It seems not all Lithium Ion batteries are equal – some better by design than others. Here, the TruePower patented technology uses ceramic particles smaller than a nanometre (1x10^-9) as part of the chemical binding agent used in Lithium Ion batteries. This, along with a proprietary energy management controller circuitry, creates a highly conductive layer on the surface of the battery. As a result, the battery is more able to meet the instantaneous load demands of the iPod, which are what ultimately depletes the original battery’s capacity over time. By smoothing out these pulses, TruePower batteries claim to have found the answer to poor battery performance over the same timeframe as the original. In other words, 6 months after installing and using as you typically would, your iPod will hold more charge as well as play longer before switching off. Of course, as is the nature of all Lithium Ion batteries, you should avoid discharging them completely before recharging them. By doing so, you will preserve the drop of in performance to a slower rate of decay.

To read more in depth material, visit TruePower’s site (link provided below) and read the info therein.

Now, changing the battery. There is very little to do, so long as you do things relatively slowly and carefully. Not being afraid of cracking open an iPod – having done so many moons ago, a 1G version with a failed HDD, I proceeded to do my son’s 3G version due to a battery barely lasting 14 months. No great surprise since he is prone to not recharging it once home from school or each night before retiring to bed!

Anyhow, as it is, the battery would die after 90 mins usage, with only a couple of tracks skipped, before it would be usable again in 15-20 mins time, before depleting fully not long after. So, here it now has a second lease of life with the TruePower 3G battery.

Installation was easy enough – using the provided tool (with 1 spare, just in case), I separated the white plastic front of the iPod from its polished chrome rear, with a small amount of pressure to get the separation started. Once undone, the back was laid to the side of the iPod, itself, facing down on the packaging foam. The HDD is attached to a flexible printed circuit lead, via the IDE connector, which is removed from the main PCB (printed circuit board) to gain access to the battery underneath.

After that was done, then it was a simple matter of removing the battery connection, and using the plastic tool provided to raise the battery enough to get a grip on it, and lift out of its’ location – bottom left of the iPod viewed from the front.

Now that the original battery was out, time to substitute the TruePower one in its’ place. Again, as easy as 1, 2, 3 – in it went, connected to the terminal, and ready to receive the HDD. As the HDD has a thin sliver of aluminium underneath it, adhered to the flexible track, it was necessary to use the tool to push the connector back into its’ position. This has a reassuring click and is covered with copper foil, so you’re never pushing directly on the plastic of the connector itself.

After that, then it’s time to reattach the iPod’s back, which should be done from the bottom up. Line up the connector with the corresponding space of the back. Once that’s in place, you can squeeze (gently) the front and back, moving up the sides, before finishing off with the top. That’s it – job done, and pressing the centre button, will (or should) fire up the iPod. If it does, then you can breath now! As the battery has been removed then some settings will need redone – namely the time and date. At this point, plug the iPod into the computer or its’ wall plug, and leave to charge for at least 6 hours.

The packaging also includes a step-by-step guide, with photos, and if you access the TruePower website, you can see a pdf version, with larger images, if needed. It has an addendum, with images of how to tuck the battery wires into place, to prevent getting caught between the white fascia and back of the iPod, when you are placing the back back on. I simply twisted the wires a few times, and laid them the same way the original’s were.

So, how does the new battery compare to the original? Do the claims made by TruePower hold out, or are they pie in the sky? In order to answer that, I’ll need to see how it performs over the course of a number of weeks or months, which is exactly what I’ll do. Therefore, come back in 6 weeks time, and again in 3 months, after which time, I’ll be able to tell exactly how well founded the claims are.

Initial results so far, are encouraging, but then so would any new battery. It’s the typical way in which my son uses the iPod that’ll dictate whether the TruePower batteries are as good as they make themselves out to be. First full playback to switch off, with volume set at half and no track skipping, although there would be enough disk activity to simulate track hoping due to long songs and higher resolution (192/256 kb/s) than perhaps most users would have on their iPods, showed the battery good for 9 hours straight – well, 9 hours and 6 mins to be exact! Not bad in my estimation, and it’ll be interesting to see how that changes (if at all) when the 6 week and 3 month reviews take place. Watch this space, as they say.

In terms of cost – $50 approximately, including delivery to the UK plus half an hour of your own time – well, it’s hardly rocket science to work out that that’s a bit of a bargain to prolong the life of a working iPod for another 12 months or more, especially as the battery comes with a 2 year warranty. So whilst you save the pennies to buy a future version of the iPod, you can still make use of and enjoy the one you currently own for the cost of a typical Friday or Saturday night out.

http://www.truepowerbatteries.com/

Review by - PJ Skelton

Published - 11/11/2005

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