dont fry your battery like i did

[jdeproductions]

the employee at the apple store says this about the touches battery.....

-only use a charger that is made for a "touch" even if its a non apple brand thats ok.

- never have your ipod (any ipod) plugged into your computers usb while the computer is starting up or shutting down

- never have your ipod (any ipod) plugged into your car lighter while the car is being started

- never charge your ipod (any ipod) in your car unless the car is at normal running temp (i live in wisconsin)

another thing i told the apple employee is that my friend has an official apple charger from 2 years ago (before the touch was released) ,, he told me NOT to use that with my touch because it wasnt rated for the touch.

[gyang333]

Wow, thanks for the heads up jdeproductions! The last one was what surprised me! I have been using the usb charger from my ipod video 5.5G to charge/sync my ipod touch. I guess I should stop doing that.

[BlackWolf]

eh ... the charger never changed through all ipods. so it doesn't matter when the charger was made, as long as it's an original apple charger.

and I have no idea what the computer booting up or shutting down has to do with the iphone? if the computer boots up its the same as if you plug in your iphone. no more no less.

so yeah, you can't do anything and it's always good to be cutious. but some of the things are just not true :D

[bobb-mini]

I don't care if ppl are annal (hey it's your life) but I just hate ppl running over and go OMG! I just boot up with my Touch plugged in, did I damaged it???

A longist post and STILL, dunno know how fried yours.

[gagit811]

is it really that bad to use an old charger? That sounds like an best buy employee trying to sell you an $100 hdmi cable you can get online for $10. I can see the start up, but sounds like their being over causes to sell you what you already have. But I could be worng

[mc4]

Eh, sounds like an Apple employee is trying to sell something.

[skaler]

For what its worth, I've used nothing but cheap chargers, cables, you name it from ebay vendors and never had any problems.This is for cellphones, cameras, MP3 players. About the only questionable purchase I made is a cell phone battery or two for my(our) cell phones, and they seem to not be up to par with respect to holding a charge, or standing up to numerous recharges. Still, an ebay battery is ~$6 or $7 WITH s&h, whereas one from Cingular's store is ~$30-so recharging weakness becomes moot.
Anyway, I would not hesitate to buy another charger on ebay. A quick tour of all of them shows them to be compatible across the entire iPod line.

[^_^]

Hmm. I understand the middle two DON"Ts

The first one (I feel) is a little paranoid.
I use the good old A1070 or something FireWire "brick" charger.
IT IS FINE!

The voltage and current are the same as your average garden variety FireWire port.

In a dark forgotten part of Apple's website, there is a chart saying that the iPod touchy feely can charge off a FireWire port. Hence, the trusty brick is "compatible" with the iPod Touch (even though it was not explicitly stated that it was "iPod Touch compatibubble")

[Sparkee]

I have broke every one of those recommendations pretty much on a daily bases ever since my first iPod which is a first gen nano. I've never had a problem with the battery on any of my iPods.

[cowboyshootist]

While I think the Apple employee doesn't know what they are talking about there is some reason to consider what charger you are using with any USB device.

The USB specification is well understood and does limit the amount of current (amps) that is supposed to be delivered to the device. The problem with an "off-brand" device is that you don't know how well the device is designed to prevent both over voltage and over current situations.

I would not hesitate to use any USB charger product made by a reputable company. Saying that is has to be an Apple charger is sort of like saying you can't plug the Apple charger into a wall outlet unless it's an Apple outlet or you can't use a USB port unless it's on an Apple computer. Total BS.

[Teechur]

While it is true that while booting a computer the USB port SHOULD deliver the appropriate voltage, this is the most fragile time in a computer's day. A power surge can (I have seen it happen) damage the motherboard to the point where the voltage regulators do not stop the surge from damaging peripherals. Theoretically this excess voltage could be delivered out any port or jack, including USB.

So for safety's sake, you might want to consider being anal (as opposed to being annal) and unplugging it.

So to say the Apple employee doesn't know what he's talking about is probably off. As an IT teacher I can concur that I have seen peripherals damaged when a PSU malfunctioned during a boot.

[mc4]

The risk is low and I believe this type of failure would be covered by the warranty. If I had to unplug and replug my usb items during every reboot my life would be hell.

[paranoidxe]

I don't understand the logic of saving $15 on a cheap ebay charger only to have it ruin your $400 product.