Battery drops to 50% after four hours of continous use. I have decreased brightness to lowest setting and set backlight to 15 seconds. There is no way I can get 24 hours of use on one charge. Your specifications are inaccurate and highly misleading.
Update to latest firmwire. See if changes anything…
@carl wrote:
Battery drops to 50% after four hours of continous use. I have decreased brightness to lowest setting and set backlight to 15 seconds. There is no way I can get 24 hours of use on one charge. Your specifications are inaccurate and highly misleading.
Ok, did you recently buy the Fuze? And what firmware version does it have? Also, does it charge up to 100% when you charge it?
Also depends on what type of file you use, how often you hit the “next” button (or anything that will turn on the screen), etc.
I believe the 24 hour estimate is made using 128kbps mp3 files, conitnuously playing (probably with little to no button pressing).
Though down to 50% after only four hours does seem unreasonably low.
@corilof wrote:
Also depends on what type of file you use, how often you hit the “next” button (or anything that will turn on the screen), etc.
I believe the 24 hour estimate is made using 128kbps mp3 files, conitnuously playing (probably with little to no button pressing).
Though down to 50% after only four hours does seem unreasonably low.
WhenI repurchased my Fuze, it was another Revision 1, and I did have the same problem as he has now. I just did an firmware update, and all is well.
@carl wrote:
Battery drops to 50% after four hours of continous use. I have decreased brightness to lowest setting and set backlight to 15 seconds. There is no way I can get 24 hours of use on one charge. Your specifications are inaccurate and highly misleading.
Realize the battery meter is more of an estimate than an real indication of how long it will last.
Charge it all the way up, make sure you don’t have anything but 128kbps MP3 files, and start it playing. See how long it lasts. Should be somewhere in the neighborhood of the claimed life.
Thanks - I am using the latest Firmware 1.02.26A, that has not changed the problem so far!
Yes it was purchased about 2 weeks ago. I have updated the Firmware to 1.02.26A. It usually shows charged up full when hooked up to USB port. I just did an overnight charge on it and it showed 100% full charge.
I use large MP3 files(192-320 Kbps) + FLAC files. I use the buttons quite frequently whilst on the bus (selecting songs manually). I will charge up device at home on a regular basis. As long as I can get through a single day on one charge then that is good enough for me. I listen to a lot of Podcasts (BBC Global News/BBC NewsPod/Radio Netherlands-Newsline) every day.
I have done the Firmware update 1.02.26A and have done an overnight charge on the device. Time will tell.
See my other posts. Thanks for the info!
@carl wrote:
I use large MP3 files(192-320 Kbps) + FLAC files. I use the buttons quite frequently whilst on the bus (selecting songs manually). I will charge up device at home on a regular basis. As long as I can get through a single day on one charge then that is good enough for me. I listen to a lot of Podcasts (BBC Global News/BBC NewsPod/Radio Netherlands-Newsline) every day.
FLAC files eat a lot of battery power.
@carl wrote:
I use large MP3 files(192-320 Kbps) + FLAC files. I use the buttons quite frequently whilst on the bus (selecting songs manually). I will charge up device at home on a regular basis. As long as I can get through a single day on one charge then that is good enough for me. I listen to a lot of Podcasts (BBC Global News/BBC NewsPod/Radio Netherlands-Newsline) every day.
Well, as I said before, I’m pretty sure the battery estimate is given fro 128kbps mp3 files without the use of the screen. So the fact that you use higher bitrate files (and FLAC files) and press the buttons very frequently will have a significant impact on your battery life.
I’m not sure if 50% after 4 hour is a defect of the Fuze or if it’s just due to your files and how you use it. I have (mostly) 192+ kbps mp3 files on my Fuze and I press the button a fair amount throughout the day. I will use the Fuze at work (some days for almost the full 8 hours) and the battery will last the entire time - but I’ve never really paid attention as to what my battery level was at the end of the day. I really doubt I would get 24 hours of battery life out of it though.
And I do charge my Fuze pretty much daily. Keep in mind that the type of battery the Fuze uses doesn’t need to be fully discharged before recharging (in fact that’s not even a good thing to do). You’re better off recharging it daily so that the battery level is never low, so charing it every day would be a good idea.
