Battery consumption?

[Bojangles]

Does Rockbox use up more battery power than the standard Apple firmware? I recently had to replace my battery after only having my 30gb Ipod video for 5 months. Rockbox was installed and used most of the time.  Just curious.

[nls]

Yes, Rockbox uses more power than the original firmware on ipods.

[Llorean]

It'll still get as many charge/discharge cycles, it just lasts less time per charge right now. It's not harmful, it just uses up the power more quickly.

[Bojangles]

So would it be better to charge on Apple's firmware only or does that not make a difference overall?

[Chronon]

You'll charge up faster if you do it through the Apple firmware as it uses up less juice.  I know there have been instances with my iPod where I couldn't actually charge up via Rockbox because the iPod was draining faster than the charger could replenish it.  

I'm not sure what the current status is since I dropped my iPod a couple of months ago and an inductor popped off the circuit board.  

But I should be receiving a gigabeat F40 any day and I'll soon be Rockboxing again!

[scorche]

So would it be better to charge on Apple's firmware only or does that not make a difference overall?

It will not make a difference besides the charging time.

[Toxikator]

I know there have been instances with my iPod where I couldn't actually charge up via Rockbox because the iPod was draining faster than the charger could replenish it.  

Lol seriously? What were you charging it with, a handcrank? A pinwheel?  

That seems pretty wild, man. I don't DOUBT it, but I don't think I've ever experienced that problem. What on earth was Rockbox doing?

[Yotto]

It's happened to me too.  I used to (for a day or two) have the backlight always on when it was plugged in, so I didn't have to do anything to see the artist/song info while at work.  It actually shut off while plugged in, and then rebooted into disk mode.  I figured it was a bug until I made the connection.

[Chronon]

Toxikator, it was a wall charger, I swear!  

It wasn't a consistent problem.  I just recall instances of using Rockbox with the iPod plugged in and unplugging it only to find that the battery level was actually lower than when I had started.  I don't recall exactly what I was doing. . .  I have also seen reports from other people on these forums of this sort of thing.

I am happy to report that I received my Gigabeat 2 days ago and am happily Rockboxing once again.  

[Bojangles]

It'll still get as many charge/discharge cycles, it just lasts less time per charge right now. It's not harmful, it just uses up the power more quickly.

Will that same "sapping/less charge each time" effect carry over into Apple's firmware when I run it? I'm worried about ruining the new battery I just bought. I don't want to replace it in 2 months again. I love Rockbox but I've been hesitant to run it since the replacement.

[Llorean]

No, it won't carry into the original firmware.

And Rockbox discharges the battery as something between 50% faster up to double the speed. Meaning that if you manage to wear out a battery in 2 months with Rockbox, you would've worn it out in 3 or 4 months with the original firmware, assuming an equal number of charge/discharge cycles.