A few days ago I left it to charge before i went to bed (which probably wasn’t the greatest idea) so in total it charged around 7-8 hours maybe even a bit more. In the morning it was fully charged but when i turned it on it only stayed on for like 2-3 minutes then went off…when trying to to turn it on again nothing happened. i left it for a few minutes and tried again then it came on and said “low battery, shutdown”. I’m assuming i over charged it. How many hours should i charge it via USB on the computer for it to be fully charged?
Edit: Just realised mines not the Clip Zip, it’s just the normal sansa clip
If yours is indeed the older ‘original’ Clip (round scroll wheel, no SD card slot), those are pretty old now, so the battery may just be worn out.
Again, if it is the original Clip that model was prone to bad solder joints on the battery lead-in wires. This is usually characterized by the player acting normal when plugged into a computer, but no power when unplugged.
You may have one of these solder points failing to where it isn’t really accepting a charge, except for a few minutes worth, or the battery may be in such a depleted state due to age it won’t hold a charge. A third possibility is that the charging circuitry has failed.
But in answer to your original question 3-4 hours should be sufficient to completely charge one of these little guys, maybe even less depending on how low it was to begin with. You could always try resetting it and see if that helps, but I doubt it will.