Bottom line, your short battery life might just be due to the files you use and the number of times you turn on the screen. It’s not extremely unreasonable. If you want to test your battery life do what tenzip suggested. Put one 128kbps mp3 file on the Fuze and play it on repeat song. That one file will play continuously. So charge your Fuze to 100% and play the file. Check on it once anda while, you should get at least 20 hours out of this test. If you do, then you know your battery is fine.
Every company is generous on the battery life estimate because, as has been stated, they are basing it on 128 bit MP3’s. Upping the bit rate decreases battery life. Every company, Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Toshiba, Creative… all use the same 128bit MP3’s in regards to battery life. As someone that rips everything at max bit rate I have never gotten advertised battery life on any player.
@peregrine wrote:
Every company is generous on the battery life estimate because, as has been stated, they are basing it on 128 bit MP3’s. Upping the bit rate decreases battery life. Every company, Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Toshiba, Creative… all use the same 128bit MP3’s in regards to battery life. As someone that rips everything at max bit rate I have never gotten advertised battery life on any player.
Exactly. They all do their estimates on 128 kbps which gives it a longer life than what most people will get. Of course they have to do this, because it wouldn’t look good if they didn’t. I mean, if Comapny A says you can get 24 hours of battery life (the fine print will say based on 128kbps mp3 songs), and Company B says you will get 20 hours of battery life (but on 256 kbps mp3 songs). Well to most people it will look like Company A has the better product, because the average person doesn’t know the difference or read the fine print. So they will assume A is better. So to be on the same level, companies do their estimates on 128kbps files.
Same with the number of songs a play can hold… You’ll see estimates (like it will say: Holds 2000 songs), those estimates are also usually based on 128kbps files. If you were to use higher bitrate files, you’d get a lower number.
Well, I noticed when I upgraded from .15(or was it an even older version?) to .26 I let my player run overnight. Back under the old version I still would have showed 3/4 or maybe even more battery life. This morning after 6 hours I have 50% battery life.
If this is really how it’s going to be from now on with version .26 I might seriously think of trying to find an old version to roll it back.
Nothing has changed on my Sansa Fuze 4GB v1 system except the latest upgrade and it was as fully charged as I always have it before letting it play all night.
@xdcc321 wrote:
Well, I noticed when I upgraded from .15(or was it an even older version?) to .26 I let my player run overnight. Back under the old version I still would have showed 3/4 or maybe even more battery life. This morning after 6 hours I have 50% battery life.
If this is really how it’s going to be from now on with version .26 I might seriously think of trying to find an old version to roll it back.
Nothing has changed on my Sansa Fuze 4GB v1 system except the latest upgrade and it was as fully charged as I always have it before letting it play all night.
And once again, everyone needs to realize that the battery meter only has a tenuous connection to reality. Lithium batteries do not discharge at a linear rate, so the battery meter is basically a guess. It’s kind of like driving on E. You know you can probably get another 25 miles out of it, but you’re guessing.
@marvin_martian wrote:
FLAC files eat a lot of battery power.
That’s a bit of a surprise as FLAC seems to use less power on some portable devices (something I found on anythingbutipod).
@nickc wrote:
@marvin_martian wrote:
FLAC files eat a lot of battery power.
That’s a bit of a surprise as FLAC seems to use less power on some portable devices (something I found on anythingbutipod).
I’d love to see a link to that, if you would be so kind.
@tenzip wrote:
And once again, everyone needs to realize that the battery meter only has a tenuous connection to reality. Lithium batteries do not discharge at a linear rate, so the battery meter is basically a guess. It’s kind of like driving on E. You know you can probably get another 25 miles out of it, but you’re guessing.
Driving on E!? :dizzy_face:
Haha I see!
But yeah, people don’t realize that the meter isn’t very accurate. That and it does need to be recalibrated once and awhile (I’m assuming the Fuze has a lithium-ion or lithium-ion polymer battery?). Lithium-ion batteries also age and lose their charge over time (even if you don’t use it). So after a couple of years, you won’t even get 24 hours out of your Fuze with 128kbps mp3 files. For this reason the battery needs to be recalibrated once and awhile so that the battery meter knows how much charge it has left.
To do this, you let your battery drain until it is near empty. Then charge it fully to 100%. This way, the battery went to near 0% back to 100%, and the Fuze can recognize how much charge is left.
Same goes with the battery in your notebook computer and other portable devices. See this Battery Guide for more information on the Lithium-ion type of battery.
Message Edited by Corilof on 04-16-2009 12:52 PM
