. But if you're on a Mac, use FireWire.



    Of course, but USB is a 5 volt wire delivering up to 500mA whereas Firewire can supply up to 45 watts of power per port. Bit of a difference.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    Oops... I missed the USB part... my point about un-powered hubs needs a little revision, but is basically sound. Except in this case you are probably powering the hub. Buy a powered hub and the problem probably goes away. This is the expected behavior.
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