I was wondering how the Fuze’s battery holds up over the long term? I know you can’t replace it, so it’s something I’ve been worried about. New, it’s amazing. 20 hours of audio? Wonderful. In a year or two though, will it be greatly diminished from your experiences?
I’ve owned a couple laptops in my time and, when left plugged in past a full charge, it’s actually harmful to the battery’s ability to sustain a charge resulting in less time between charges (over two years of plugged in use, my Compaq’s battery capacity dropped by 50%!). I imagine it’s the same thing with the Fuze, so I should only be charging it when it’s almost completely dead and unplugging it right away, right? Are there any other “best practices” to maintain battery life?
Sorry for all of the basic questions. I bought the unit from Circuit City and it had very little technical documentation. Thanks in advance, I appreciate the advice!
“A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.”
Except the Fuze uses a Lithium-Polymer battery, not the Lithium-Ion as was used in the e200 series players. The Li-poly is like the Li-ion on steriods. Longer run time and more charge/dis-charge cycles throughout it’s expected life.
Lithium ion polymer batteries are basically lithium ion batteries. The polymer version can be thinner, and have a greater variety of shapes. They also might have slightly higher energy density than the non polymer variety.
Lipo cells need protected from overcharge. During charging, the voltage should be limited to no more than 4.235 volts per cell to avoid damage.
Aren’t the approved USB chargers rated at 5 volts? Several of the reference links off the Wikipedia page make reference to dangers (including fire) of charging lithium ion polymer batteries with chargers above the low 4 volts.
“Aren’t the approved USB chargers rated at 5 volts? Several of the reference links off the Wikipedia page make reference to dangers (including fire) of charging lithium ion polymer batteries with chargers above the low 4 volts.”
5 volts is the voltage going to the charger, not the voltage going to the battery.
I bought a Fuze (probably like a lot of people) because I lost my iPod nano and couldn’t stomach paying a $50 premium for the Apple logo.
I’ve had a Fuze for about 6 months now…the battery life continues to amaze me. I use it almost solely for workouts and runs and charge it (honestly) rarely. I get about 5 workouts in a week and seriously charge it about twice a month. I have roughly timed it at about 20-25 hours and am also pleased that it is quite clear when the Fuze is shut off. Coming from a nano (which always seemed to be dead or just about dead), the battery life alone is enough to sell me on this player.
The only downside I can see to this player is the limited number of accessories and the proprietary charge/sync cable.
Sansa fuze is my 3rd Sansa mp3 player. I don’t like having to charge connected to my PC. I purchased a charger by Griffin. It has a connection for the IPOD that is removable. Just remove that and the USB cable for the sansa fuze fits. Now you can charge anywhere that has an electricial outlook. The bonus is that you can listen to the player while it is charging.
Something just occured to me - I have my Fuze almost permanently docked in the Griffin power dock. Am I killing the battery this way? Is it unnecessarily getting permanently charged?
I used to think this was an OK practice, since I figured these devices had an intelligent charging circuit - but my Archos 605 PMP is notoriously bad in this regards. If you leave it docked, in a year most users have reported dead batteries. Is that the case with the Fuze? Should I only plug it in when I’m charging or using it?
The Fuze turns off the charging circuit if the battery is full, and it blanks the scren automatically. Leaving the device docked is fine. The only thing I’d worry about is actually leaving the device with a dead battery, as the polymer type does not fare well if left at the low end of the scale.
You can treat the battery just like a car battery, keeping it charged regularly.
The iPod connector is slightly different from the Sansa. The problem is that one can force the iPod connector into the Sansa port, and fry the Sansa by applying power to the wrong pins.
Always be sure to use Sansa compatible cables and docks, as they are different.
what accessories are you missing so much that you can’t get?
And isn’t the Apple cable a proprietary item? Does that mean it is ok for Apple but not Sansa?
The only accessory I find impossible to get is a car cable, with USB power and line-out. You can find them for iPods at just about any place that sells car stereos, but as far as I know the only way to get one for Sansa is to break open the connector and solder one yourself (and hope it doesn’t fry your Fuze).
what accessories are you missing so much that you can’t get?
And isn’t the Apple cable a proprietary item? Does that mean it is ok for Apple but not Sansa?
The only accessory I find impossible to get is a car cable, with USB power and line-out. You can find them for iPods at just about any place that sells car stereos, but as far as I know the only way to get one for Sansa is to break open the connector and solder one yourself (and hope it doesn’t fry your Fuze).
I don’t know about a power and line-out cable for your car, but I just plug the regular cable into my blackberry charger’s USB port, and use a 3.5mm male/male cord to go to my head unit.
