Every time you connect the clip to your pc for transferring files it is also charging. Because I gathered that the number of charges is limited (to around 500 times ?) I was wondering if these partial charges, while transferring files, also count as a charge.
I don’t know how precise this is, but I think as a rule of thumb we can think of a partial charge as a fraction of a charge cycle when counting against the 500 charge cycle the battery supposedly has in its life. So, if, during a week, you charge your Clip when the battery shows 1/4 used, then again when it shows 1/2 used, then again when it shows 1/2 used, you might say you’ve used 1.25 charge cycles (0.25 + 0.50 + 0.50). This assumes whenever you charge, you top it off to 100%.
Making some further calculations (and an additional assumption), assuming 500 full charge cycles for the Clip with 15 hours of playtime per full charge cycle, we should expect to get a total of 7500 hours of playtime from our Clips before they can no longer hold a charge. If you play your Clip for 3 hours a day, every single day, that would give you 2500 days (almost 7 years) of enjoyment before it bites the dust. Of course if you play it off a wall charger or a car charger, the battery should last even longer.
Lots of assumptions here, but it’s a stab at how long this thing will last before I have to spring for another $35 (or whatever the Clip’s replacement will be at the time).
Time for bingo at the Nursing Home!
Is the suggestion here, that once the battery dies, it cannot be replaced and the Clip be consigned to the rubbish bin?
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If you have a wall charger, or a car charger, you should be able to still play the Clip through them. And you’ll still be able to transfer music through USB. So, it won’t be totally gone. Just lost some of its portablility.
I guess you could. The Clip doesn’t look as if it can be opened and the battery replaced…at least, not without damaging it. It could of course be used as a memory stick in its dotage
Miikerman, I just checked out that site & it said lithium batteries don’t require a periodic full discharge, & it’s better to do partial charges. I’ve already fully discharged my Clip’s battery twice since I got it a month ago… did that reduce the lifespan of the battery much?
I also think that the 500 number is not a magic number that when you
reach it the battery will instantly die. I believe that this is the number of charges
for which you can expect normal operation and from there on the battery will loose
power gradually. So basically you might have a few hundreds more with 10 hours
and then 5 hours of play time per charge.
Sasafrass452 wrote:
Miikerman, I just checked out that site & it said lithium batteries don’t require a periodic full discharge, & it’s better to do partial charges. I’ve already fully discharged my Clip’s battery twice since I got it a month ago… did that reduce the lifespan of the battery much?
I’m sure you’re just fine; in the grand scheme of things, 2 full discharges isn’t much. And as you saw, even batteryuniversity.com recommends periodic full discharges, to recalibrate the player battery gauge.
