Operation: iPod Resurrection

[Joe]

So, I have a 4G iPod "classic" which is sitting on my desk. A bit of an expensive paperweight. It eventually crapped out, so I went back to that thing we call "radio". But, eventually I got pissed off at my car radio for not working (a lose antenna wire somewhere, it'll work then not work, etc) and so I'm going to make my iPod work somehow. Now, since it's complaining about power, I'm guessing the battery is dead, because they do that. So, I cracked the case open (easy peesy lemon squeezy), pried out the battery (luckily I had a fork nearby!) and unplugged it. Looks a lot like a battery pack from those old wireless phones that you hooked to landlines back in 1995. Next step is to get my mom to take it to Walmart and ask if they have a replacement for it. And if they don't, I'll ask dad to find me one online. Yeah, I bum off my parents. /proud

If/when I get a new battery, pictures of the installation may or may not become available (depending on if I have my camera at that poitn) if you want to operate on your iPod as well! Apparently battery issues are common, so eh?

[Blaze]

So... you're using a highly conductive fork.. to pry out a battery from an electrical device... okay.  Don't do that.

[Warrior]

http://www.rapidrepair.com/shop/1403-extended-battery-4g-ipod.html

There is your replacement, if you snoop around that website there should be Do-It-Yourself guides.

[iago]

So... you're using a highly conductive fork.. to pry out a battery from an electrical device... okay.  Don't do that.

Batteries are typically low voltage and extremely low amperage. Bridging them with your tongue won't do anything, nevermind a fork.

[Chavo]

Batteries are typically low voltage and extremely low amperage. Bridging them with your tongue won't do anything, nevermind a fork.

Low voltage, yes.  Low current? Not in the case of a shorted Li-Ion battery

The bigger problem with using a fork is the damage likely to occur on the surrounding circuit elements or shorting out your battery (if it isn't already dead).

[iago]

Batteries are typically low voltage and extremely low amperage. Bridging them with your tongue won't do anything, nevermind a fork.

Low voltage, yes.  Low current? Not in the case of a shorted Li-Ion battery

The bigger problem with using a fork is the damage likely to occur on the surrounding circuit elements or shorting out your battery (if it isn't already dead).

Well, I don't know how much current the battery produces, but I doubt it'd do anything more than burn him. This reminds me of the time that Joe wanted to make a computer explode by overclocking it. Nothing will blow up!

But you're right about shorting out the battery, he could easily kill it. Oh well.

[Joe]

It was a plastic fork, nub.

But yeah, that probably wasn't smart. I do dumb things at 3AM. Anyhow, dad's heading to walmart right now and he's going to see if the have a replacement. If they don't, I'll buy what Warrior said (thanks!).

[Armin]

Batteries are typically low voltage and extremely low amperage. Bridging them with your tongue won't do anything, nevermind a fork.

Low voltage, yes.  Low current? Not in the case of a shorted Li-Ion battery

The bigger problem with using a fork is the damage likely to occur on the surrounding circuit elements or shorting out your battery (if it isn't already dead).

Well, I don't know how much current the battery produces, but I doubt it'd do anything more than burn him. This reminds me of the time that Joe wanted to make a computer explode by overclocking it. Nothing will blow up!

But you're right about shorting out the battery, he could easily kill it. Oh well.

"Short-circuiting a Li-ion battery can cause it to ignite or explode, and as such, any attempt to open or modify a Li-ion battery's casing or circuitry is dangerous."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion#Safety

Don't you remember the 2006 recall of over 10 million Sony laptop batteries?

Also, considering the iPod's battery died in the first place, the chance of it being a lithium-ion battery is very likely due to the battery's very unique drawback: "...the Li-ion battery['s]... ...life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. So an older battery will not last as long as a new battery due solely to its age, unlike other batteries. This drawback is not widely published."

"At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. However, a battery stored inside a poorly ventilated laptop may be subject to a prolonged exposure to much higher temperatures than 25 °C, which will significantly shorten its life. The capacity loss begins from the time the battery was manufactured, and occurs even when the battery is unused."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion#Disadvantages

To be fair, laptops have much larger batteries than iPods and he probably couldn't have hurt himself if he tried.

EDIT: "iPod third to fifth generation — Internal lithium-ion batteries"
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod#Chipsets_and_electronics

[Warrior]

Are the iPod batteries soldered on? I don't think they are. It's just a matter of disconnecting some stuff, throwing the crap away, and inserting new batteries.


You have to be some kind of retard to ---- never mind. Be careful Joe.

[Armin]

Good point. Only the iPod nano has its battery soldered in place, and the fifth generation iPods have their batteries held down with adhesive.

[Joe]

Yeah. It's a 3-prong plug coming out of a wire into the battery, like old wireless phones. Also, Walmart didn't have it.

[Chavo]

Have you even tested the battery to see if it is in fact dead?

[Joe]

I'd need a multimeter with 0.1 millimeter leads. And yes, I know I fail at metric.

[Chavo]

1.  Don't ever do anything with electronics if you don't even own a multimeter
2.  Wires.

[iago]

.1mm = roughly 1/256"

You might mean 1mm, which is about 1/32"

[Joe]

1.  Don't ever do anything with electronics if you don't even own a multimeter
2.  Wires.

1. I failed at this, but it was meant to say "my multimeter leads are too big."
2. Still too big.

.1mm = roughly 1/256"

You might mean 1mm, which is about 1/32"

1mm is still too big. This is a TINY hole. I think a good comparison is if you took speaker wire, unwound it, and took ONE wire. That's about how big the pins that go in to it are.

[Chavo]

2. Still too big.

Something tells me that they are big enough to have wires connected to them.  Either that or the iPod was using induction to draw power...

[Joe]

2. Still too big.

Something tells me that they are big enough to have wires connected to them.  Either that or the iPod was using induction to draw power...

You sure? Let me find my camera.

EDIT -
1. iPod battery, with quarter for size comparison. If you zoom in, you can see the holes for the plug thingies.
2. Test lead, again with quarter.
3. Test lead against iPod battery connector, with heavily distorted quarter for comparison.

[Chavo]

I still see wires coming out of the battery...

[Joe]

k, I'll mail it to you and you can cut it open and test it for me. Just make sure it's all connected up when you send it back.

(1:38:40 AM) [x86] dark_drake: you can't, say, cut the wires to test this?
(1:38:58 AM) [x86] Joe: nah
(1:39:03 AM) [x86] Joe: because it'd be a waste of time
(1:39:09 AM) [x86] Joe: if I cut the wires, I can't use it anymore anyhow

[Chavo]

Ya man, wires are soooo hard to repair 

[topaz~]

Did you equip your Soulstone before starting the project?

[Joe]

Did you equip your Soulstone before starting the project?

No, but I'm wearing full chain mail so it's a Faraday cage.

[Rule]

Does anyone remember high school physics?....  A battery only has a "voltage" not an "ampage".  If you put any potential difference across a circuit with basically no resistance the current will be really high. So yes, for instance, directly connecting both ends of a simple "low-voltage" battery together with copper wire is dangerous.

[CrAz3D]

We didn't talk about volts v. amps in physics, I think.

[Blaze]

We never talked about that in Physics, but we sure did in Computer Engineering!

[Joe]

All I remember from an electronics mini-lesson I attended was getting hit in the nose by a flaming IC chip fragment. That was a good day.