Long charging times

[elementol]

Hi,

I recently bought the Zune HD 32gb and am confused as to why it takes so loonng to charge. I'm in the UK and am charging through the USB port. I've tried multiple ports (front / back) on different machines and its the same. I started charging from empty this morning at about 10am and its almost finished charging now at 6pm....that's a pretty long charge time.....any ideas??

I've read that low powered usb ports can take longer but surely all my ports can't be low powered.

[CrowdAds]

[DiNoGames]

Mine only needs two hours or something to charge. Maybe some time less or more, I never measured it, but in no way as long as you describe.

[Moonrakerone]

Are you using an official microsoft zune cable, or a third party cable?

[NSILMike]

Many laptop ports are hubs, so are essentially sharing the allowed USB power to multiple ports. If those ports are in use by other devices, the power is shared, and of course charging would be slower. On desktops, usually the front port is a hub, but back ports are not. (You can see what devices are on a port and how much power is being used in Device Manager.)
Or...if the PC cannot detect your device (such as before you install the software) it will only trickle charge it. (You need the USB driver to be installed so the PC can interrogate attached devices about how much power they can handle.)

[lem7]

USB port takes like 4 hours, im not sure but it does take a whole lot of time to get from 0% to 100%... i think its like 2 hours to 80% then another 1-2 hours to reach 100%

[Machiventa]

Mine takes 3 hrs (or less) to fully charge from a dead battery. Something's wrong with your set up.

[KingAvarice]

It's faster with an AC adapter. I can charge from a dead battery to full with AC adapter in about 1.5 hours. Around 2.5-3 hours with a cable.

I remember reading somewhere that it's like the last 10% that are the hardest to get. Charging to almost full (80-90%) takes a lot less time than charging to full. I usually keep mine around half full. Using it just for music and the occasional app means that you can't kill more than half the battery in a day =D For me at least.

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by KingAvarice

It's faster with an AC adapter. I can charge from a dead battery to full with AC adapter in about 1.5 hours. Around 2.5-3 hours with a cable.

I remember reading somewhere that it's like the last 10% that are the hardest to get. Charging to almost full (80-90%) takes a lot less time than charging to full. I usually keep mine around half full. Using it just for music and the occasional app means that you can't kill more than half the battery in a day =D For me at least.

the zune ac adapters push a full amp, while the USB spec limits PC USB ports to 500mA. The other advantage of the AC adapters is that they are built for zunes, so don't have to wait for a USB msg to say "I'm here, and I'm a zune..." They just push a full amp right from the start, until the charging circuitry shuts it down.

[DaveMac-MS]

There are three power states that the device can be in. You can feed it nearly 1A, 500mA or 100mA. When you use a Zune power adapter, the device knows to pull close to 1A, and so charging is ~2 hrs. When you're plugged into a computer, it knows to pull 500mA (the maximum USB supports via a non-dedicated power source), and otherwise it pulls 100mA, which is enough to power the device. I'm not even sure whether it charges at that point - but perhaps it is, just really slowly.

So the question is - are you using an approved USB charger, a PC connection or something else?

Cheers, Dave.

[elementol]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm using the official cable that came in the zune box. I've got the zune software installed at home where i'm using windows 7 64bit, but here at work we have xp 64 bit and the zune software wont let me install on here.

I've not tried a full charge at home but might give it a try later. So is that what you think it is? because the software is not installed on here its only charging my zune at 100mA?

Also, is there a 'correct' way to charge? All i do is plug it in when the player is off, then the player turns on and seems to charge in the background. Another thing i noticed was that the little charger icon switches between the little charging lightning bolt symbol to showing how much charge is in the battery. Should the charging symbol be there until fully charged?

[Broodbeleg]

When your zune is fully charged the little battery symbol will be coloured red.

[elementol]

Isn't it coloured green?

[sonorguy]

Originally Posted by Broodbeleg

When your zune is fully charged the little battery symbol will be coloured red.

Perhaps a fellow colorblind abi member?

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

There are three power states that the device can be in. You can feed it nearly 1A, 500mA or 100mA. When you use a Zune power adapter, the device knows to pull close to 1A, and so charging is ~2 hrs. When you're plugged into a computer, it knows to pull 500mA (the maximum USB supports via a non-dedicated power source), and otherwise it pulls 100mA, which is enough to power the device. I'm not even sure whether it charges at that point - but perhaps it is, just really slowly.

So the question is - are you using an approved USB charger, a PC connection or something else?

Cheers, Dave.

It's actually the PC side that controls all of this (it's how USB works...the PC is the master, so issues all commands- a connected device only replies.) If the device cannot respond to the PC, the PC limits the power until the unit charges enough to turn on and respond to USB commands. The hardware in the USB port on the PC is actually what detects a connection and starts supplying power, which is why you can trickle charge a USB device on any PC or even an xBox without the USB driver installed on the master.

footnote: there is a special USB version (USB 'on the go') where devices can initiate conversations, but I've never seen any indication that zunes support this...which makes sense. It's intended for device to device communications, not master to device.

[bluezune16]

According to zune.net http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/z.../techspecs.htm "Charge Time: Approximately three hours when connected to your PC; approximately two hours with A/C adapter" Now, there are usually low and high power ports on your PC, usually the high power ports are on the back. However, plugging your Zune into any port should still draw 500mA. there could be a problem with your USB controller. If your using a Windows PC, you can use the device manager to see how much power is being drawn by a device...

[FallenArms3]

Even without the Zune software, I believe you can install the drivers for the device. Perhaps check Device Manager to see if it is recognized (A Zune will show up in the "Portable Devices" section, at least in Win7, and it uses its name).

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by bluezune16

According to zune.net http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/z.../techspecs.htm "Charge Time: Approximately three hours when connected to your PC; approximately two hours with A/C adapter" Now, there are usually low and high power ports on your PC, usually the high power ports are on the back. However, plugging your Zune into any port should still draw 500mA. there could be a problem with your USB controller. If your using a Windows PC, you can use the device manager to see how much power is being drawn by a device...

You contradicted yourself... And, no, 'any port' cannot always supply 500mA. Some ports are hub ports, so that 500mA is shared. That's usually the difference between front (hub) ports and back ports anyway.

[bluezune16]

Originally Posted by NSILMike

You contradicted yourself... And, no, 'any port' cannot always supply 500mA. Some ports are hub ports, so that 500mA is shared. That's usually the difference between front (hub) ports and back ports anyway.

ok but if they're hub ports, and the power is split between ports, say 4, that's 125mA per port. But, if there is only one port out of the 4 being used, it still draws the full 500mA. wait, this is so of subject. He stated he's tried front AND back ports, so @elementol, if possible, try a different cable. who knows.

[Broodbeleg]

Originally Posted by sonorguy

Perhaps a fellow colorblind abi member?

Yes. I really thought I was right this time with thinking it was red.

[elementol]

I'd like to try another cable but unfortunately im in the UK and am using the cable that came with it. Finding another cable would be a bit of a pain.