ipod battery completely dead can it be brought back to life

[Steven Campbell]

I managed to lose my Ipod Mini in the wardrobe for around 9 months!! Found it yesterday and have charged it for about 24 hours now with nothing at all. Is it likely to be dead after all these months?

It was a replacement battery as the original was only lasting a few hours.

the replacement battery but it doesn't say what kind it is just that its high capacity.

I don't mind replacing the battery again as its cheap enough but thought I'd ask to see if it could be brought to life again before replacing.

Cheers.

[Bob Minchin]

Is the replacement battery but it doesn't say what kind it is just that its

Most rechargeable batteries don't like being allowed to discharge completely and often built in charge controllers in equipment are not man enough to 'unstick' them. If you have suitable equipment then remove the battery and measure the voltage on it. If it is zero or near zero then it can sometimes be unstuck by connecting to a 5 volt supply for NO MORE than a few seconds (red positive, black negative, white no connection). If successful the voltage will have risen to at least a volt or so. You can repeat a few times but if it does not respond then a new one is the best bet.

I have had useful results doing this with new old-stock phone batteries that have gone on to give normal service afterwards.

NEVER use this method to charge lithium batteries as they can easily be damaged and have unpleasant contents if they then leak/explode.

If in doubt or you don't have the equipment to do this test then buy a new one.

Good luck

Bob

[Tabby]

its

That's a bit of a risky method, but a simple mod makes it safe & effective. Add a series resistor to limit the charge current to about C/10, and give it 5 mins, then hopefully the inbuilt charger will do the rest.

Only lead acids object to sitting around uncharged, such treatment doesnt bother nicd or nimh. In the past I've used nicads that had sat unused for decades, worked perfectly until I got some new NiMH ones.

NT

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bob Minchin expressed precisely :

They basically grow conductive 'whiskers' which short across the cell. A good way to fix them, is to charge up a large electrolytic capacitor and then connect that across the cell. That should burn out the whiskers enable it to then take a charge once again.

[Tabby]

They do, but not while sitting discharged in a cupboard.

NT

[Steve W]

Similar thing happened to mine. After googling for advice I just left it on charge and it recovered after about 4 days.

[Ian Stirling]

And lithium may react violently to it, on forced recharge. (if below the 'dead' threshold)

[Steven Campbell]

Is the replacement battery but it doesn't say what kind it is just that

Sorry guys I totally forgot I had posted looking for help. The ipod sprung into life after changing to a different mains charger altho the first charger does work so I presume it just didn't have enough to get it going.

Thanks again.